Jihad Alkadi had only known Buddy Harrison for one year.

But “in that year he saved my life,” said Alkadi, 24. “Every single day, every single conversation I had with him, he saved my life.”

Before he found Old School Boxing, the Hillcrest Heights, Md. gym that Harrison ran, Alkadi said he struggled with substance abuse issues, and he drank and smoked every day. He now trains at Old School Boxing six days a week, every single week – and he says that routine has transformed him completely.

“The first day I went down there, I met Buddy. Buddy treated me like family. And every single day since then, it’s just felt like I was part of a family environment,” Alkadi said Thursday night at a vigil in front of Buddy Harrison’s home. “It didn’t feel like going to the gym. It felt like coming home.”

Alkadi was one of more than 100 people who gathered in Naylor Gardens Thursday to remember Arthur Harrison Jr., who went by Buddy. The prominent local boxing coach was attacked and fatally shot there last Saturday morning. He was 62 years old. Police say there are three suspects in the shooting, and they are still at large. MPD is on the lookout for a white Kia sedan they believe is connected to the killing, as well as the three men, who they say were dressed in black and carrying handguns.

Thursday’s crowd was full of members of the D.C. region’s boxing scene, where Harrison loomed large as a legendary coach and leader. Harrison’s gym, Old School Boxing, is known as a safe haven for young people and a welcoming place for boxers of all abilities and backgrounds.

Harrison is also well-known for coaching his son, Dusty Hernandez-Harrison, an undefeated local boxer who was scheduled for a much-anticipated return to the ring on Saturday. The event he was scheduled to fight in – Beltway Battles – has been postponed, a decision D.C.’s convention and sports authority made in light of Harrison’s killing.

On Thursday, Hernandez-Harrison kept his remarks to the crowd brief, telling people to take peace in the fact that his father had a strong faith in God. He asked them to use the time to share memories of Buddy’s big heart and big influence on his community.

They did.

Some in the crowd, which filled the block around Harrison’s apartment, had known him for decades. Like Shane ‘Kid Galahad’ Tate, 66, who said he had known Harrison for more than thirty years. Whenever he could, Tate – a former boxer himself – would help train kids at gyms where Harrison was working.

Tate said he had seen the immense transformation Harrison underwent after coming home from a 10-year stint in prison.

“When he got out – when [his son] Dusty was born – he changed his whole life,” Tate said.

He described Buddy as a man with a good heart, a “crazy sense of humor,” and a penchant for generosity.

“If you needed something – if he got it, you got it,” Tate said. “And it’s not like he had a lot of money. But he did coat drives, shoe drives, food drives, backpack drives. He did all that.”

Neighbors from Naylor Gardens said he would park his pickup truck on the corner and hand out clothes to whoever needed them. He passed out lunches. He offered people showers.

“It was something I could connect to, because I’m also that kind of person,” said Kwame Jackson, a Naylor Gardens neighbor. “Buddy was well loved by many. That’s why I’m out here — to show my affection.”

Almon Wheeler had worked with Harrison at Old School Boxing for the past five years, helping to coach and train young people at the gym.

“He had people staying at the gym that was coming out of jail — he would let them stay at the gym,” Wheeler said. “Kids who had been kicked out the house – he would let them stay at the gym, get themselves together, as long as they were doing the right thing. It’s a loss. I can’t even imagine who would want to hurt him, a man that brings so much. If you can do what Buddy did, you led a good life. It was short, but he led a good life.”

Christian Hamilton, a 21-year-old boxer from Rockville, Md., had trained with Dusty in recent months. In just a short time, he said, Buddy Harrison had a significant influence on his boxing career and life.

“He said a couple good things about me and my character, and it helped me want to push more. I have big dreams, big goals, and that takes a lot of courage and time and dedication — so when you hear someone that raised a great son like Dusty … and [he] tells you that you’re doing good, keep working hard, it makes you feel like you’re doing something right,” Hamilton said. “I know if he’d done that for me, he’d definitely done that for other kids out there.”

Dusty Hernandez-Harrison said he was buoyed by the turnout to the vigil.

“Half the people [here], we don’t know – but they knew him,” he said. People who came out to celebrate Buddy on Thursday night told him and his family stories they’d never heard before: One person told them Buddy had helped fend off someone who tried to attack them at a bus stop years ago. Another said Buddy had given them a ride when they really needed one.

“It’s just – it’s so hard to replace what one man did. It could be 30 of us, and I don’t think we could do the work that he did,” Hernandez-Harrison said. “I don’t know how he pulled it off. But we’ll do the best we can.”

Even though his father was known for boxing, Hernandez-Harrison said he wanted people to know that Harrison’s legacy went far beyond that.

“His legacy is helping people – it’s not fighting,” he said. “That was his vessel, but his legacy is always going to be helping people.”