New Britain herald., 1928-07-23
WORD P|CTURE0 0f
 CHAMPION 1UNNEY
But Gene, Wise as He Is, Real.
 iZes He'll Lose Some Day

New York, July B R,-Nlze one portion of extra large manhood Gene Tunney-physically perfect and mentally alive to every bit of the world round about him. Sea son with dash of aloofness. toss
 in whole handful of self-confdence and belief In such a thing as man of destiny"
 Add a keen desire to be looked upon as a man of intellect a clear and analytical brain. wise in the ways of the world. oftimes through experience none too pleasant. More than little dependable and under abiding love of nature. tingling open air. running streams, green fields and wooded trails.
 Mix it all thoroughly with q kindliness and honesty of purpose often misinterpreted: freeze it d bit with those same misinterpretations slice the mixture cross-grain-and any one section will contain most everything that will crop out dur ing normal day in the life Of Gene Tunney. most extraordinary heavyweight champion the light racket ever has known.
 It wasn't so many years ago that Tunney pounded typewriter for a livelihood in the office of an eX- press company. That was before the World War took him away from Greenwich Village and across the seas to France in the marine corps,
 Even closer to the present was the time when the big. blue-eyed fel- low, back from the war and eager to gain d new foothold in the game he really loves, dropped in occa- sionally on the boys in the old Madi- son Square Garden. looking for a main event shot or even good somi-final to start him again '!n the money
 Fight writers knew him as q prince of good fellows, great guy" but they were not enough ir- terestcd in him to probe and find that under the bristly pompadour. behind the smiling blue ,eyes. was mind already deeply interested in the works of Shakespeare and the poets, painters. philosophers and musicians who have buildcl the worlds culture.
 Gene wasn't considered much of a fighter then. Bad hands caused him to fight bad fights and there seemed little probability that he ever would reach fistic heights. He knew in his heart that he had the makings of champion, that noth- ing could stop him if the chance once came. Gene knew that but no one else seemed to share his opinion.
 Today Tunney is still puzzle to most Of the writers of that day. Before they really knew him, Gene disappeared into the Canadian woods 10 mend the fractures in his hands by the husky labor of log gins camp. There his body grew. his confidence increased. and while other fighters marked time fin the cities. Gene laid the foundation out of-doors for the physique that lifted him to the throne room Of all pugil- ism.
 But the interest. it seems. always was in the other fellow, the chap who could bring "color to mankind's most ancient sport-the hand to hand battle of giant brawn and stamina. It was no wonder. then, that the Gene Tunney who laced the invincible Jack Dempsey that rain- soaked night in Philadelphia, was almost an unknown as far as his mental equipment was concerned when he burst in upon a surprised boxing world as king of the heavy weights.
 But l hadn't changed a bit" Gene says. I've always loved litera- tnre and the classics. I never before had the time and opportunity to