Inducted February, 1983

In an era when boxing thrived and good club fighters made the climb to the top much more difficult than it is today, Claude Varner was one of the world's ranking featherweights. The Texas native who grew up in Bakersfield was a tremendous crowd-pleaser with his aggressive style and non-stop punching. He fought the best of his class both in this country and abroad, also boxing in Canada, Mexico and Europe and Australia. He won over 100 fights, most of them by knockout, and was never stopped himself. Varner who was also active in youth work here, died in 1963.