The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1919-05-13

picked him for coming champion right
on the spot.
| don't know whether Lavignc should
bc most famous for the fight that made
him worlds lightweight champion or
for his battle with Joe Walcott. the
Giant Killer" Both are classics Of the
ring.
I.avignc began fighting as a younsster
in Saginaw. Mich. They called him the
Saginaw Kid" in surrounding towns,
when he began lighting around the lum-
Der camps and making something Of
local reputation. Up in Michigan last
summer 1 met Il gentleman who claimed
to have been his first manager.
Fight was the Kids middle narns,'
no said. He'd fight with anyone
matched him with. and he never even
asked me who hc was going TO tight next.
l had To keep him busy fighting all the
time, to keep him contented. Fighting
was his amusement. He loved any kind
of rough-housc. Why. tho only way
[ could get along with him was by being
ready to scrap At any moment. If We
were walking down the street in tho
winter he'd jump on me the instant he
saw | wasn't watching and roll me in
a snowdritt. If I got him down il
ticklrd him just as much, as long as
there was scrap
They Didn't Have to 'sIake Elm
Like It."
L.avignc loved fighting for the sake OF
fighting. He was one OF tho very few
fighters can name who really liked the
game all the way through, and who
didn't care how tough he found II. He
had tho round. smooth. smiling face OF
a cheruh--a perfect oval Of face. with
light yellow hair and light blue eyes.
He. looked like Il choir singer. or a
model for one Of Raphacl's youthful
angels. or a Sunday school book hero Of
tho style of literature slipped over on
Sunday school children twenty years
ago. But from tho ears down he was all
fighter. He had. a strong neck. very
wide and powerful shoulders. thick arms
and fists like a longshoreman's He
always smiled like an angel. and sTnll-
ing like an angel he could fight as IL he
had horns. hoofs and q tail.
Lavignc was Of French descent. born
and bright up IN tho Michigan lumber
districts where fighting g as natural as
wearing a blue shirt. His first ring
affair mot counting a certain number or
rough and tumble engagements NOR" or
less unofficial in chaructcr) was a scv-
rrlty-scven-round battle with George
Siddons-a top-notch lightweight In
those days. Scventy-scycn rounds TO
draw" neither man being able TO floor
tho other for n tcn-second count, or al
the finish TO strike another blow This
was March l. 1889. April ~ they
fought flfty-fvc-round draw. La
vigne learned how To night N those tw"
long battles for in 1912 he went TO
San Francisco and bcat J"" Soto III thir-
u rounds and Charles Rochelle in ten.
His fight with Huchcttc was on" Of TN"
first ever stw in a ring. and III never
forget tho impression Of Kid l.aviEnc as
he was in those days. chcruhic wal tac'
chcrubir smil" and all. and his "coEcd,
like body. smoothly musrl"d. gl"aminS
white under tho glare Of tn" SihSl" arc
light | saw it from III" gallery. WIN
another younEStcr I got into that gar
lery by shining up--hut that's another
story and space IS limited. Enough
thai I saw l.avjgnr. Like my Irlchd
Brand I boaStrd IF i later. i'"IlilE>pu''N
sure that my youthful and IncNP"r''nc-
cd eve had detected signs. too. mat La
signc was coming champion"
AS for the "SaEinaw Kid. nc went
right along toward the championship
He knocked out Eddie r,y"r In d cIaSs'"
twenty-five rounds. fought draw with