So a guy walks into a bar ...

Sunday, my wife and I took the ferry into San Francisco for an afternoon of blues music at The Saloon. The Saloon is a dive bar’s dive bar: arguably the oldest bar in San Francisco, claiming to have opened in 1861. Its other claim to fame is that as a world-famous bar for blues music — two sets a day, every day, nearly year ’round. With a beautiful, ornate, 1860s-style backbar, The Saloon is cramped, old and with seating for about 40-50 people. It also has a small dance space, about a third of which is taken by the bands that perform there.

We walked in just before the 4 p.m. set and the only available open spots at the bar were at the end. At some point, an older gentleman, “Steve,” took up a spot next to us and promptly began talking our ears off — but it did earn me a free drink from Steve, so there’s that.

Anyway, as I turned my attention to the band, Steve and my wife kept chatting — which can be difficult at times because while the place is small, it seems the bands alway are playing at a “10” volume.

At one point, another older guy walks in and greets Steve. Now the two of them are chatting up my wife. After a few minutes, my wife turns to me and says, “This is Pat. He’s a boxer.”

“Pat Lawlor?” I asked. At which point he made a beeline for me.

It was, indeed, “The Pride of the Sunset,” “Irish” Pat Lawlor, a native San Franciscan who spent nearly nearly 30 years as a professional boxer, compiling a record of 23-16-1 after starting his career 12-0.

For several years, Lawlor got into the ring with the likes of Wilfred Benitez, twice with Roberto “Manos de Piedras” Duran, Hector “Macho” Camacho, Joe Calzaghe, Terry Norris and Vinny Pazienza — all in the Boxing Hall of Fame.

As we were chatting, I couldn’t help but think I made Lawlor’s day by remembering his boxing days. Like a lot of former fighters, Lawlor had his “bit” down. I asked him about fighting Duran, who he beat in the first meeting by technical knockout when Duran quit because of a shoulder injury.

“The second ‘No Mas’ fight,” Lawlor quipped.

In the rematch, the two met in Duran’s native Panama City, Panama, where Lawlor lost by unanimous decision.

That’s when he dropped his rehearsed line.

“It was like fighting Jesus on Christmas and the Three Wise Men were the judges,” Lawlor said.

As I turned my attention back to the band, I noticed Lawlor had left, only to reappear moments later with a photo copy of a magazine story about the Lawlor-Duran II fight. Turns out Lawlor lives right above the bar. I’m guessing he keeps a stack of these photo copies to hand out to those boxing fans who recognize him. He wrote a brief message and autographed it for me. It now hangs on my wall in the Daily Journal office.

Lawlor, who was born, raised and stayed in San Francisco, “46th and Judah, Lower Sunset District,” he said with pride, has had a hard-scrabble life. He’s done hard prison time for a series of DUIs, and has other skeletons in his closet, of which he doesn’t seem too proud.

But it seems like he has found some stability in recent years, becoming a longshoreman about five years ago. He’s only about five years older than me, but the toll of being a prize fighter can be seen in his face.

Meanwhile, while I’m reminiscing with Lawlor, my wife continues her conversation with Steve and two other older gentlemen who had since joined the party. Again, she turns to me and says, “This guy was a swimmer in the 1972 Olympics.”

That would be Michael Stramm, who became a footnote during the Munich games as that was the year Mark Spitz dominated with seven gold medals and seven world records. But Stramm was no slouch. He won a pair of silver medals in the 100 and 200 backstroke, his signature stroke, and was part of the United States’ gold medal-winning medley relay team.

But my wife was got so much more personal information — such as Stramm has retired to Costa Rica and was visiting San Francisco. He will return to The City next month to hook up with his daughter and his new grandchild.

Life is such funny thing. You never know who you’re going to meet.

Nathan Mollat can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.