The Washington times., 1929-01-15
CARED
L.IFElEFOR
VEAL TIL
By Jack Dempsey

You know, Tex Rickard was
always anxious to get the best
people to the fights ne pro-
noted. Nothing short OF the
best pleased him. That's why
when society folks and the
Wall Street crowd took to ap-
pearing at his ring-sides It
tickIed him more than any
thing else.
yvoYnen.feiks interested. When II
fought Bill Brennan at the old
Garden there were a good many
ladies there, and Tex told me next
day what he had overheard one q
them saying.
ashe was kinda nervous wheg
she came in with her escort, safd
Tex. afraid that there was goin
TO be blood and brutality, put All
thrilled at seein' a regular prize
fight. There wasn't anything TOO
rough in the preliminaries and sne
began taking ides-usuaiiy WHO
the boy that was gettin' llckeo'
sThe man with her was
afraid that there would be some
hIOOd. and that she would want
to 70 out before you and Bren.
nan went on. But, there wasn't
anything rough. and the girl
kept gettin' more and more ex-
cited.
"As soon az you and Bill began
roughine IL up she started roofing
for Brennan because he was getting
the worst of It. Bill ripped you on
the ear with q left hook, and
triclkle Of blood came down your
cheek.
oh. look she cried, we've got
one of his ears, anyway And
after that her escort didn't bother
about having to go away too soon.
It's great stuff, Jack, gettin' the
women interested in this game. It
Will help 1t more than anything else
I can think OF. There were women
ak Goldfield when I put on the.
Gans-Nelson fight, but they weren't
like those who come TO the.
Garden"
Rickard got a great kick ont of
that. Probably a lot OF people think
fof Tex as great promoter and bust.
ness man. He was, but he was a
dreamer, tDo-though dreamer
who made his visions come true.
One of them was b great sport pal.
ace where women could come and be
safe and as comfortable as they
would have been in theater. That,
was one reason why he was willing
to give his time unstintingly to-
such affairs as the Fund for Devae-
tated France sponsored BY Miss
Anne Morgan, and the Milk Fund
that Mrs. William Randolph Hearst
was 50 interested ia.
They meant nothing to him H.
nancially, but money; after all,
was the smallest part Of the
game to Tex. He never found
the making Of money any great
task, though the keeping Of 1t
was sometimes more difficult.
Money doesn't bother me, Jack, !"
| he said to me once. i've had plenty
at times and I've been broke on q
| good many occasions, too, but l
never remember being bothered or
thrilled either way.
you nave TO nave HlOuSy 70 pAStJ
the game, but you can't play golf
without q bali, either. The bal.
itself don't give you any kick. It's
what you do with 1t. 1t never took
any nerve on my part to offer you
4 couple of hundred thousand or
q half q. million dollars for fight,
because / always felt pretty certain
that was going to get it back.
'.I never found that 1t took nerve
to fool with money. came back
from the Bonanza strike with
$5Z, 900, and opened gambling
house, and one night q bunch Of
| the boys played certain numbers
that came popping up, and by
morning / didn't have dime. So,
I went down to Rampant and made
some more. Money! There's lot
more to the game than that. You
know 1t yourself, Jack"
Sure, / know it. One of the
biggest things found In the fight
game was my friendship with Tex
Rickard. Talking with you he'd let
out a lot Of philosophy like that
sound, holnely philosophy that
meant something. I found that It
did me "a lot Of good. 1t did every
body good that listened to him.
Copyright, 1899, BY King Features
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