On October 7 of this year, Stan 'The Man' Longinidis was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame. While this is no small feat for any athlete, it's especially rare for a kickboxer. As with his other achievements, Stan is the first.
Longinidis is one of those rare athletes who successfully transitioned from sportsman to statesman, which is the unspoken criterion making an athlete a contender for Hall of Fame status. Life after kickboxing hasn't seen him slide into lethargy, or a set of shady associations. He has gone on to become a serious draw-card on the public speaking circuit, addressing schools, sporting clubs and corporate groups.
More than being the world's best-known former world champion heavyweight kickboxer, Stan has used his ability to convey through speech and power of personality the things he saw from the heights of the accomplishments he attained.
Stan grew up in Altona in Melbourne's Western suburbs. Life there was tough, but Stan was nurtured by a loving, supportive family.
Stan also grew up with athletics, distinguishing himself playing soccer as a young man.
Another game was coming to which Stan could dedicate his considerable energies – and talents.
Bob Jones was to play a pivotal role in the development of Stan's career.
In many ways, adversity makes a champion every bit as much as opportunity.
Ironically, Bob Jones may have been the man to set Stan on the road to international stardom.
"In 1987, during the week of the America's Cup yacht race, Bob Jones and Ron Stroud organized a kickboxing event. It was a big show, boasting three world title fights. For one of those, they wanted an Aussie to fight an American. I'm not sure if I was given that chance to throw me to the lions, or if that's how my career took off.
"I fought a man named Santiago Gaza. We fought twelve rounds; it was the first time I had fought with leg kicks. Anyway, I knocked him down a couple of times, but it came out a draw. I was happy; in Australia at that time, we were all amateurs. I would have felt a bit strange winning my first pro fight and being crowned the heavyweight champion of the world!
At that time, Stan had become a computer programmer, working for R.J. Glibertson's, the parent company of Don Smallgoods. He had a guaranteed job and a company car. His future was assured. Taking up the offer at The Jet Centre meant that he would have to put these things aside and go off on an uncertain adventure.
Stan says that he left Australia a boy and returned a man. He went from living with his parents to having to sleep in a dorm with twenty other fighters at The Jet Centre, washing his own clothes and the like. It was all balanced out by the quality of the training, however.
Stan began fighting regularly in the US and soon became a celebrity himself.
A very significant part of what has made Stan's legacy so strong is the fact that his is a genuinely Melbourne story. While many of Australia's best-known fighters have gone on to great things internationally, Stan is the only one to have bought that international focus back home to Melbourne. His world title against Denis Alexio is one of the fabled events of Melbourne sports.
"My vision was my moment of greatness. To be great, you need to beat greatness. At that time, Alexio was the man to beat. He had movie deals, corporate sponsors, and all the rest. I needed to beat him to get to the top of the heap.
"To make it happen, I sat down with Christopher Chronis and my manager. We figured out we needed thirteen thousand paid ticket holders to pay him what he wants. How do we do it? In addition to that, Alexio gave us a set of conditions. The first was that we fight three-minute rounds. At that time, it was all two-minute rounds. He thought I would break under duress. Second, he had to OK two of the three judges. The referee was a mate of his, and lastly, we had to wear foot-pads, because he was worried about the leg kicks.
The fight will go down in history as one of the most anticipated – and one of the shortest in kickboxing history. It took only six seconds – and one well-placed leg kick – to make Stan the champion of the world.
After this observation, Stan leans in and proves why he bought the sport of kickboxing to prominence in Australia, which is the reason he was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame.
To illustrate his point, Stan returns to a story that begins in his days as a computer programmer working for R.J. Gilbertsons.
At this point, it becomes clear that Stan's is a story about more than winning and losing, which is how most sports are defined. His is a story about desire, perseverance, and a moment of greatness as being the one which provides true, lasting perspective on all the others.
This entry was posted on February 11, 2014 at 2:28 am and is filed under Journalism, Kickboxing with tags Adam 'Smiley' Urquidez, Altona, America's Cup, Australian Sporting Hall of Fame, Benny the Jet, Bob Jones, Christopher Chronis, Chuck Norris, Crocodile Dundee, Crown Casino, Dana Goodson, Dennis Alexio, Fame Nightclub, Gary Ablett Junior, George Konstas, Gregory Hines, Jodie Foster, Juventus, K1, Karate, Mick Matthews, Mr Lavorato, Mr T, R.J. Gilbertsons, Ron Stroud, Santiago Gaza, Stan 'The Man' Longinidis, Terry Daniher, Vanity, Williamstown, Zen Do Kai.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.