Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-15
chow WON WORLDS
CHAMPIONSHIP /" TON
BY WILLARD HTMSET i
Cowboy Saw His Fi,,.
Fight, Then Resolved !, J
Whip Johnson-Jeered !. !
by Spectators When n
Started to Train for RIM
ARTICLE III.
BY JESS WILLARD

! champion Heavyweight OF the wo.,s
Some Of the story-tellers are lnc,,..
to stretch yarns about me out to -,
ulous extent. One Of them sa,a
that | whipped big fellow WIN
me 500 because he wouldn't nav n
| after he had given me check %,
amount ] beat him into town nv rpn.,
faster than his horse could draw !,
| wagon According to the story hsA !.
reach town first to get the check c,,,,,
before he could have it stopped.
AS I already have told YOU I coma
some those days, but I don't remem,..
that I ever pittod my legs against ~.
of horse. I think too much of NV u.
The first man who ever paid anv 80
tion to me in q serious way so IA,
lighting is concerned was ]. b. Brocp :,
Oklahoma city. That was soon aftsr a,
affair at Reno between johnson ana :,
fries, when the whole country was ....,
with the white Hope" craze, now
happily wiped out by the affair n n,
vana. I confess right here that ~.
fired with an ambition such as nav,
had before. I pictured myself the IA,
candidate for the title held bv .Iohn,,.
and in my dreams could see mv,.,
crowned the king Of them all.
So ! went to see Brock who was M.
ming club at the time. He looked \.
over, and thought 7 could detect y.
! amused smile on his lips. A counls y,
nip = In hp
that he was holding in his club. and ~.
may not believe it. but that was the s,s
regular ring encounter that | ever hi
looked at.
The contestants were Clarence Envi,.l
ana Harry Brewer, welterweights ~
strangely enough Brewer was at the IN.
side to see me win the championship m.
Johnson.
Well, ! was lost in admiration AT l,
speed and skill those boys showed And T
made up my mind then and there tb,l
If | could ever get to be anywhere n,,,
as good as they were that | could vhs
Johnson. Neither of them was chan.
pion, but, believe me, ! thought they wen
about as wonderful as could be tlrnN
out. | couldn't sleep that night IN
thinking about that and my ambition BE-
came a raging fire within me-
1t was with difficulty that could thIns
or talk of anything but fight after ths,l
and Brock, seeing | was in earnest, de.
! Cided TO give me n chance. So they sst
me 10 working in the gym and | car
recall now what n butt ! was for a IA
of iokers and kidders about the place
They put up all sorts of Jobs on me bul
quit II when | threatened them with som,
horrible sort of punishment and ones
cuffed one of them for putting some shos.'
makers wax in my boxing pumps
1t was along in August 1910, that |
first met Brock. ! think and he didn't
get me a fight until the following Feb
ruary, saying ! needed the training. 0tha
people scoffcd Mt this and said that The
more I trained the worse / looked That
might have been So but surely though
! was doing fine and powed along, doing
a lot of things wrong and very few thing
right. But the old ambition was then
and | imagined ! was doing fine,
The idea of hitting out straight neYa
was shown to me and ! clawed out with
my punches like the rawest amateur
something with the motion that glh
uses in throwing a baseball. 1t was 4
Joke. the way ! fought, but you couldn't
have made me think so, | thought wa
immense. Then came the night Of ny
first fight and | was as nervous as
boy about to speak his first piece.
There was n great throng out 10 ~
me. which didn't do me bit OF goo9
either.