The Waterbury Democrat., 1932-10-15
by WERNER LAUFER
NEA Service Shorts Writer

NEA Service Sports Writer
Dempsey was the greatest of all
He steered the fight game to tho
same high place where Babe Ruth
brought baseball.
There Is an odd parallel of pow
erty between the two. Ruth was
an orphan, a. friendless boy from
an Industrial school In Baltimore
Dempsey was bum from the rods
freight train passenger, the low
est gender In the scale of hoboes
Yet they both reached the poin,
where the enthusiastic cries OF
thousands urged them on.
Can't Forget Him
Dempsey will continue as leg
end after It, has been forgotten
what the man looked like. He arose
by punching power above the scorn
and suspicion that ciouded his ear
Iier efforts. They. hooted him as a
World war Stacker, and thousands
cheered him to the skies as a
cheated champion.
At Chicago 104 ,943 of the pop
eyed fancy" hoped Gene Tunney
would stay "out." And the contro-
NcEby t1dt LOIiOWCh tuab iohb N"t's
by Dave Barry still resounds
through the fight world.
At the start he was a kid from
Colorado riding the rods east. New
York scoffed at. him after John
Lester johnson, colored giant,
broke his ribs. Dempsey went
away, met Jack Kearns in bar
room and came back to New York
as champion.
The fight world knows no more
amazing tale. A man who admit
tedly dived for Jim Flynn, q fat
has-been heavyweight In the west
became O. tiger who attracted 81
658.660 worth Of paying worshipers
at Soldiers field.
And that affair at Soldiers field
was staged by a Dempsey who was
we'll past his heyday-a man try
ing to come back, fighting desper-
ately to reverse the verdict OF Phil-
adelphia when q cool and calculate
ing ex-marine slashed him TO
ribbons on rainy night.
Great Fighter
These things are well-known, but
no less wonderful. Picture the man
III5il, AudIohb cN"'oAt
Scotch--a mingling Of many tribes
in a mongrel personality. Becoming
heroic by sheer ability to beat his
brothers into the ground by the
power Of punches!
He came from O. pick-and-shovel
heritage to the topmost spot In
sports. 1t must be said Of him also
that he reached the summit un-
a., NJ n fun 1NUin o.
boy AZ he had been back In the
box-car days.
He was exploited by shrewd
managers here and there--but he
remained bigger than those who
had tried to use" him. He was
thrown in against the toughest
brawlers the world has known, and
those who backed him In those eff
forts were in the game merely for
the sport Of the moment-plis the
trial with victory and a smile.
Came Out On Top
There Is no parallel for Demp-
sey. His managers made mistake
after mistake, such as having his
picture taken in the shipyards
with the man wearing patent leath-
er shoes, and similar asinities--but
he proved himself, in the end,
greater than any Of the men who
directed him.
Impulsive, irresponsible. lovable
Jack Dempsey-what q great men,
DRY of fighting man!
He was not invulnerable. Early
in his career, he took severe beat
ings from such men as Willie Nee
han, Johnny Sudenberg and Others
who were to be remembered only
MS "those who beat Dempsey"
He was more than man boxing
he WAS BOXING. He became
the unforgettable man. And
through him the fight game came
to be Americas supreme sport.