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(Courtesy Brener Zwikel, and associates)
Overall Record: 31-5 with 9 KO’s. Born June 29,
1933, in Cut ’N Shoot, Texas – due to the exposure and
notoriety he got from boxing, during the mid-to-late
1950’s, he was credited with getting Cut ’N Shoot put on
the Texas map. Cut
‘N Shoot either built its first or had to build a new post
office because of his popularity as a boxer.
According to “The Sign,” the population today in
Cut ‘N Shoot is 1,300.
He is believed to be the only boxer to become a
lawyer after fighting for the world heavyweight title.
Roy Harris was a county clerk in Montgomery County
for 28 years; began practicing law in 1972 and drew up the papers for Cut 'N Shoot to become
incorporated. Roy's office is actually in his house and he
has been married 47 years and has six children (four boys,
two girls). Five are college graduates.
Hails from a fighting family of four boys and four
girls. He and a brother, Toab, were the first to lace on the
gloves. They got their first set by trading a guy some wild
ducks. At the time, he said, "we had never even heard of any
type of other gear. “No cup, no nothing, just
gloves." Turned pro on April 26, 1955, and won his
initial 24 fights. A boxer known for good movement, he
captured the Texas State heavyweight title with a 12-round
decision over Buddy Turman on Nov. 28, 1955. Harris suffered
his initial defeat in his first venture outside of Texas on
Aug. 18, 1958, when he lost by 13th-round TKO to
World Heavyweight Champion Floyd Patterson in Los Angeles.
Before challenging Patterson, he had averaged 6-7 fights a
year. The match with Patterson was his first in nearly 10
months. The reason for the layoff and no tune-up bout? He
says he joined the army (and became a captain). He cut a
record, “Cut ‘N Shoot, Texas” before his fight with
Patterson; on the flip side of "Cut 'N Shoot,
Texas" was
a "religious song," but Roy didn't sing it. A
“ghost singer did,” he said.
A book “Cut ‘N Shoot, Texas: The Roy Harris
Story” was written by Robin Navarro Montgomery in 1984. After
losing to Patterson, he rebounded to win his next seven
fights before losing three in a row, in three different
countries, in 1960 – to Sonny Liston on a first-round TKO
on April 25 in Houston, to Bob Cleroux on July 27 in
Montreal and to Henry Cooper on a 10-round decision on Sept.
13 in London. Harris says he defeated six of the top
10-ranked heavyweights to earn a shot at Patterson; and that
he got cheated in his three-knockdown KO loss to Liston.
Harris feels he should have defeated Patterson, too. Roy
Harris Retired at age 28
after losing by second-round knockout to Cleroux on
May 23, 1961.
Harris did not exactly come out of nowhere, but he
was close. Cut ’N Shoot is located about six miles east of
Conroe (40 miles north of Houston) and is “where the men
are tough, the horses are swift, and the women are soft and
where we take a bath every Saturday night whether we need
one or not! (or so the slogan goes) Almost all the kids who
lived in the small settlement were involved in boxing. They
were all rough and tough, even the girls. The Cut 'n Shoot
boxing team did well each year in the Golden Gloves
Championships in Houston. In its earliest years, Cut
‘N Shoot had a little red store, a fire station and an
elementary school. Once it was incorporated, a town
hall with a community park was built and a water system was
developed. Population statistics were not reported until the
mid-1970s, when the number of residents was 50, although a
sign on the highway in 1971 said the population was 300. By
the mid-1980s, the incorporated community reported a
population of 809 and had built a new city hall and post
office. The community's population was reported as 903 in
1990.
There are several versions as to how Cut ‘N
Shoot got its name. The most popular was that it was named
after a 1912 community confrontation that almost led to
violence. The dispute came after Baptist and Methodist
leaders decided to build a new community church and school
building. The structured, it turns out, to all religious denominations to
preach in, except for the Mormons and Apostolics. In July
1912, there was an Apostolic preacher that was invited to
preach although it was rumored he visited saloons and
danced. There soon formed two sides in the issue: one that
thought he should be allowed to preach and one that thought
he should not. Those that wanted to hear him arrived in
their wagons and buggies and brought their lunches with the
intentions of staying for the all-day meetings.
They also must have anticipated trouble since they hid their
guns and knives in quilts under their wagon seats. Sure
enough, they discovered the door to the building had been
locked. Soon the anti-Apostolic group arrived, declaring
that the lock was jammed. This was the cue for all to grab
their guns and an intense argument broke out. While each
side hurled accusations and insults on the other, an
eight-year-old son of one of the men became so frightened
that he said, “I am scared! I am going to
“cut’’ around the corner and “shoot” through the
bushes in a minute!’’ The boy's phrase remained in
residents’ minds and was adopted as the town's name.
Although no shooting occurred, both sides were fined for
disturbing the peace, assault and the use of obscene
language. The dispute smoldered between two of the men,
however, for more than a year with each indicting the other.
The judge in one of these trials asked a witness where the
argument had taken place whereupon the witness replied, “I
suppose you would call it the place where they had the
cuttin' and shootin' scrape.’’
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