The Washington herald., 1921-11-20
By ROBERT EDGREN.

JACK DEMPSEY ana Jess willard
J had both splashed ink on the
documents in the case, signifying
their mutual willingness to slam
each other-for percentage or
other valuable consideration-whe
Jess struck oil!
Just what effect that will have
on the proposed championship
match between Dempsey and Will
lard no one knows at present. Will
lard busted, with all his money
tied up in oil land leases and Wild
cat drilling operations. with farm
mortgages to pay and other trou-
bles, and willard as a new oil mag
nate with the money rolling in
like a flood may be two entirely
different propositions.
Willard. hard up for ready cash.
was anxious to fight Dempsey
again. for percentage or guarantee.
II he fights Dempsey now 1t will be
simply because of an ambition to
re-establish himself as worlds
champion and superman of the
ring. Knowing big, easy-going
Jess fairly well. 1 risk the opinion
that nothing but need of money
could drive him through a siege of
training and into the ring.
He never cared for fighting as
fighting-the way Dempsey does.
1t was just a way to avoid poverty
with Jess-an easy way because Of
his great bulk and Strength. He
left a job as a teamster to begin
fighting. He kept on fighting be-
cause there was a good living IN it.
When he beat Johnson for the
championship he saw wealth ahead
and went after 1t.
There's just one possibility OF
willard's being anxious to go
through with the Dempsey match.
arranged for July l. While he was
champion he became immensely
proud OF his supremacy among
men. At Toledo the blow to his
pride. when Dempsey whipped him,
was vastly greater than the dam
age done by Dempsey's gloved fists.
Now. with no other worry on his
mind. Jess may have an ambition
to beat Dempsey and then retire to
the delights of being an oil mill
lionaire with a unique reputation
as man of physical prowess.
willard's Adventurous Life.
Jess willard. has had an adven-
turous life. Born on the edge OF
an Indian reservation, he spent his
boyhood living with an old Indian n
chief. riding range on his horses
hunting with the Indians and learn-
ing the wild mans skill.
Later he was married. and set
tied down to work on cattle ranges
Nd 1aN At, 1N
teams. freighting. He was at
freight station when the news OF
Jeffries' defeat at Reno came In.
Someone said to Jess:
why don't you go and lick that
Niger? You're big enough.
And right there Jess quit team
ing. He went to Oklahoma at once,
found boxing club. began work IN
the gymnasium and asked for
chance to show he could fight IN
a few months he was making good.
was fighting in New York rings
was no longer laughed at because
of his huge bulk, his awkwardness
and his wide smile. Willard was
then six feet seven inches tall.
neither slim nor stout but well
proportioned. and as strong as an
OK.
He fought all over the country,
sometimes doing well, sometimes
hard up for travelling money. He
bought a small home for his fam
lily, in Los Angeles. and made that
his headquarters. Then at last he
got the match with Johnson, train
! ed for months in Texas. went to
Havana when the match was shift
ed there. and in the end whipped
Johnson in twenty-six rounds and
became champion.
After that IL was easy for Jess.
There wa no one to fight him for
fong time. and he Sidn't intend to
blight again anyway. He wanted to
clean up" fortune as a show
man. He went from vaudeville to
the circus. on salary, and later
bought the circus and made good
money until Americas gsing into
the war put him out of business.
Then he went down to Texas and
spent his earnings buying oil land
and land leases It's said he lost
great deal of money there, or
had 1t tied up and useless. He
took a match with Jack Dempsey
to get ready cash-S10o,o00, ex-