The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-03-11
OF PUGILISTS THE
 CAUSE OF THEIR SUCCESSES
SON SERVES CHAM -FITZSIMMONS HADKAN- GAROO'S FOOT AND M'GOVERN HAD DANCING GIRL

As champions come and go, so do the mascots by which they swear Or rather, the departure of the mascot usually brief ly precedes that of the champion. Such is of course not the fault of the mascot 1t is nothing more nor less than a coin cidence, but yet the fact remains that in nine cases out of 10 the champion has fallen shortly after discarding his mas cot
 Baseball players are notorlously super sttious, but they can't hold candle to the box fighters. There is hardly a fighter man to which he pins his faith. There are of course exceptions to the rule, but Johnny Kilpane. the new featherweight king, Is not one of them.
 Kilbane's mascot is none other than John Kilbane, Jr., fondly termed by his father Jack" This mascot has bright blue eyes, a roguish little mouth, dmples in his cheeks and slight, very slight, amount of brownish hair on the top of his head. For Master Jack Is just 15 months old.
 In his earliest ring battles in his home town, Cleveland, Kilbane entered sthe ring with the remembrance fresh in his mind of parting kiss on the cheek of little Jack. Later when Kilbane became a more important parsonage 1t was not al- ways possible to take Jack around the country with him, but he never let an op- portunlty pass to send some word to the yOunRster inst befnra ha antarad tha ring On the eve of his fight with Abe Attell in Los Angeles, Kilbane wired to the youngster in the arms of his mother in Cleveland: Papa is going to win for little Jack and will be champion tomorrow Every reader of sport knows now whether that prediction came true.
 Notable instances of boxers with mas cots in both past and present are Bob Fitzsimmons, Stanley Ketchel, Knock out Brown, Terry McGovern, Pedlar Palmer Bill Lang and Freddy Welsh. >
 One of the most peculiar mascots a boxer ever had was the kangaroo's foot which was the asset of Fitzsimmons In the usual course of events 'Lanky Bob was man of iron nerves, but it sia safe bet that if he had happened to lose his kangaroo's foot on the day of a contest he would have refused to enter the ring. He would tuck 1t into the silken scarf which he wore around his waist and then enter the ring without qualm or quake.
 Needless to say he attributed all his sue cess within the hempen square to this | peculiar mascot The fiery Cornishman also possessed live bear, which used to be his faithful companion in his early days, during his long walks which are part and parcel of practically every box CTS training.
 The old time English featherweight star, Pedlar Palmer, had a mascot of a more useful kind. It was nothing less than the green trunks he wore. The marvellous little battling machine used to regard these trunks with an air of awe, and many were the comments that would be passed upon their shabby appearance when he entered the ring. But Pedlar was like Eva Tanguay, and he didn't care; he had never heard the referee give a de- cision in his opponents favor while he wore them; consequently where Pedlar went those trunks went too.
 But at last there came the fatal day in 1899, when Palmer was knocked out in the first round by Terrible Terry Me Govern. It was the last time the old green trunks were worn, after having garbed their owner in eight years of champion ship fights.
 Palmers conqueror also had mascot It was a shea beautiful stage dancer, and surrounding the tale of Terry Me- Govern and his mascot is quite romance The Terrible" one was indeed a terror anu his victories came with monotonous regularity. He cleared out all the bantam weights. then sailed into the feathers, and flnally wound up among the lightweights.
 Terry's mascot used to watch all his fights, and while she looked on Terry never lost a decision. One historic day Terry and his mascot disagreed; there was abundance of tears and they parted. The very next fight Terry lost. It was Young Corbett who laid him low.
 Stanley Ketchel had a mascot during the most successful days of his career. He was known as Little Toby" and was a little hunchback whom the late middle weight champion met in New York He liked the lad and his supersttions about hunchbaeks being lucky led him to en- gage the little fellow as a second for all his fights. Little Toby was in Ketch- els corner when he beat Papke. Kelly the Sullivan twins and Philadelphia Jack O Brien Finally there was some kind Of a muss and Ketchel detached Little Toby from his retinne. A month later Ketchel was shot dead out in Mississippi.
 Dan Morgan, manager of '.Knockout'' Brown, the New York Lightweight. thought he saw superstitious virtues In
 Little Toby" and engaged him as a second for Brown. The Manhattan boy has had remarkable success ever since. and Little Toby still does duty in his corner.
 Freddy Welsh, the British lightweight. has charming mascot in the person of his sister. She is present at the majority of his fights, and Freddy will allow no one else to prepare his meals. as he as serts she is the one person in the world who can get up vegetarian dinner prop erly
 Bill Lang, the Australian mddleweieht. has big white bull terrior for his mas cot. He regards the dog with veneration and declares 1t has had lot to do with whatever success he has attained The carine Is present at all of his battles. being held on a chain by some friend of Lang seated at the ringside.
 Abe Attel, who was toppled by Kilbane on Washington's birthday, for wears car- ried a buckeye or horse chestnut In his pocket believing it brought him good fortune. Whether he Host it before the ISilbane' battle has not been reported to us as Abe is still considerable miles dis tant away out on the Pacific coast.