The Washington herald., 1921-06-24
Jack Observes
26th Birthday
Champion Tells World
-Four fundamentals of
Ring Success.
By EYEWITNESS.

ATLANTIC CITY, n. j., June "a
Tomorrow is Jack Dempsey's birth
day. He will be 26 years old.
Kesrns, who has made an inten-
sive study Of him since the April
day in 1917 when they met for the
first time on a street corner in San
Francisco, says he has four years
to go before reaching the peak of
his prowess.
Or, rather. Kearns put it this way,
in response to my question as to the
age at which he considers a fighter
at his best:
Thirty is a lighters prime. Demp-
sey will be a better man at thirty
than he is NV. Bob Fitzsimmons
never started to fight until he was
35"
Along just what lines will this
Improvement proceed?"
Along the lines he shows you
every day. He learns and invents
more punches, masters more tricks
and better variety of them With
success you get the confidence to
put yur ideas Int practice and so
Dempseya as he Constantly learns
more, constantly attempts more"
0"Pscy - Learner.
1t is true that Dempsey is a learn
er. That he should be is part of that
never braggadocious temperament
OF his concerning which Kearns
spoke in yesterdays dispatch.
Ihe absence of braggadocio from
Dempsey's speech is so complete as
to be noteworthy. especially at a
time when every fawning friend OF
his is trying to draw him into a
prophecy. He has many of them.
as every pugilist has, for this fight
game Is a game that conspicuously
draws to itself two types of hang
ers-on-the ferocious and the fawn-
ing. 1t is when see the types
around hghters that ! wonder NOT
tnat nghters often are bad men. but
that they are not always infinitely
worse.
Ihere is type of face at once
evil and cunning that you encount-
or. seems to me, only when you
Joih the throng that has for its
supreme interest in life the squaIid
preIlmlnaries. the shady side issues
the scandals and the CANDLES. the
LndneuVerlng and the stalline that
Ior weeks and weeks attend the
preparations for championsb;n
bout.
From the blatancy of tbesa nr.n
aratlons Jack Dempsey keep.
strangely aloof. and his words
winch are sensible and at all times
relatively few, are bestowed mainIv
upon topics other than lighting. In
Iact' II prize-fighting is an ofysr.n
l am inclined to think that the prine
cipals in 1t are the least ofYensiv.
persons connected with It.
whether or not he is confder, 4.
a proposition that nobody can a.
innate from anything that fail,
from Dempsey's lips.
Nor does Dempsey in anv u,
deprecate his opponent or his opno,
nent's supporters.
was telling him that nv in
structions were to go up to Man
hasset and 10 some picture stufr
about Carpenter.
That's right" he said. The in
terest is there. They want mora
to know about him."
Jack Keen Calculator,
But, with Dempsey's birthday an.
niversary at hand, it may interest
you to know what KIND of mental
endowment he. displayed as a lad
especially as Tat endowment is 90
ing to be a factor in his impendinp
tussle with the Frenchman. Thai
endowment was facility in calcula-
ton. He was not veryg ood in
reading, nor was he then, nor is he
now, at all good in writing.
But he told me, "I was eood
in arithmetic"
The high value he sets on readi-
ness in calculation was emphasized
by him when he ticked Off for me
the four fundamentals that have
made him a great fighter.
Those fundamentals, as worded
by him. are:
Ticking .are Of myself"
Learning how to punch-I meant.
to punch without breaking nv hand
Number 3-Not to let the Other
fellow hurt you. and IL he does. NOT
to let him know It.
And Number 4-That's verv i'm
portant, too; and 1t is to look after
all the little advantages, You've
hearl that old saying about Iookine
after the pennies and the rdoJlars
viii look sfter themselves. It's the
same way In fighting. Dn't over
iook the little things"
such was his birthday anniversarv
message To waitipo ,u1.,,