The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1927-03-01

that my paGnWay leu, IN an unD
top Of the fighting world.
But that's somewhat wrong.
Once upon a time a youngster,
lore Of Kingdom, dealt out to me
ping in gymnasium which I {
decided that as a battler with
dreary fizzle.
My boyhood days were lived in the
Greenwich Village section Of New
York. The boys who were my play
mates were not worse, and no better
than the ordinary American kid. But
they did like to tune up their mus
cles and get lot of thrills for them.
selves by swinging fists at each
other. And the result was. that IL
any youngster wanted to belong to
that particular gang, 1t was up to
him to learn a little something about
ssrough-and- tumble" work or plead
with his parents to move him out of
the neighborhood before he was per-
manently crippled.
had my first affairs in thOs
days, the same as the other boys,
and / liked 1t. When / grew q
little older, secured q member
shin In q gymnasium. as did
some Of the other boys who had
been my pals. The place was
fairly wen cluttered with boxing
gIOVeS-but we had no teacher.
We Just taught ourselves by
reading books on stHOW to Box"
and putting the teaching to test
among ourselves. In time, Of
course, we developed, and some
of us became fairly good at box.
ing, but, Of course, good only In
crude way.
Perhaps because I concentrated
more upon learning, or maybe be.
cause had more natural ability, 1t
was not long before I was regarded
as the champion of my own crowd.
And, having reached that peak, /
began to look around for more worlds
TO conquer. Being very young, and
wholly unaware Of the fact that this
world Is full of many snares and pit
falls, made the terrible mistake Of
picking out a youngster named
Willie Green for a sparring COM
panion.
Willie was professional boxing
then, IL I remember correctly, as a
preliminary boy. He had been max
ing occasional appearances at our
gymnasium and upon one particular
day when he was trying to find
someone to spar with. ad the. bad
luck Of appearing upon the scene
and asking him IL he would like to
box with me. Willie agreed.
As 49,. o1a VS. HI A.
draw the curtain over what hap
pened. For Just to think about
what Willie did still hurts. It
was q long, long time before /
could be convinced that Willie
hadn't used croWbars ana two
tf dozen fists. But immediately
after the duel was done, / be.
came convinced that the smart
est thing for me to do was to un.
track my mind from any Idea
that was q boxer.
Just the same continued boxing
among my own crowd, which didn {
number any Willie Greens in the
group. But did 1t then only be-
cause loved the sport and found
that 1t was great means of build
ing up health and strength. no
longer had the idea that I would be
champion Of anything other than my
own particular set in Greenwich
Village.
Then the war came. I went over
on the other side with the Marines.
Somebody in military authority con-
nected with the splendid idea that
boxig was an ideal means OF relaxa.
tion for the soldier boys. And box
ing became the leisure hour sport for
all Of US, either as participants or
spectators.
or course, 1 entered enthusias.
ticalIy into the bouts, not with
the idea that I'd get anywhere,
but because it all meant plenty
OF thrills and fun and beneficial
exercise for me. AS was the case
with everybody else who boxed
In q soldiers uniform. there
wasn't much picking Of fOemen.
a fellow who waS an army boxer
could not pick and choose soft
spots" He had to take his foe
men as they came.
And IN admit that I drew some
mighty tough opponents. A whipped
them one by one. and. as time went
on, gained quite a bit OF fame
{ by my succession of victories. Nat
1lrally, one triumph followed
another, the lesson that Willie
Green had taught me became
fainter and fainter, the boyhood
ambition famed into life again. and
ON the battlefields Of France,
made this resolve:
IF I tive through this war. and
come out Of it uncrippled. I'm goina
in for professional boxing. and II
the chance ever comes to me. I'm
going to win the heavyweight cham
plonship of the world"
kept the resolve. the chance
came-and today I'm champion.
On Thursday Gene TunneY
VIII ten Times readers something
about mob psychology.
NCnnVFiRhk hNy the okrnHa