New Britain herald., 1916-03-15
BECAME PROMOTER
 10 BOOM TOWN
RiCkard Has Had EYentlul Ca-
 reer-SuCCeSS Due to Vile

promoting of the Willard-Mo light 1 is an interesting character. Rickard was born 45 years ago in Kansas City. He was removed to Texas when he was old enough to realize his mistake l in other words, when he was two years old. That's why they called ] him Tex He left school at the age of eleven and hasn't been back since. He is practically a self educated man, Rickard went to Alaska during the gold ctaze. Cattle raising was his l youthful dream of a labor of love. ] But when he saw how simple it was ] to make money in mining and gamb- l ling he stuck there until he had amassed a large enough sum to go 1 to Goldfield and open a place on ! big scale. His entrance into the l fighting game, ten years ago. was 9 1 mere accident. Let him tell it hirl- self: l Tells All About It. i Things were booming at Goldfeld | and the boys wanted to pull off some sort of a show on Labor day to put | the town on the map. Some one 1 suggested a fight.
 "I had seen Britt and McGovern fight in New York, so naturally l thought they would be a great at traction at our mining town. In fact, they were the only two fighters l knew. So I decided to send McGoV- ern a telegram and ask him to come to Goldfield.
 ''The boy who took the telegram to the telegraph office for me pocketed the money I gave him and sent the telegram "co1lect.' Joe Humphreys. represented McGovern at the time. When he got my wire with about $3 charges on it, he refused to accept it. He thought I was some miner who had lost his reason from starva ton out on the desert. He didn't even answer the wire.
 Somebody suggested q don't re- member who it was) that I try to get Cans and Nelson. So I sent Nolan, Nelson's manager, telegram, offering him s20.000 to meet Cans at Goldfeld. He wired back that he wanted $30.000. I asked a few of the boys if they were willing to subscribe to as large a sum as that. They handed me that amount, and more, in 15 minutes. It was like play.
 Soon Gets Publicity.
 Pretty soon the papers started to ask me for my picture. l dldn know why, but I accommodated them be- cause I thought it might help adVer- tise the fight Before I knew they printed my name all over the coun- try and said I was smart Teller.
 Joe Humphreys is still kicking himself that he didn't answer my telegram.
 "McCracken and I have not nick els worth of backing outside or our own money for the W1llaro- -nor'''l bout.
 "The Northern in Go1dhe1d; in which was a partner made over s1 ooo GOO We paid from 40 to GO per cent a month on capltallzatlon of s1OO,OOO.
 "I own 327.0Oo acres of land in Paraguay, South America, and every inch of it is free from debt. l have stock here in the Paraguay Land and Cattle company upon which l can raise s3OO. 900 in New York tomor- row.
 ''I like the idea of coming into tho big city and doing a big thing in big way. It keeps me young and ac- tive
 But don't think I'm gambling on this fight I know I would make money on it as soon as I started bid ding I'm through with gambling. Cattle and land and an occasional cham pionship match are the chief denart11ents of my business"
 Gives Credit to Wife.
 Ric<ard gives his wife credit for his success.
 "She's the finest woman in the world,' he said, and she's the gamest sport I ever met, and I would be lost without her. She has accom- panied me to some pretty rough ships on my account.
 ''Shc went with me into places in South America where no white worn- an ever dared go before. She rode a mule for six weeks SWam streams and took all kinds of chances. She kept the Indians from attacking us by giving them beads and calicos and ornaments. Mrs. Rickard does not care for newspaper publicity and is content to stay in the background and give me her encoura cement in everything I undertake.
 "I wouldn't be worth anything without her"
 Rickard believes that if the papers referred to ring contests as "bouts' or boxing exhibitions instead of flights the game would have a higher standing among fair minded people.