The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-04

to the world
around them. Permanent victims
of the cruel sacrifices demanded by
the ring and their "they-cant-hurt-
us" managers. Ad Wolgast, a greet
lightweight champion, is in an asy-
lum, gray-haired, wizened, gnome-
like man.
Sports writer's nicknamed him the
Michigan Wildcat, and it was his
own boast that ne could not be
hurt. He stood toe to toe with the
redoubtable Battling Nelson for 40
rounds and gleefully outslugged him
for the championship. That was
the day the bees began to buzz in
his head and his speech grew thick.
1t was the day his life as nor
NAL human began to wane. There
are others like him out here. A
good second-rate lightweight who
used to fight around New York in
the days of Leach Cross, Tommy
Murphy, K. O. Brown and Willie
Beecher makes a vulgar living re-
citing THE Kids Last Fight" in a
downtown bar room frequented by
the fight mob.
Come on over and get a load of
this guy" urged an acquaintance.
He'll panic you"
Seems Awfully Sickening
The paunchy old fighter, who
shall be nameless here, was in the
center of a noisy, hooking group
His hoarse, throaty words were
barely understandable and he
spoke with a choking, labored eff
fort, like a voiceless person trying
to attain sound. He gestured gro
tesquely with circling arms, and
went to the floor on his knees to
emphasize the overtones of the
melodrama. And the crowd cried,
go to it. You've got Barrymore
stopped cold"
My acquaintance nudged me.
"The funny thing about this is, the
poor dope thinks he is good"
But somehow it just seemd awfully
sickening to me and / was never
rated at 10 goals for my squealn-
ishnesss, either.
You can at least say for fellows
like Jeffries, Willard and Sharkey
that they have their health. And
you can say for Jeffries particularly
that he still has his memories. Liv-
ing on his farm at Burbank, which
is about a 30-minute ride from the
city proper, he sings plaintively
Give me the good old days"
Not Impressed by Louis
Bald, bulky and slightly stopped
the man who plunged a nation in
gloom when he fell before Jack
johnson 26 years ago at Reno, car
see nothing of interest or hope in
the present. . He has never seer
Joe Louis, but he's got notion the
young Negro is overrated. :. There
hasn't been a decent heavyweight
since Jack Dempsey and he had his
shortcomings. AS for fellows
like Jack Sharkey, Max Schmeline
and Primo Camera, they couldn't
have swung a towel for some Of
the old champions. :. Il amt gonna
say anything about Jimmy Brad
dock, because he's good family
man and credit to the profess
sion"
Was he following the various
white hope tournaments around the
country?
White hopes? I'd call them
hopeless whites" he guffawed in
evident appreciation of his epigram-
NAUTICAL sharpness.
Claims Moderns Are Lax
Climbing through the ropes OF
metaphor to put over some solid
blows for the ancient regime, jeff
ries said there probably would never
be another great fighter-say like
Fitzsimmons-until the moderns
adopted the rigorous training prin-
ciples of the old guard.
TO be great fighter you must
work long and hard said JeffrieS
land that's something your present.
day fellows don't or won't do. The
result is you have lot of ballroom
dancers who wouldn't have lasted q
round with the fighters of my
time"
OF course. Jeffries may be right
in his criticism about modern train
ing. 1t is pretty obvious no fighter
ever got anywhere by sinking
training. But Jefries is such a con-
f1rmed old-timer in his viewpoint
that the natural inclination is to
discount his moaning by large pei
cent. 1t is regrettable there is SC
much moss on his back. A more
advanced Jeffries would lend an in
teresting and helpful voice to the
fight forums of the country.