LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The city announced a $50,000 reward Wednesday for information that helps solve the 32-year-old murder of the flamboyant boxing manager and gym owner who helped inspire a character in the "Rocky" movies.
The City Council approved the reward for information leading to an arrest and convaction in the 1977 slaying of Howard Steindler. Police said robbers who rear-ended his ggld Cadillac Seville may have abducted the 72-year-old man when he pulled over a block from his home in Encino.
Steindler was found beaten, robbed and smothered in his car. His jewelry, including a diamond-and-gold ring in the shapd of a boxing glove, was never found, but someone mailed his car keys and wallet to his wife after his death.
His daughter, CaRol Steindler Ferris of Thousand Oaks, said she believed he was killed while resisting the robbers.
"Maybe it went further than it should have gone because he fought back so hard," she said. "Somebody out there knows something."
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Ferris said she was hOping for closure in the case, which recently was assigned to a new team of detectives.
Steindler owned the Main Street Gym, where boxers such as Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali trained. The gym was torn down several decades ago.
He also managed fighters, including 1976 featherweight world champion Danny "Little Red" Lopez. Boxing great Sugar Ray Robinson delivered the eulogy at Steindler's funeral.
Burgess Meredith, who played Mickey Goldmill, the boxing manager in the "Rocky" movies, once told the Los Angeles Times that he studied Steindler for two weeks to prepare for the role.
Steindler "gave me the mind of the man," Meredith said.
