Who is Lah Nimani?
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@Oklahoman.com
You never know when you’re going to find that diamond in the rough. I was asked earlier this week to try to piece together a story about Lah Nimani. At first, I was skeptical. I had enough work to concentrate on with HS football previews and scrimmages.
But knowing that it had something to do with boxing, I looked into it. I’m glad I did…really glad. This story is your quintesential American dream coupled with a “what the?” factor.
Nimani was a leading boxing trainer for the Yugoslavian boxing team for years and helped train fighters for four different Summer Olympics (1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992).
No one would have known any of this without doing a little digging because Nimani was not one to boast about his own accomplishments.
Nimani died Feb. 20 at age 68 because of heart problems.
He sent his son, Istref, to America as a foreign exchange student. Istref attended Midwest City. While visiting his son, Lah and his wife, Melek, became refugees after war broke out in their native home of Kosovo in the mid to late 1990s.
Lah worked at the Transformation Fitness Center for eight years, and nobody there knew about his former exploits.
He led someone to the gold medal, for crying out loud. You’d think he’d want to brag about said accomplishments.
In talking with both Istref and Melek, you could see how they still beam with pride about Lah. With good reason, too.
Lah was in the fight game during its glory days. When even Melek recognizes how far the fight game has fallen, that’s bad. She said she can’t work up the excitement to watch like she used to.
Melek lives with Istref, and the family has come a long way. Or in her words “we come from nothing and now we have everything.” She can’t rave enough about how great America has been to her and her family. “It’s No. 1 country in whole world. Not just for me, for everybody.”
I don’t know, it was a breath of fresh air for me to discuss boxing’s good ol’ days with people who experienced them. So much (and some from me) about the sport is so negative that you forget about how boxing and sports in general can mold someone and inspire people.
There were two big memorials for Lah in Kosovo. Istref and Melek both said they couldn’t believe how many people made the trip or how many people Lah really did inspire.
And that includes his son, Istref, who is battling something of his own. Istref’s wife, Linda and 3-year-old son, Renard, remain in Kosovo. Renard was born in America but because Istref is not a US citizen, they will not let his family back home even though they were just there visiting.
Istref begins his process for citizenship Sept. 25. He hopes to apply for full citizenship in the fall. When he does, he can begin the process of bringing his family back home.
In spending time with Melek and looking at old photos, a smile came back to her face. She can remember just about anything about those photos. The family has saved newspapers from Kosovo where Nimani’s death was front-page news. They showed me six or seven different papers. I couldn’t read a word of it because it was in Albanian, but you start to understand just a little how much he meant to his people.
One of the most famous Kosovo boxers, Elvir Muriqi, tried to coerce Lah back into the fight game. “The Kosovo Kid” has been in the ring with the likes of Antonio Tarver and was once trained by American legend Teddy Atlas. Lah was also friends with former Muhammad Ali trainer Angelo Dundee.
Istref didn’t follow in the footsteps of his dad. Well, not really. He’s now a juvenile probation officer, which in a lot of ways is exactly like a boxing trainer. They both deal with turning the lives around of normally troubled kids.
Goes to show you never know who you’re going to meet and what interesting and unbelievable stories you’ll find along the way.
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I chatted with Lah daily about boxing. He was a great friend. He always talked about how sloppy boxing was today and how his favorite heavyweight was Evander Holyfield. He came to one of my amateur fights where nobody there knew who he was. Great Man and missed everyday!!