Jack Dempsey

1895–1983 · 88 years

From mining-camp saloons to boxing's first million-dollar gate

Portrait of Jack Dempsey — circa 1920 — Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Poverty in Manassa, Colorado, meant moving whenever the work ran out, and Hiram Dempsey's work ran out often. One of 13 children, William Harrison Dempsey was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at eight, quit school to earn, and left home at 16. He was not a hobo, whatever the legend says. He was an itinerant laborer who hitched himself to the rods under freight cars and took whatever came: ditch digging, fruit picking, timber cutting, circus roustabout. In saloons across Colorado, Utah and Nevada he announced that he could not sing and could not dance but could lick any man in the house, and fought for the money in the hat, sometimes as Kid Blackie.

On July 4, 1919, in 100-degree heat at Toledo, Ohio, he took the title from Jess Willard, a man half a foot taller and nearly 60 pounds heavier, and knocked him down seven times in the first round. Willard did not answer the bell for the fourth. Two years later, at Boyle's Thirty Acres in Jersey City, Dempsey stopped the French war hero Georges Carpentier in four rounds before 91,000 people and boxing's first million-dollar gate, 1,789,238 dollars. Tex Rickard built that number, and the promotion is as much of the story as the fighting.

One charge shadowed him: he had sat out the war. He had registered and been exempted as the support of a dependent wife, but a publicity photograph at a shipyard in patent leather shoes did the damage, and in June 1920 he stood trial in San Francisco for draft evasion. A jury acquitted him. It followed him for years anyway, and crowds let him hear it. Against Luis Ángel Firpo at the Polo Grounds in 1923 he was knocked clean out of the ring onto a reporter's typewriter and helped back in by the writers at ringside, which by modern rules would have ended it. And he had said on winning the title that he would draw the color line. He never defended it against a Black fighter. Harry Wills was the obvious contender and never got the fight.

Gene Tunney beat him twice. The first, in Philadelphia in 1926, took his title on points. The rematch at Soldier Field a year later drew 104,000 people and a record two-million-dollar gate, and turned on the seventh round: Dempsey dropped Tunney, refused to go to a neutral corner, and the count did not begin until he did. Tunney rose at nine and won the decision. He opened a restaurant across from Madison Square Garden in 1935, moved it to Broadway, and stood at the door for decades as one of the best-liked men in American sport. In 1942 he took a Coast Guard Reserve commission, served through the Okinawa landings, and the slacker charge lost its force.

Lifespan

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Jack Dempsey's life against the full span of the corpus.

Notable works

World heavyweight championship other
Taken from Jess Willard at Toledo on July 4 and held for seven years 1919
Daredevil Jack other
A film serial shot while he held the title 1920
The Prizefighter and the Lady other
MGM feature in which he played himself as referee 1933
Jack Dempsey's Restaurant other
Opened opposite Madison Square Garden, later on Broadway, closed in 1974 1935
Championship Fighting: Explosive Punching and Aggressive Defense other
His manual on turning bodyweight into knockout power 1950

Life in brief

with age at each point

1914 aged ~19 Takes the name Jack Dempsey for a fight in Cripple Creek, Colorado He substituted for his brother Bernie, downed George Copelin repeatedly, and collected a 100-dollar purse.
July 4, 1919 aged 24 Takes the world heavyweight title from Jess Willard at Toledo Willard went down seven times in the first round and did not answer the bell for the fourth.
June 1920 aged 24 A San Francisco jury acquits him of draft evasion He had registered in 1917 and been exempted as the support of a dependent wife. The accusation outlived the verdict.
July 2, 1921 aged 26 Stops Georges Carpentier before boxing's first million-dollar gate Boyle's Thirty Acres, Jersey City. A crowd of 91,000 and one of the first national radio broadcasts.
September 14, 1923 aged 28 Knocked out of the ring by Luis Ángel Firpo and helped back in He was outside the ropes about 14 seconds, inside the 20-second limit then in force, and stopped Firpo in the second.
September 23, 1926 aged 31 Loses the title to Gene Tunney on points in Philadelphia Afterward he explained it to his wife: "Honey, I forgot to duck."
September 22, 1927 aged 32 Loses the long count fight to Tunney at Soldier Field He floored Tunney in the seventh and refused the neutral corner. The timekeeper had Tunney down 14 seconds.
June 1942 aged 46 Reports for duty as a Coast Guard Reserve officer He rose to commander and was aboard an attack transport off Okinawa in 1945.
May 31, 1983 aged 87 Dies of heart failure in New York City at 87