New program at Joe Hand Boxing Gym aims to break ‘down those barriers’ between teens and the police

Pay-per-view television pioneer Joe Hand Sr. took out a $500 loan in 1967 to invest in Cloverlay Corporation, a then-recently formed financial group that subsidized local boxer Joe Frazier. His all-in investment paid off massively when Frazier’s career took off, and he became the first boxer to defeat Muhammad Ali. Hand Sr. died last year, but his son, Joe Hand Jr., has maintained the boxing ties and community initiatives his parents put in place and has striven to create new ones.

The younger Hand’s most recent project serves as a tribute to his parents, both of whom served as Philadelphia police officers: a Police Athletic League boxing program aimed at bridging the gap between children and law enforcement.

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

The motivation to give back? Thirty-one years ago, Hand recalls going to his parents’ home for dinner one time when his mother, Margaret, asked, “What are you doing about giving back to the community?”

At the time, Hand was working under his father at his company, Joe Hand Promotions, which distributed pay-per-view boxing fights to many large establishments. The elder Hand started the company with the capital he’d earned from the Cloverlay investment and with the benefit of the credibility he’d earned within the boxing industry due to his relationship with Frazier.

Hand was caught off guard by his mother’s question, responding that the company sponsored a Little League baseball team and donated to a number of other causes. But to Margaret, just sending over money wasn’t close to good enough; there was no community engagement.

“‘Your mom and I know what it means to have a really strong community youth center in a bad neighborhood … and we’re going to try to help some kids, and we’re going to take them off the streets, and we’re going to get them away from the gangs, and the violence, and the drugs,’“ Hand Jr. recalls his father saying the next day at work.

The pair opened Joe Hand Boxing Gym in 1995, which was originally located at the intersection of Thompson Street and Howard Street in Fishtown but later moved to South Philly and eventually Northern Liberties. But Joe Hand Boxing Gym was more than just a training center. It operated as a community resource for many children.

In 2020, the gym and Joe Hand Promotions moved to Feasterville, where Hand Sr. resided.

“It was a lot for [my dad] to leave the office in the afternoon and go down into the city on I-95; it was hard,” said Hand. “And he loved going to the gym with those kids. I mean, he would sit there, and he would mentor them and talk to them and find out what was going on in their lives, and he was making an enormous impact for them.”

But the move placed the Hand family at a crossroads.

“We’re in Feasterville, Pennsylvania. There’s not a lot of drugs, there’s not a lot of gangs, there’s not a lot of violence. So what could we do to give back to the community?” Hand Jr. asked.

The solution was launching community programs directed at a diverse range of causes. The gym, which remains a nonprofit, has launched classes for people with Parkinson’s disease, breast cancer, and children with special needs, among others.

Their most recent initiative, the Police Athletic League, or PAL Program, was the idea of Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran, who served as the police chief in Bensalem for 16 years before being elected sheriff in 2022.

“When I was in Bensalem, we started a youth league. We didn’t call it PAL, but we had about 60 kids doing basketball for six to eight weeks during the summer,” said Harran. “It became very popular … and when I left Bensalem in January of ‘22, we went from 60 kids to 1,280 kids.”

Given Joe Hand’s extensive experience with community programs, Harran said it was a no-brainer to reach out with the PAL idea.

“Before I finished my first sentence, he said yes,” shared Harran.

In early August, Bucks County’s inaugural countywide PAL program commenced. Classes are held twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m. At each session, Bucks County sheriff’s deputies partner with instructors at Joe Hand Boxing Gym to lead classes made up of teens between the ages of 11 and 16.

“For law enforcement officers to be breaking down those barriers with kids … is so valuable. It’s priceless,” said Harran.

“We want [the kids] to know that it’s not us against them. [Police officers are] there to protect our families, and they’re there to help us, and they’re our friends. And how could you become better friends with them when you come in and work out with them?” added Hand. “Just in the few nights that they’re here, I see the police officers with their arms around the kids walking out the door. Like that’s just such a great image in my mind.”

Soon after the program was announced, there was a 12-person wait-list. The PAL classes are capped at 15 to ensure a quality experience for each participant.

» READ MORE: Joe Hand and Cloverlay helped Joe Frazier become ‘Smokin’ before Hand started his own career

Harran shared that expanding the PAL program is front of mind, not just at Joe Hand Boxing Gym, but in other areas as well.

“I can’t have children from Bristol borough traveling to Quakertown for an event. It’s not possible,” said Harran. “My goal is to get this regionalized, so kids in Quakertown only have to travel 15-20 minutes. … So we start chipping away. And I think it can be done. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, but, you know, God willing, in a couple of years, this is going to be one [heck] of a program.

While Harran and his deputies intend to expand the PAL program further with increased funding and donations, their partnership with Joe Hand has certainly laid the groundwork.

“Do I care if [these kids] ever develop great left hooks? Not really,” said Hand. “Inside these four walls, we’re changing people’s views about different things in life and how to respect other people. And, you know, those are all the other intangibles that we’re hoping we’re teaching them.”