Ramon “Buddy” Carr, 89, an amateur boxer who joined the Toledo police force and gained acclaim as an adept coach of young boxers, including a U.S. Olympic gold medalist, died Monday at the Parkcliffe Alzheimer’s Community.

He had dementia, his son Kevin said.

Mr. Carr of West Toledo retired as a Toledo police sergeant in 1981. Over his 30-year career, he had street patrol and traffic-bureau duty. He also ran the police gymnasium in the Safety Building, was director of the Police Athletic League, and later was assigned to the Toledo police human-relations unit, coaching young boxers at the Soul City gym.

“Buddy was always so open to everybody and approachable and ready to give advice,” said Lucas County Sheriff John Tharp, who was a rookie Toledo police officer in 1972 when he met Mr. Carr, then assigned to direct the department’s physical-fitness program at the former Holy Spirit Seminary on Airport Highway.

Others, from rookies to veterans, respected him because he respected them, Sheriff Tharp said.

“He was always smiling and laughing and enjoyed life and enjoyed being around others,” the sheriff said. “Buddy wasn’t out for himself. He was out to do well for young people. He wanted to see young people succeed.”

As a boxer, Mr. Carr gained attention as early as 1941, when he won the “fightingest fighter” award on an Old Newsboys’ card. He later took amateur titles. In the Navy during World War II, he was stationed at San Diego, boxed for war-bond shows, and won a title.

After the war, he won two consecutive Golden Gloves titles as a light heavyweight. He fought briefly as a professional, but then turned to coaching.

Many of the young boxers he guided did well, none more so than Wilbert “Skeeter” Mc-Clure. Mr. Carr coached Mr. McClure as a youth in Toledo, and when Mr. McClure was on the U.S. boxing team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome — a group that included Cassius Clay, as Muhammad Ali was known — Mr. McClure won a gold medal.

“Half of my gold medal is his. I’ve told him that a thousand times,” Mr. McClure said of Mr. Carr in 1999. “You can only do what you’re taught. No more. No less.”

Mr. McClure later continued his education and received a doctorate.

“Boxing is an art,” Mr. Carr told The Blade in 1999. “The better artist you are, the better boxer you’re going to be. Skeeter was a terrific artist and he had a lot of desire to win.”

He also coached Louis Self to the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

Mr. Carr was a member of the Toledo Athletic Hall of Fame and the Woodward High School Hall of Fame.

“He was able to help a lot of kids from the street and get them on the right path,” his son Kevin said.

Born July 5, 1926, in Napoleon to Mildred and Nicholas Carr, Mr. Carr graduated from Woodward High School in 1944 after his family moved to North Toledo. He played football at Woodward.

He and the former Eleanor Hauck married May 13, 1950. She died Dec. 31, 2013, and their daughter Deborah died in 1973.

Surviving are his sons, Nicholas, Dennis, Dr. Timothy, and Kevin Carr; daughters, Kathleen Moses and Cynthia Roy; sisters, Ramona Briggs, who was his twin, and Bridget Riley; 10 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 1-7 p.m. Sunday in Ansberg-West Funeral Home. Services will begin at 10 a.m. Monday in Historic Church of St. Patrick downtown, where the body will be after 9 a.m.

The family suggests tributes to Historic St. Patrick or Senior Independence.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published March 11, 2016, 5:00 a.m.