Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-09-03
LA RUE BEING TOUTED AS
A FOEMAN FOR DEMPSEY
Has Come Into Prominence by Virtue
OF Awful Lacing Handed to
Willie McChan.
is LARGE AND POWERFUL
Has Been Battling for Nearly Four
Years, Most of Time as Funny
Boy" Whose Antics Have Added TO
Attractivcncss OF Boxing Bouts.
ny JAMES j. CoRnET"r.

NEW YORK sept -'--Nhu ~"
they're toutine Bill C'fatD 'aNn'
along the Pacific Coast rs pr'SP''-
. tive foeman O: Jack Dempsey,
, rs ali because I..tSur dclcd out an
awful lacing few weeks ago 10 ~ -,
Meehan. erstwhiia pride OF the fans III
'h G,aR a IS a powerful individual,
crafty, cool. a hard hitter and hel'or
. than the average IN inc n'i 5ns n. ~
= ha MS never can, take lighting scriouslE y.
And, Furthermore, he's thirtN-two years
of age, time in NE Wncn ,,,oSt men
This l.aRuc has been nAi,ilnG ,"1
. nearly four years, most OF inc u"is
, as an amateur. And the 3uH nnt" In
/ that Jack Kc.rus pondcred Tor a l"hE
time ms to whether he's pilot l.aENS or
lack Dempsey. He finally decidsa u,
favor OF the Utah mauIer. ana 'H'
/, rest is history.
49, Stnr Humor Pr"rokcr.
Out on the coast they put on funny
bows whose boxing antics add TO thr
attractiveness of ,,hSS rroeram, Am ma:
for a long time. l-ARue MAS tnc -" ! !
humor provoker, He could hurteSNue
fiShtinC better than any man IN the
Frisco district. and became a rea! caro-
everywhere on thai account, anu -.
because he could hEhl "hch NC 4'''
kcarns saw LaRue in ono of his
boxing ski;s. sought him out later ana
:How much do YOU weigh"
"Oh. about 21a.
You could tram down TO 200 or
Yes"
We'll, If you'll do that and take
fighting seriously III guarantee TO
max make "a t Tor, Teu tor sSt with h' Jess
Willard. ] think you can whip him:
sounds good" said LaRue. III!
think II over"
why not so into il now"
Had Family Ia support.
Because I've go, a family to sun
port II quit my job In the city gov
crnmcnt in Oakland I'll have to de-
pend on fighting 10 make living for
me. And It's got to he sure money
before I'll go into It. However,. If you'll
guarantee to turn over $50 every
month to my wife and guarantee my
expenses for one year it's Il go.
Kearns thought il over. and while
he was thinking about ii the fight
game in the East was KILLED. Kearns
a few other things happened. and
Kearns for the time being forgot about
managing fighters
Meanwhile l.aRuc continued as the
heavyweight comedian along the coast.
Various promoters, boxing critics and
former Champions saw the husky giant.
champion. "If he'll only quit kidding
But LaRue's greatest pleasure came
from playing the role of funny man
in the ring
Continued To Improve.
LaRue. however. continued to inn
prove as a boxer from time TO time
and by degrees worked off surplus
weight. He whipped all the prominent
ringmen on the coast with the cXccp-
tion OF Mechan. Then came the agita-
tfon for Il fight between the two. Nice
han apparently figured LaRue as some
thing OF lemon" and agreed to take
him on
LaRue didn't burlcsQue that night -
he fought He was almost phan; ON
like in his movements and Mcchan
hardly could reach him in any OF the
four rounds And eli the while LaRuc
was pounding Mcehan as he would :,
punching bag, and So won the decision
by several miles.
That victory decided l.aRue to get
into the fight game in earneA He
quit his city job a few days aftcrward
and embarked for the South where
several matches await him. Then he
is going East TO tackle the best they
have there.
IF I'm successful. and think will
be-. declares Laliuc, I'm going after
Dempsey within year And | guess
can show up pretty we'll against that
nasiums around Frisco, took'Nl he had
and still kept going $50 he has no
terrors for me. '-Copyright 1919.