H0E NEVER PAYS

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 91, 30 September 1938, Page 4

HOE NEVER PAYS

“ONEi-EYE CONNOLLY’* TEX/ RICKARD’S DIPLOMA EXPLOITS TOLD AGAIN '■ - ~ ' . Joe Gails, used to be a headliner in the United States ring. Battling Nelson was his contemporary. Both have passed from the stage, and others have succeeded to their places and then followed them into the shadows of the fistic limbo. But “OueEye” Connoily, who was becoming a champion in Ins own line when -Nelson and Gans were fighting their historic battles, still stands at the head of his profession, acknowledged champion of the sporting gate-crashers.* Those who have some acquaintance with the) recent history-, of the American ring must have noted from time to time the exploits of this one-eyed ex-gugilist, tvho has made it his life’s work to defeat the sports promoters who say: “No pay-n 0 see!” Connolly—his given panics are James Leo—has been beating them for 40 years, and he has Tex Rickard’s diploma to say that lie is the champion in his line. Hates to Have Things Made Easy. When Rickard, the entrepreneur to whom Madison Square Garden owed its astounding popularity and the prize ring its tradition oi miUion-Joi-lar gates for heavyweight championship battles, heard that Connolly had been thrown out of the Garden 13 times, and still found ways to see the big fights from the ringside, he called “One-Elve” into his palatial office and presented him with the diploma. Whether he also ottered, to present him with a ringside pass is not recorded. As tile star of spotting showmen, Rickard would have appreciated the publicity value of having Connoiiv at his ringside and identifiable bv the crowds; but Oonnolly’s own attitude towards his profession is that of the artist.

He hates to have things made easy for him, as an English sports writer found when he offered him a free pass for the Joe Louis —Max Sehmeling title fight. Connolly felt that ho would he betraying his own standards if he accepted the offer. Variety of Ruses. When Dempsey and Gibbons met in a heavy weignt championship match, Connolly got in by carrying a. block ol ice on nis back, and heading lor the

press benches. tie carried a bucket behind tlie line of seconds which followed Joe Gails to. liis corner of the ring many years ago, ainl climbed a drainpipe at Madison Square Garden to see Dempsey and Bill Brennan scrap. ‘

On another occasion, lie tied himself to a girder away above the ring, hours before the big fight on whicn lie had set iiis mind, but lie came to grief that time, for he ■ cheered so lustily when the match began that he fell off. and nearly broke up the ring. Again, lie found a wheel-chair, and accompanied a number of disabled soldiers to see a big fight, in Toronto. Oil the historic occasion when .speci-ally-instructed ushers hurled him out after each of 13 attempts to get to the " ringside at “tlie Garden,” he borrowed a white coat, picked up a basket of sandwiches and a pot of coffee, and * bluffed h'is way to the telegraphists’ benches, in the of the arenaA Regular “Character.” Many of his bluffs have cost him more energy and patience than would have sufficed to pay for the best seat in the house, but Connolly does not grudge trouble in making an artistic job of -beating the sports-promoters. • Ho claims to have seen every important} fight in the past 40 years, with-/ out paying a. cent. Newspaper men know him well, and frequently record his presence at the big mateliesTo American newspaper readers, he is a character as interesting In his line as any of the top-flight heavyweights.