Hayes Edward "Big Ed" Sanders (March 24, 1930 – December 12, 1954) was an American heavyweight boxer who won an Olympic gold medal in 1952. Personal life Sanders was the oldest male child of the family. His older sister, Winifred, died in a Scarlet Fever epidemic, in 1939. As a child, Sanders was very large for his age and physically strong. At age 12, he was recollected to be the size of a normal 18 year old. Sanders and his younger brother, Donald, collected coffee cans, filled them with cement and connected two of them with a steel bar to make a weight set for exercising. As "Big Ed" grew bigger, faster and stronger, Sanders excelled in football and track and field at Jordan High School. Outside of the ring, Sanders was known as affable, gentlemanly and highly intelligent. On 11 December 1954, he faced Willie James for the New England heavyweight title. James knocked out Sanders in the 11th round and Sanders had to be carried from the ring. He never regained consciousness and died 18 hours later. On May 26, 2012, Sanders' son Russell presided over his posthumous induction into the Compton Community College Athletics Hall of Fame, under the category of boxing. He also was inducted into the Idaho State University Athletic Hall of Fame. Early life After graduating from Jordan High School, Sanders attended Compton College, where he again excelled in football and a new sport, boxing. In 1950, at the National Junior College Boxing Championships in Ogden, Utah, the six-foot four-inch, 220 pound Sanders attracted the attention of Idaho State College boxing coach Dubby Holt and football coach Babe Caccia. "He had a good left hand, and for the big man that he was, he was a real orthodox, skilled boxer," Holt recalled. Shortly thereafter, Sanders was awarded an athletic scholarship to Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in Pocatello, Idaho, where he boxed and played football. Sanders flourished at nearly all-white Idaho State. In his first collegiate bout, Sanders knocked out the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion. Sanders also set a record by never losing a bout in a collegiate dual meet. While attending Idaho State, Sanders fell in love with Pocatellan Mary LaRue, who was then a secretary at Idaho State's athletic department. She later became his wife. Amateur career In 1951, Sanders was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the