CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A candlelight memorial vigil in North Charleston Wednesday night celebrated the life of a young up-and-coming boxer who took his own life Sunday.
Dozens in the community came to Hometown Heroes gym and remembered Lee Dyess Jr. as a great boxer and an even better man.
“He was very active in the community. He would go to the community centers and volunteer; play with the kids, play basketball and teach them how to spar,” said an emotional Courtney Campbell, a friend of Dyess who organized the event. “He was someone that this community needs; a positive light in this community.”
Campbell said Dyess had held several middleweight championships, and was about to fight the biggest bout of his career on Monday, an Olympic qualifier.
“Lee was a boxer that everyone looked up to,” said the owner of Hometown Heroes Gary Toney, who said that they would often have to find someone out-of-state to fight Dyess. “All the boxers in the gym. He motivated…right now my heart’s breaking.”
Cookie Johnson, who was handing out cupcakes to attendees, said Dyess was a good man who experienced a lot of tragedies in life.
“Always well spoken, I mean, he loved life itself. Lee had a bout with depression with losing his mother and his brother,” she explained. “He just couldn’t handle it no more. Life was just too harsh after that.”
Lisa Jones, Dyess’ mother, died of a heart attack in 2015. Campbell said everyone would remember Lee Dyess for a two things.
“His smile first of all. And second of all his kind-hearted nature. You would never understand unless you truly knew him how kind-hearted, how good of a person he was,” she said. “He was the type of person who would give you the shirt off his back and not think twice about it.”
Many of the medals and trophies Dyess had won in his career were on display at a table in the gym Wednesday night.
Dyess, a 2011 Capital High School graduate, worked as a sanitation worker for the city of Charleston, and was planning to join the fire department, Campbell said.
Funeral arrangements are in the care of Keller Funeral Home in Dunbar. Dyess was 24.