Doc highlighting Philly's rich boxing history premieres this weekend
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A documentary highlighting Philadelphia's rich history of boxing legends premieres this weekend as a part of the Philadelphia Film Festival. It's called "The Executioners: We All Had A Chance.
The award-winning documentary tells the personal story of the filmmaker and well known comedian, Dannon Green, a Philly hometown legend.
For many, this was the passageway to opportunity – through boxing.
"So when you hit this door, you say, "Know what? Let's do it,'" Green said.
Green did it as a 14-year-old member of the Philadelphia Boxing Club known as The Executioners.
"People don't understand what the gym did for us men, as young kids," Green said. "In my short two years there, it carried on for my whole life."
So much so, he now lives in Los Angeles. He's a filmmaker, and his latest project? A Philadelphia story called: "The Executioners: We All Had A Chance."
"Man it's hot, I'm not just saying because it's me," Green said. "To me, I really feel it's one of the best boxing documentaries ever done."
Footage, stories, and interviews from days gone by. A historical perspective centering around a little known West Philadelphia boxing gym that made a big.
Difference in the lives of many young men by keeping them out of harm's way.
"Because they belonged here they got safe passage," Frank Taylor said.
Taylor and the late Marvin Toochie gordan ran the gym located on the corner 60th and Vine Streets.
"You know how the streets were back then, there was a lot of gangs," Taylor said. "We had a lot of guys come from Southwest. They had to walk over here or ride the bus, and they had safe passage because they were Executioners."
And now their stories, their triumphs and tragedies are being told and documented by one of their own – a man who says what happened back then, can certainly relate to what's going on today.
"I'm a foster kid, I grew up hard, but just what we learned here alone was enough for us to move to a different direction," Green said.
And more than enough for him to share his past with the present in hopes of guiding others to a brighter future.
"This is where it started," Green said. "I mean if I didn't have this, I don't know where i would've been."
The hometown premier of "The Executioners" is this Saturday at 4 p.m. at the
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts on North Broad Street.
Many of the boxing legends featured in the film will be there.