“TEX” RICKARD

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 265, 3 August 1921, Page 9

“TEX” RICKARD

FIGHT PROMOTER AND SOLDIER OF FORTUNE AMERICAN JOURNALIST’S / VIEW There is something about the name of "Tex” Rickard, soldier of fortune and promoter of eporting fixtures, that suggests big things, writes Frank O’Neill it the Now York "IJun.” The name conjures up .visions of the wide sweeping prairie lands, with,herds of milling cattle. It suggests the hustlo and scramble of the Nevada copper mines and frozen wastes of Alaska, where men, gone mad for the muck called gold, scrabble and work like slaves. More poignantly to the public at this timej > his name brings scenes of arenas wh-eri perfectly conditioned athletes flit withill the rope enclosed ring, dealing stagger*-' iug blows while fight maddened crowds cheer as the crowds in the ancient Coliseum cheered the gladiatorial combats. To the ten commandments of business

Tex Rickard years ago added another: "Never recognise any such word as quit.” To complete the picture of Rickard wo will relate a story that is told of him during the Klondike rush. His partner reported to him one morning that they were clean broke and there was nothing left in the larder except one lone collar button. "All right.” said Rickard. "I’ll matokjou to see who eats x tho button.” No matter what Rickard attempted he threw every ounce of his limitless, energy into the project. He thought of nothing else, die! nothing else until success crowned his efforts. He has handled more than thirty big ring fights and never has had a single failure. Tie has flirted with financial disaster on several occasions. When Governor Gillett drove the Jeffries-Johnson fight out<o) California under -pressure from the clergy and legislature, Rickard saW a fortune dwindle away into a waste of yellow boards in his.-jartially constructed arena, but he moved to Reno, and tho battle between Jeffries and the negro was at least a financial success

So Tex has passed through successive stages, Iftulding the ring game from a plebeian pastime to something of k financial enterprise when great battles were to be fought. He stands to-day upon the verge of achieving his greatest success. At staggering expense, estimated. variously at 900.000 dollars and ranging upward to 1.200.600 dollars. Including the items that are not reckoned in the fii>t he has put the fight across. The howls of so-called reformers, who demanded that the contest be stopped in the name of decency, did not bother him. -He obeyed the law and did not recognise any such word as quit. Took the Showman’s Gamble. Rickard has always taken the "showman's gamble" in his enterprises. Like P. T. Barnum, his confidence in his own estimate and decision of what the public wanted ever remained firm. He was willing to pay the top prices, and every venture in promoting boxing, from the memorable battle between Joe Gans and Battling Nelson at Goldfield, at least satisfied his expectation. Rickard is the father of the idea of

offering big purses for ring buttles. When Tex was tearing wealth in the form of copper ore out of the, Nevada hills in 1903, he conceived the idea of promoting a big fight. He first selected Terry M'Govern and Jimmie Britt as the men. and immediately established telegraphic communication with M'Govern’s manager. He offered a guarantee of 30,000 dollars, which was unheard of in those days, when Bob Fitzsimmons was fighting for far less, and even Jim Jeffries thought 5000 dollars fair ramunoration for la night’s athletic endeavour. Rickard, moreover, was unknown. Sceptical Broadway laughed, as Broadway will laugh. But Uickard then hit upon Joe Gans and Battling Nelson and communicated with Billy Nolan, manager of Nelson.- Money spoke the language universal, and Rickard flooded the tabla with a rain of gold pieces beyond tha dreams of avarice. Joe Gans and Nelson were no longer sceptical. Thev fought, and the fame of Rickard and Goldfield were established. Rickard’s next pugilistic venture was the JohnsonJeffries fight, with its record purse for the time of 101,009 dollars. This venture netted a profit of more than 100.000 dollars for Rickard and his partner. Jack Gleason. On the Road Upward. Six years after the Reno affair Rickard again stepped out as a promoter and handled the Willard-Moran contest in Madison Square Garden. This bout was fought in March, 1916, and the gate re ceipts totalled 152.000 dollars. Then . came the Willard-Dempsey fight in Toledo, Ohio, with a purse of 125,000 dollars and a record gate receipt of 452.522 dollars. Since promoting bouts at Madison Square Garden during the last year ho has conducted more than a score of contests, including half-a-dozen championship affairs, without a single financial loss. On his way through life Rickard has tried all roads, and, speaking in general, found them good. The trail to success was no royal road. The grades were heavy and his handicap severe. There were the physical battles with poverty and privation under the summer sun of the Panhandle. He packed his grub over the snowy trails of winter gripped Alaska. He fought financial .struggles that san the soul of weaklings but make the strong wax great. ‘ He was a cowboy, a marshal, a gambler, a miner, a ranch owner, "‘and oil promote/ 'With his lariat coiled on his saddle, he faced the Texas northers and stampedes with impartial fortitude; ns a marshal he upheld the law with firm hand and lightning trigger finger; as a gambler he won and lost huge stakes without the tremor of an eye. He wns always strictly cn the level in his dealing and his word was ever as good as a Liberty bond.