Joe Hand, early backer of Joe Frazier and closed-circuit TV impresario, dies at 87

Joe Hand, a former Philadelphia police officer who helped financially back Joe Frazier’s career before launching a successful closed-circuit TV business from his basement in Wissinoming, died Thursday at age 87.

Mr. Hand grew up in the Lawncrest section of Northeast Philadelphia and attended St. William School and North Catholic High School. He became a policeman like his father, Joe, who died when Mr. Hand was 12 years old.

While serving as a police detective in 1967, Mr. Hand read an article in the Daily News about a coalition of businessmen who were financially supporting Frazier and guiding his boxing career as he turned pro after winning a gold medal at the 1964 Olympics. Mr. Hand wanted in but didn’t have $500. So he took out a loan and joined the Cloverlay group. It was his introduction to the fight game.

Mr. Hand parlayed that investment — Frazier soon became the heavyweight champ — into his own business, which would secure the closed-circuit rights for every major fight. Joe Hand Promotions launched in 1971, shortly after Frazier stunned Muhammad Ali in the “Fight of the Century.”

“He said, ‘The next thing you know, I’m 30-some years old sitting at ringside on March 8, 1971, and my guy just beat Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight championship of the world,’” said Mr. Hand’s son, Joe. “He says, ‘I’m thinking to myself, ‘How in the world did I ever get here?’”

The company quickly became one the country’s leaders in the closed-circuit business as fans went to places like the Spectrum or the Cherry Hill Arena to watch telecasts of fights before the rise of pay-per-view TV. Joe Hand Promotions now sells those fights to bars and restaurants and calls itself a leader in “out-of-home live sports content.”

If a bar televises a big fight, it likely has to purchase it from Mr. Hand’s company. The company is more than boxing as it sells every telecast from soccer and WWE to golf and the UFC. Mr. Hand remained the company’s chairman.

“He ended up getting COVID in the office about two weeks ago,” Mr. Hand’s son said. “We tested him and said, ‘You have COVID. You have to go home.’ He said, ‘OK. I’ll come back in a couple days.’ We said, ‘Yeah, you can’t come back until you get past this.’ Unfortunately, it got worse, and we had to put him in the hospital.

» READ MORE: Philadelphia boxer Joey Dawejko owns a roofing company and loves being ‘king of the neighborhood’

“Every day, he came into the office. He wasn’t just in there not doing anything. He wasn’t a figurehead, so to speak. He was involved.”

Mr. Hand launched the business from his rowhouse on Jackson Street with the help of his family, many of whom still work there. He proudly called Joe Hand Promotions a “family business.” The company, now headquartered in a 25,000-square-foot office building on Street Road in Feasterville, quickly outgrew the basement.

“He loved that the company was being progressive and always trying to look at new technology,” Joe Hand Jr. said. “He had a theory: Follow the technology, see where it takes you, then figure out a seat at the table when you get there.”

Along with the closed-circuit business, Mr. Hand operated a nonprofit boxing gym that was home to many of Philadelphia’s premier fighters. The Joe Hand Gym opened in 1995 in Fishtown and was used by Mike Tyson before he fought later that year at the Spectrum. The gym moved to South Philly before settling in Northern Liberties, where Bernard Hopkins trained for years. It is now located inside the company’s Bucks County headquarters.

Mr. Hand also sponsored the annual Golden Gloves amateur tournament and offered boxing programs for veterans, people with special needs, and those with Parkinson’s. His gym also included a computer lab that was open to neighborhood children. The gym was home to world champions, but Mr. Hand wanted it to be for everyone.

“My parents were both cops. They loved being police officers,” Joe Hand Jr. said. “I think it was the idea of protecting the community and providing safe havens. My mom challenged us. She said, ‘You guys are being pretty successful. What are you doing for the community?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. You want me to write a check for something?’ She said, ‘I don’t want you to write a check. You need to do something.’ We put our heads together and opened the gym to create a positive thing in the community.”

Mr. Hand is survived by his son; his daughter, Margaret Hand Cicalese; his sister, Patricia Hand; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Services are pending.