Los Angeles herald., 1906-05-20
\ HAYES VALLEY
CLUB REMAINS
ESCAPES RAvAGEs OF EARTH.
QUAKE FLAMES
Famous Athletic Institutions Of San
Francisco Where Worlds Great
est Boxers Met Now Tum-
bIed Mass Of Ruins

There Is only one athletic club Of
any size standing in San Francisco and
this is the Hayes Valley. 1t leased a
large building known ms Mowry hall
at the corner of Hayes and Laguna
streets and converted It into a we'll
equipped athletic club. 1t was furnished
with an up-to-date gymnasium, baths
reception rooms and such like. This
was the only athletic club of note to
escape the ravages Of the flames.
Immediately after the confiagration
the city authorities seized Mowry hall.
They needed q building to house some
OF the departments, and Mowry hall
suited their purposes. Just now 1t IS
the seat of the police department and
will probably be for many months TO
come.
There Will be no opportunity to don
the gloves. swing on the horizontal
bars, pull on the rowing machines or
swing the Indian clubs. All this ap-
paratus will be covered with dust be,
fore 1t is used again, unless the Hayes
Valley club seeks another location.
Morris Levy was Instrumental in or
ganizing this club He lived in, Hayes
valley since his boyhood days, and hav-
ing a. fondness for athletics, conceived
the idea of forming the club, which
flourished from the jump. The Hayes
Valley club pulled off large number
of important fights, both of an amateur
and professional nature. The fights
were usually held at Woodward's gar
dens, which seated larger crowds.
Bloody Battles Fought
The mention of woodward's Gardens,
now in silent ruins, will recall dozen
bloody battles fought under its roof
It was here that Jim Jeffries, Peter
Jackson, Alec Greggains, Young Cor
bett. Battling Nelson, Jimmy Britt,
Joe Walcott, George Gardner. Jack
O'Brien, Jack johnson, Jabez White,
George Green, Jimmy Ryan, AL Nell
and other celebrities displayed their
skill
Perhaps the most noted contest was
between Britt and Corbett, which de-
cided a championship. This battle held
the interest of the sporting world at
large and will always be rated as one
of the great events of the ring. 1t oc-
CURED so recently that the details are
fresh in the minds of all ring followers.
The Jackson-Jef fight marked
the close of the career of wonderful
pugilist and beginning of another
Poor Peter never appeared in the ring
after that night, while the young glad
iator to whom he acknowledged de-
feat went on and won battle after
battle. eventually gaining the goal Of
his ambition-the heavyweight cham
pionship, which was never taken from
him.
Jackson made such sorry spectacle
that night with Jeffries that it broke
his heart and he went back to his home
in Australia, where he died few
years later from the dreaded disease
consumption. II Woodward's garden
IS remembered for nothing else 1t viii
be for the meeting tame as it was,
between these two giants-the setting
of the sun of the one and the rising
of the other.
The world will stand a long time
before It will produce another jack
son and another Jeffries.
The toughest battle the writer wit
messed in Woodward's pavilion was be-
tween Alec Greggains and Jack Steiz-
ner, two as game fighters as ever
stepped over the ropes. Steiner is
now a policeman in San Francisco.
He was employed by Bob Fitzsim-
mons as his spapring partner, travel
ing with him all over the country.
opened UP on Greggains like
a cyclone, dropping him TO the mat
before Alec knew what struck him.
Alec rallied and f1oored Jack.
Then Jack toppled Alec over. Knock
downs were SO frequent in the twenty
rounds of terrific fighting that the
audience lost count of them Several
times the sports got up to leave Wood
wards pavilion thinking the fight
was finished, only to see the groggy
man floor his opponent. It is safe to
assert that there was no champion
ship event the equal of it in point of
and gameness.
1t was in Woodward's pavilion that
Jimmy Franey lost his life. A blow
from Frank McConnell's glove crushed
his skull and Franey never survived
the shock.
Mechanics Pavilion
While Woodward's is a historic bat
tleground, which will not soon be for
gotten, even after the new San Fran
cisco is a thing Of reality, the mem
cries of Mechanics pavilion will al
ways eclipse 1t.
Seating about twice as many people
as Woodward's, it was always much
sought after place to hold fight. And
hardly fighter, big or little, has not
performed on the spot once occupied
by this immense building. Jeffries,
Corbett, Sharkey, Fitzsimmons, Choyn-
ski, Mccoy, Rubin, Goddard, Johnson,
Munroe, Gardner ana Root are the
names of a majority of the heavy
weights who fought on Larkin street
The names of the little fellows who
fought there are many. Suffice it to say
that nearly all of them now before the
public have one time or another fought
at Mechanics
If no other fight but the Sharkey-
Fitzsimmons had been held there Me-
ehsnics would live in memory. This
was one of the gigantic fakes of the
ring. Wyatt carp, Danny Lynch and
others robbed Bob Fitzsimmons of a
hard learned victory and it's fruits. For
a consideration Referee carp awarded
Sharkey a decision on a foul after
Fitzsimmons had scored a clean
knockout.
Perhaps the largest crowd in the his
tory of the local prize ring witnessed
this bare-faced steal, which incensed
all lovers of honest sport. But this was
not the only crooked fight waged un-
der Mechanics roof. Joe Waleott laid
down to Kid Lavigne after the for
mer's manager, Tom O'Rourke, had
heavily backed the Saginaw lad.
Lavigne had beaten Walcott in the
east after tough battle, and they
were brought TO the coast to take an
other whirl at one another. When
OgT}ntrV-la fund that NuaIonft no,,Ia ...4