THE WORLD’S CHAMPION

Hokitika Guardian, 22 September 1923, Page 4

THE WORLD’S CHAMPION

THE READ JACK DEMPSEY

(By Damon Runyon, in “ lfearst’s International.”)

i. doubt if Dempsey ‘ever felt the slightest rancour against a ring opponent, before or after a battle, unless it he Fred Fulton, the long plasterer from Minnesota. Dempsey beat Fulton in a single round, and Fulton afterwards intimated that the fight was a “ fake.” Dempsey felt that this was an uncalled for reflection upon his ability.

The person Dempsey might have been expected to keenly dislike is Georges Carpentier, the Frenchman, if only for the reason that Carpentier. had most of the public sympathy when he met Dempsey. Vet Dempsey had a real fondness for Carpentier. They met. casually, before tin' light. They met afterwards in this country, and again in England. Dempsey was at the ringside when Carpentier fought Ted-Kid Lewis, and they held up proceedings while they chatted, Carpentier, in his corner in ring togs. .Dempsey from his seat in evening attire.

Following the light, Georges and Jack knocked about London together, comrades in quest of pleasure. Dempsey speaks no French, Carpentier speaks little English, but they seemed to get along nicely. Dempsey always talks admiringly of C’arpentier’s pugilistic ability. Even before the battle he took the Frenchman more seriously than some of his closest advisers. Experts who saw Carpentier in training at his Manhasset camp went to Dempsey’s quarters at Atlantic City with tales that the Frenchman was “ a joke.”

j “ That’s all right about him being a joke,” Dempsey remarked to the writer j on the Tiroadwalk one evening a. week j before the tight. “ I’ve been studying his record, and from the way he knocks ’em over he can’t he much of a joke. ; No man who can hit like he must he 1 able to hit is a joke. Don’t be surprised if he knocks me down a couple of times, hut I’ll get tip again.” j Along towards the latter part of 1 1916, the Dempsey fortunes were at very low ebb, indeed. Jack had picked ' up a local reputation, but not money. | in a number of bard fights in Utah, | and Nevada. I Dempsey finally made his way eastj ward, landing in Now York and making a couple of fights there that attracted passing notice—hut only passing. Dempsey was then about twentyone. He had lived hard. He had rubbed against the rough edges of life. He had lacked friends and judicial counsel, and was desperate for money. We find him engaging in the ring j event I have mentioned which went i against him by knockout, j He met Jim Flynn, “The Fighting Fireman.” a famous old gladiator of bis time, and Dempsey went to the door and was counted out on the very first punch. It was later admitted that this was a fake. a. larcenous endeavour to divest the trusting Utahans who might wish to hack Dempsey with their money. Dempsey was paid 390 dollars for his part in it. He had the money linked away inside his trunks when ho took the fall, lie would not trust anyone to handle it for him. Dempsey was always frankly ashamed of this incident, and took it out on Flynn at the earliest opportunity. He heat Jim in one round some months afterwards. With the money from the fake, Dempsey went to San Francisco. Then as now, the boxing was limited to four rounds, and in four rounds a man must travel at high speed to make a showing. Dempsey, slow and lumbering, tried his hands at these sprints, and the spectators laughed. lie could get no more pugilistic employment. and presently lie was again broke. Then he got a job working in a shipyard, and it was about this period Unit ■loci, Kearns came into his life.

Kearns, a dapper, know tug fellow with years of experience in the lioxinj game a.-, tighter, promoter, and inaiia ger. was at that time mniiayiug’ , licd' Watson, a lightweight of sorts, now alas, meditating in the cloisters of Sai Quentin prison for sonic peccadillo 01 other. Dempsey showed up occasion ally around the gymnasium where Ret was training, and worked with him. One evening in t Inf days before 110:11 Leer. Kearns and Dempsey met in ; wayside tavern. Dempsey had a par cheque for twenty-live dollars.. Tin Kearns exchequer was quite exhausted Dempsey began buying beer on tin cvcniTg ill question, as the lawyer* have it, and he kept on buying it. He must have noted a. certain reserve in the matter of reciprocity 011 Ah Kearns’s part, because ho finally whispered :

“Broke?” Kearns nodded. “Here, take this,” said Dempsey, of feeing Kearns iust half of his hank roll.

“You know.” said Kearns, nftcrI wards, "J didn’t really have any idea I that big guy e.mld fight from what I’d | seen of him with Watson, hut he made | such a hit, with me by offering to cut j his bankroll that the next time lie came to tin; gymnasium I began look- ! ing him over.” I It is said that Kearns and Demp-ey 1 have divided their money on a fiftyj fifty basis from the beginning of their j association. I’orhaps Dempsey fixed i the division 1-hat very night. [ At the time Kearns met Dempsey, the latter was pretty much disgusted with the boxing game and had practically decided to quit. He war. as green as grass, painfully slow, and had suffered many disappointments. The first tiling Kearns did with him was to teach the big fellow to step around a little, and presently Dempsey was picking tip in speed and footwork. He was always able to hit hard with his right hand, hut he did not know how to use his left. Boxing experts will tell you that a good fighter must have a good left hand. Kearns lashed Dempsey's right arm to his side, then set two, and sometimes three, little boxers to peeking at Dempsey at the same time.

Dempsey had to keep his head bobbing to avoid their punches, and from this came that peculiar weaving motion iie employs in battle. He also had to use his left hand to defend himself, and soon he had developed a fair left. Kearns then began matching him against the best of the four-rounders in San Francisco, and before long Dempsey was picking up a hit of a reputation.

He hud not gone very far on the road to fame, however, when America entered the big war. He had no money, arid was contributing to the support of his family. He registered for the "draft, and was placed in a dcfored class. lam not volunteering this testimony. It was afterwards lirought out in court. As the months went on, Dempsey’s fame increased, and lie became a recognised contender for the heavy-weight title. He began hop-scotching about the country, appearing at boxing shows at his own expense for tho soldier funds. -Willard was then the champion, and Dempsv offered to tight Willard for the benefit of the funds, but lie claims Willard declined. The war over, Dempsey met Jess Willard at Toledo, and won the championship of the world. He was then but twenty-three years old. Overnight. so to speak, he became a species of king, and the centre of a mad hullabaloo. with money fairly raining down on him.

I Before he liejd the title long. | criticism of him as a military slacker began to be beard. The criticism kept growing, it ltet-ame a veritable campaign. encouraged, if not actually promoted by some of Dempsey’s jealous pugilistic rivals. The thing finally culminated m Dempsey’s indictment by a Tederal Court in San Francisco on a charge of evading the draft regulations. The ease was fought out there, with all the attendant publicity,, and a jury decided that Dempsey was innocent. If you meet Dempsey after seeing him in a ring battle, a ruthless, relentless figure of fury, you get a distinct shock when you hear his voice.

It is a high, thin voice, almost effeminate. It is quite disconcerting to hear that voice coming from a brawny, deep-barreled six-footer when you had been expecting a low rumble. When I first knew him, Jack was inclined to he quite bashful, especially with women, but he lias gained assurance of late years. He can make himself very agreeable to iioth women alul men, and 110 delights in producing a good impression. At a dinner party he has a knack of quickly learning what his neighbours are interested in, and drawing them out on their favourite topics. I would not attempt to picture Dempsey as an intellectual giant. I think much of his restlessness is due to the fact that he has no mental, diversion, that he is all animal energy, lie is constantly under a nervous tension. I think he is happiest when he is training for it fight, ami once he told me that the only moment when he felt perfectly tranquil was when the opening hell’of battle rang in his ears. .In his room, or when lie is travelling lie caimt sit perfectly still. He is up and down, hack and forth, like a caged wild beast. If lie lias a friend around handy, Dempsey is apt to take hold of him any minute, ami wrestle him around some. Both in England and in France the newspapers commented at length on his boyish appearance, his eagerness, and his modesty. This hist cannot he “Why sliouVl I bo swelled up M no says “ Thev’re not milking a fuss over Jack Dempsey. They’s making a fuss over the champion of the world. Wait till; I get hit on the dim and sec.” . . “ You expect to get hit on the dun then, some day,” J asked. “Certainly,” he replied. “I hev all do. That’s something you Can’t get away from. My time will come like all the rest.”