The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-11-10
Kearns Has Done
 Much for Sports
Develops Champion lack and Revives Interest In Boxing.
 Jess Might Still Be Champ
By JAMES J. CoRBET'r

It has always seemed to me that .he
 sporting world Is not duly appreciative
 of what it really owes to Jack Kearns |of California.
 For it was Kearns who dug Dempsey
 out of the pugilistic scrapheap into
 which he had tossed himself; it was
 Kearns, the managerial genius, who
 brought Dempsey by meteoric leaps
 and bounds from obscurity to fame and
 to a worlds championship
 And as he brought Dempsey along and provoked countless columns If
 newspaper publicity, Kearns ,reawak-
 ened interest in the boxing game, cre-
 ated tens of thousands of new enthusi- asts-restored pugilism to life from the |comatose condition it had known Tor years. The missionary work of Jack
 Kearns really was the influence that
 brought boxing back to New York state.
 My thought is that no man other than Dempsey could have dethroned Jess Willard. For the might and the bulk of Willard was too great for any one beyond the terrific hitting Demp- sey And so if Keans hadn't rediscov- cred Dempsey, developed him to great ness and then worked unceasingly for months to lure Willard back into the ring, the heavyweight division of pugilism would be as dead today as it was through the latter days of@i916, 1917 and 1918.
 Dempsey got his fighting start back | in 1915. Through that year and 1916, he was little more than a mining camp battler--and fearfully crude as | to style. He had the same terrible power in his fists then as he has now. But he didn't know how to use It. He
 couldn't shoot his punches with deadly | accuracy-or any real accuracy at III. QUITS GAME
 1 And because he knew nothing of de- fense, he had to take q lot of po1nd ling in that era of his career. In the lend he became disgusted with the ing 1 game, and early in 1917 decided he ad
 enough of it. He got job in ship ! building plant. determined then that
 he was all through with the light game.
 l Then Kearns dug him up.
 l Kearns had seen Dempsey in one or | two of his fights-and he saw in
 Dempsey the makings of one of .he lgreatest warriors of all time. But he lrealized that not until Dempsey cor rected his defensive faults and learned l how to punch would he ever amount to janything.
 1 Let me ledcn you si lNtle dpOut lfighting-and in three years you'll be
 the worlds champion" Kearns told
 Dempsey one afternoon when they hap
 pened to meet in San Francisco. 1 Dempsey was bit skeptical-at first But Kearns pointed out some
 of the biggest defects-and verbally
 showed Dempsey how they could be
 overcome. Dempsey finally said: l All right-I'll take your word for it l that I've got the makings of zeal 1 fighter. You manage me and teach me /, those tricks you tell me about--,nh 1 then I'll go out and see what l can do. 1 So Kearns a boxer in his earlier oays 1 and always ranked as one of the clev-
 crest and trickiest in the game, ;s- sumed the role of teacher. He found /. Dempsey an apt pupil. Through weeks
 and months the two worked together I devoting most of their attention 10 the { trick of accurate hitting.
 ! Kearns found that Dempsey had a l peculiar style on defense-somethin ing 1 different than any other fighter he had l ever seen. He watched Dempsey's use | of it--watched it carefully and closely I for weeks. And then he said 1 That defense of yours is going to I create an awful lot of arguments. Lots | Of people will say it's bad stuff--that l it's no good But l think that it's the 1 greatest natural defense any fighter 1 ever had. So you stick right to that | after we get a few little mperfections I corrected No use changing it. keep right on defending that way--and mo- 1 body ever will hit you enough to hurt" After a while Kearns decided that Dempsey was ready to step forth again
 as a battler-and tackle the best men
 in the land. Kearns skillfully managed
 Dempsey, working him up gradually