The Washington times., 1931-02-06
GOAL
Of DEMPSEY
AS KID
BY JACK DEMPSEY
Very kid has an ambition.

done plenty OF banking IN my
time-but never as a banker.
My schooling ended along about
the time my father opened a
restaurant out in Colorado and
decided he needed an assistant.
I was tagged "it." Later father,
who had been a school teacher,
figured that it ought to be-
of those "open all-night" places.
So he made me night manager.
was around 13 then. AS manager,
I was also cook and waiter.
Anticipating a lot of customers.
used to fry up plenty of ham and
eggs SO as to be prepared for the
rush. But there never was any
rush. No use wasting the unsold
ham and eggs, so ate 'em.
Envied Bankers
Of course, father had an idea
that I sort of late up" the bust
nes-or anyway that 1 ate a
large quantity of stock on hand
Maybe he was right. However,
business was punk, the place
closed and I had to go out hust-
ling for living.
I always envied the bankers,
They Semed to lead the kind
of life 1 wanted to Iead-nice
clothes, easy hours, powers in
the community, etc. But 1
couldn't get a job in any of
the banks. So 1 went to pitch
ing hay, carpentering, hard
rock mining-any old job 1
could get.
My fun as a kid came in rid
ing horses and putting on fist
fights with the kids in any town
where We happened to live. We
did plenty of moving in those
years. Moved all over Colorado
and Utah. Lived in so many
towns that I've almost lost count
Dut wherever we'd anchor for a
while, the tough kids would look
me over and one of them would
decide to try to beat me up.
Out in these towns then they
seemed to have a system about
this championship stuff. All the
kids in the town who aimed to
be captain" or leader" would
get into a tournament and the
winner was the big chief. But he
remained as such only by tax
ing on all-comerS. That meant
that whenever anybody moved
into town who was around his
age or size he would have to
pick fight and win. Otherwise
he was chased out of office and
the boys elected" better lead
er" with a new elimination.
Willing Performer
I seemed always to b landing
in towns where they had tough
babies who promptly picked on
lle. I didn't know anything
about boxing. But I was willing
performer. If a fellow took
shot at me, that started things
I just went hell-bent into him
throwing fists and if he didn
back away after a while and take
it on the run then we'd stand
toe to toe and make it test OF
the best jaw. My jaw usually was
winner.
won the town championship
in lots of places because nobody
could flatten me and had the
strength to wear the other boy
down. But it never meant
much to me. AS soon as / be-
came champ" father decided
we'd move again.
When I was IA or IS we al
went to West Virginia. Father
and mother owned some. property
there on which coal had beer
found. It was worth millions
But that didn't help the Demp
seyS. Father had failed to pay
taxes, the land was bought ir
for taxes by a big coal company
and that was our bad luck.
While litigation was going or
I got tired of West Virginia. MY
brother, Johnny, and I went back
to Utah. I had given up thoughts
of banking by that time. Ole
Kid Necessity made me do that
No chance of my going to high
school or college-and I couldn't
take a job as office boy in a
bank at 81 a week. I needed to
earn more than that and the
only way was to grab some
manual job and do some finish
fighting on Saturday afternoons
and Sundays-or during MONDAY
lunch hour.
Turned Wrestler, Also
I had some good luck doing
that, got a bit of local rep
had some offers of bouts that
paid me from $40 up to $50
So I grabbed them. When box,
ing was slack, was a wrestler
Fight or grapple-made no differ
ence to me so long as there was
a cash reward.
Little by little I became better
known as a boxer, the earnings
grew better, I decided upon a
ring career and that's how the
banking business lost a fellow
named William Harrison Demp-
SeyAaS an employe.
lCnnNripht lH21 King Features