More than an iconic American sportswriter, complete with his trademark fedora and stogie, the author of 80-plus books and a member of the Boxing Hall of Fame, Bert was a world-class raconteur and a loyal friend.

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Zavala says he likes his uniform and red fedora.

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Resemblances between his work and that of Rodin, Dali and others are, he says, coincidental although the black fedora apparently plastinated to his head is a nod towards the anatomist's hat in a famous portrait by Rembrandt.

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One day in mid-December, there was a knock at the kitchen-house door and he found Chance Poxley standing in the tall dead grass, wearing a small tweed fedora, shading his eyes with one hand.

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