4/8/2023 0 Comments Punching the clock![]() Schorle finally did retire from prison life in May 2001, after finding success with his refereeing. I don’t know if I like this.’ I was looking to retire after that.” ![]() It talked about my daughter, and the inmate was like ‘Oh, you got a daughter, too?’ and I went, ‘Huh. “I was working in the Hole and all they knew was that my nametag said ‘Correctional Officer Schorle’ and I walked by this cell and this mean gangbanger goes, ‘Hey, Jon David.’ And I said, ‘How would you know that?’…He reaches over to his bed and grabs his newspaper, and there’s a picture of me in the newspaper with this whole article ‘Jon David Schorle II’ and I looked at it. Still, as Schorle’s boxing career rose, word got out. That means no wedding rings or driver’s licenses behind the walls. As a prison guard, all personal information must remain a secret lest some inmate finds a problem and takes it out on you. Schorle.’ They’d treat me with such respect, it was funny.” And it was funny, if five inmates saw me do a fight on TV, the whole institution knew about it in a couple of days. So the excitement came from doing fights. You’re sitting around waiting for something to happen, and then something does happen and you have to react to it. “Honestly, 80 percent of prison work as a guard is the most boring thing ever. Take his days at Folsom State Prison, for example: Turns out, Clint Eastwood was in the crowd the night before and was so impressed by Schorle’s skills that he personally hand-picked him for the film.īut not all the fame, Schorle says, was welcome. “I said ‘Sure, what do they want?’ And they said, ‘There’s this movie called The Million Dollar Baby-that’s what they called it, ‘the’ Million Dollar Baby-and they want you to be a referee.” The day after he refereed the heavyweight boxing world championship, Schorle got a call asking for his number. And, as Schorle puts it while showing me newspaper clippings about his star turn, it was because he caught Eastwood’s eye. He was even cast by Clint Eastwood in his 2004 Academy Award-winning drama Million Dollar Baby. In fact, before he left for Austin, Schorle was the top-paid boxing referee in California eight years running. Schorle has presided over fights of the boxing world’s biggest names, among them Floyd Mayweather Jr., Julio Cesar Chavez Jr., and even Vitali Klitschko, now leader of the Ukranian political opposition. More than 30 years later, he’s refereed around 50 boxing world titles, a handful of K1 kickboxing tournaments, and a number of MMA fights. “You’re not going to become popular as a ticket writer. Refereeing seemed like a healthier way to stay involved with the sport he loved. “I boxed for a couple of years in 19, and I had five fights, and I won all five, but I was too old.” Boxing is a hard lifestyle to maintain: Schorle’s boss had questions about his frequent black eyes, and he was losing weight from training so hard. “I was a mechanic for 13 years,” he says. Why, then, does he get into these jobs in the first place? Schorle didn’t start out as a boxing referee, or a prison guard, or even a professional ticket writer. “You don’t get into any of these jobs to become popular.” “If you take a point away, even if it’s a good point reduction, they’ll still boo you.” It’s the same thing as a prison guard, he says. “When you’re a boxing ref, they’re just dying to boo you,” Schorle says. “Everybody hates you.” That applies to most of the jobs he’s had. ![]() “You’re not going to become popular as a ticket writer,” Schorle says as he steers his golf cart around campus. But seeing as he moonlights as a professional boxing referee and, if that isn’t enough, worked as a prison guard at California’s infamous Folsom State Prison, he’s used to being the bad guy. People aren’t usually happy to see Schorle, 53, and verbal abuse from parkers who feel they’ve been ticketed unfairly is a regular occurrence. Well, if that traffic cop works for UT’s Parking and Transportation Services, he might be Jon Schorle, and chances are he’s someone you shouldn’t mess with. Who is this guy, and why is he infringing on your American right to park wherever you want? You’re late, you’re double-parked, and a traffic cop is writing you a ticket. 3 Comments Jon Schorle is an internationally renowned boxing referee, a former correctional officer in one of the nation’s toughest prisons, a family man-and the guy giving you a parking ticket.
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