People
have asked me why I call myself the "champ". I
wasn't a fighter but I adopted this moniker in honor of one
of the greatest fighters of all time, the Manassa Mauler,
Jack Dempsey. I began to use the nickname “Champ”, if
you will, to humbly honor this hero of mine because during
his era the ‘men were men’. Jack Dempsey was as
recognizable a symbol during the roaring 20's as the music
and women of that era. Al Capone and prohibition was among
the headline news while you had stars such as Bill Tilden,
Babe Ruth and Bobby Jones also earning celebrity status
during this time. This era was also referred to as the
golden age of sports writing and the “Champ”, Jack
Dempsey was living during this golden age of sports.
He was born Willliam Harrison Dempsey on June 24th, 1895,
and was the son of Hyrum Dempsey and Mary Celia Smoot. The
elder Dempsey was a long fellow who stood 6'1 and 150
pounds, and possessed a moody character. His father had been
a landowner. In 1868, Hyrum married Dempsey’s mother, the
daughter of a shopkeeper. Dempsey himself described his
"roots" like this. "Irish, Cherokee, and a
Jewish strain." The Dempsey’s made the wagon trip
west which became a rough trip. They settled in Manassa,
which was founded by the Mormons in the 1870's. Dempsey, the
ninth born child was named William Harrison after the ninth
president of the United States.
Dempsey recounted a story that seems to have determined his
boxing destiny. On a winter evening when Celia was
pregnant with Jack, a peddler let her choose from a sack of
books in exchange for a small donation. Celia enjoyed
reading so she chose a book on biography. She selected
‘The Modern Gladiator’. In this book it talked about the
exploits and experiences of one of the World's greatest
fighters, John Lawrence Sullivan, who became known as the
‘Samson’ of the prize-fighting boxing ring. This book
was a classic tale about the era of bare-knuckled
boxing. It gave examples of John L's knockouts and his win
over Jack Kilrain (after Kirlain could not answer in the
76th round.). Sullivan, who was from Boston, was a
classicist. He sometimes defended those unfortunates who got bullied by
mean people.
The story where Sullivan grabbed a man who had refused to
pay for a shoeshine is a classic tale. The man after getting
his shoes shined would not pay a little crippled shoeshine
boy for his services. Sullivan having noticed the man
pushing the boy, grabbed the welcher by the neck saying
"Pay the boy. Pay him I say." He made the fellow
pay the boy three times the original price. He then dropped
the man, who was trembling with fear. Celia enjoyed this story and later told Jack, "it
was fated you to become a boxer after I read and re-read
that book about John L., waiting for you to be born” Celia
said. Jack
Dempsey, by his mother's account weighed 11 pounds - a
future heavyweight.
Dempsey originally wanted to become a cowboy herding beef
but an incident happened at a train station. The
conductor there said to the boy - Jack Dempsey was too big
as an infant and that Celia had to pay more in order for him
to board. A cowboy nearby then said, "don’t worry,
sonny, if it comes down to it, I will pay your fare."
This was the first signal that a future heavyweight in
boxing would reign in sports.
From the time Dempsey was seven or eight he was sent out to
work in the farm, hauling coal, shining shoes, or cutting
firewood. Being from a diverse family(father who was a
school teacher and mother who read books), Dempsey was
brought up in an environment of culture. Due to Jack's
constant travel, his early education was haphazard. He loved
the outdoors, so it became difficult for Jack to sit in a
classroom that was not seeming realistic. School took a
backyard to earning a dollar for Jack but he learned from
home and developed into a master storyteller.
His older brother Bernie was a fighter and developed into
someone Jack looked up to. He could move and hit hard, but
Bernie had what sportswriters defined as a "glass
jaw". Bernie was "the one and only blond and
blue-eyed Dempsey." Bernie taught his kid brothers,
Johnny and Harry, how to create a punching bag out of rags
and sawdust. He also taught them to make gum out of pinesap,
and told them to chew and chew. He said that would toughen
their jawbones. One must wonder why Bernie didn’t follow
his own advice.
Damon Runyon had this story to tell. Bernie came home and
started to talk about boxing, and a cardboard picture of
Jack Johnson fell out of his pocket as Bernie reached for a
packet of cigarettes. "The three brothers fought for
the cardboard picture", Runyon wrote. And Harry, whom
was known as Jack, won the confrontation. Jack then wanted
to be heavyweight champion of the world, and he was
convinced Johnson was the man he had to defeat. There is
only one problem with this story. This happened when Jack
was 11 years old. An eleven year old who became anxious to
tangle with a 30 year old Johnson sounded ludicrous but this
is what Dempsey looked forward to in boxing.
Part II soon to follow.............Thanks to Roger Kahn (A
flame of Pure Fire)
Ron
Champ Miller ron |
