Aileen Eaton was a boxing

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 promoter who was influential in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

' west coast's boxing scene for five decades. Eaton was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. She attended Los Angeles High School

Los Angeles High School

Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are blue and white and the teams are called the Romans....

.

Her second husband, Cal Eaton, was a boxing promoter in Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

. She got involved in her husband's business in 1942. During her career as a promoter, Eaton would get involved with big name promoters and fighters, sometimes traveling to other states in search of business. Eaton is the mother of martial artist and professional wrestler Gene LeBell

Gene LeBell

Ivan Gene LeBell is a former American Judo champion, instructor, stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and professional wrestler born in Los Angeles, California. LeBell has worked on over 1,000 films and TV shows, and has authored a number of books.In 2000, he was promoted to 9th Dan in US Ju-Jitsu...

 and professional wrestling promoter Mike Lebelle.

In 1966, Cal died. Nicknamed The Redhead, Eaton took over presidency of her husband's company and went on to stage more than 10,000 boxing bouts and as many wrestling matches at the L.A. Olympic Auditorium

Grand Olympic Auditorium

The Grand Olympic Auditorium is the former name of a sports venue in Los Angeles, California, United States. Located at 1801 S. Grand Avenue, the venue was built in 1924 specifically for the 1932 Summer Olympics, which saw the boxing, weightlifting, and wrestling events held there. At the time it...

, promoting such fighters as Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson

Floyd Patterson was an American heavyweight boxer and former undisputed heavyweight champion. At 21, Patterson became the youngest man to win the world heavyweight title. He was also the first heavyweight boxer to regain the title. He had a record of 55 wins 8 losses and 1 draw, with 40 wins by...

, Danny Lopez

Danny Lopez

Danny Lopez is a former American boxer from Fort Duchesne, Utah. He was world Featherweight champion, and a very popular fighter both in television and Southern California, during the 1970s. His nickname is Little Red.-Background:...

, Carlos Palomino

Carlos Palomino

Carlos Palomino a retired Mexican professional boxer. Palomino is a former WBC Welterweight Champion and member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Palomino is also an actor who has been featured in several television shows and films...

, Joe Frazier

Joe Frazier

Joseph William "Joe" Frazier , also known as Smokin' Joe, was an Olympic and Undisputed World Heavyweight boxing champion, whose professional career lasted from 1965 to 1976, with a one-fight comeback in 1981....

 and George Foreman

George Foreman

George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...

 before she retired in 1980. When alongside her husband, she had also helped promote fights of Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson

Sugar Ray Robinson was an African-American professional boxer. Frequently cited as the greatest boxer of all time, Robinson's performances in the welterweight and middleweight divisions prompted sportswriters to create "pound for pound" rankings, where they compared fighters regardless of weight...

 and Carmen Basilio

Carmen Basilio

Carmine Basilio better known in the boxing world as Carmen Basilio, is an American former professional boxer who was a two weight world boxing champion...

, among others.

Eaton was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame

International Boxing Hall of Fame

The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame is located in Canastota, New York, United States, within driving distance from the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown and the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta...

 in 2002, the first woman in the hall. In 2011, Eaton, along with her sons Gene and Mike, was inducted into National Wrestling Alliance

National Wrestling Alliance

The National Wrestling Alliance is a wrestling promotion company and sanctions various NWA championships in the United States. The NWA has been in operation since 1948...

's Hall of Fame

NWA Hall of Fame

The National Wrestling Alliance Hall of Fame is an American professional wrestling hall of fame maintained by the NWA. It was established in 2005 to honor select wrestling personalities, mostly alumni of the NWA. Inductees receive commemorative medals that have their names inscribed on it with the...

.