The Waterbury Democrat., 1936-01-16
M'GOvERN FISTS
 PUNCHED PATHTO HUMPHREY FAME.
Three Champions Stopped By Brooklyn Boy in 10
 Months
CThis is Che second of six arti- Oclss on Joe Humphreys, daddy oe sports announcsrsl.

(This is Che second of six arti- Coles on Joe Humphreys, daddy oe
 sports announcersl.
 BY HARRY 0RAYgON
 Sports Editor, NEA Service
 New York, Jan. ie.-To 9am Harris and Joe Humphreys, boxing started and finished with Terrible Terry Mcdovern. They skyrocketed to national xenown behind the fly. ingil fists of the fiery Irish kid from the south Brooklyn siunas.
 When the Horton law took pugll- ism out of the loft and barge stage in New York in 1897, legalized 1t for the first time anywhere, the gay young blade, Joe Humphreys, be- came matchmaker and announcer ct Johnny Oates old South Beach A. c.
 Between productions. such as they were, Joe and Beaut ran up to Hart ford to give c pair of promoters named Crowley and Harris Q lift.
 The Harris was Sam H. Harris, and he was destined te go . long way.
 Like Humphreys, he was c child of the teeming tenements, left to shift for himself ct il. News, errand, messenger boy and whatnot, Harris had developed the business of sup- plying towels to New York offices when Humphreys first bumped into him. He also managed Q bantam. weight named George Monroe and had been bitten by the theatrical bug, an inocuiation that was to take him to Q dizzy height.
 The Birth of BalIyhoO
 When Mc0ovcrn knocked out Monroe in a rounds in 1908, the shrewd Harris promptly engineered deal that quickly put Terrible Terry and himself in the more iin- portant money. Ke became the handler of Mcdovern, with Huinph. reys as his first lieutenant.
 Mc0overn was on amazing war; rior and in building the little vege. table peddler as on attraction liar. ris showed the skill that was to make him one of the most sue. cessful theatrical producers of all time.
 Ballyhoo was born with the Me- Govern -Harriss Humphreys comhina. ton. Harris imported Pedlar Pal. mer from England to fight Mo. Govern for the world bantam cham. plonship at Tuckahoe, Sept. i2, leoo.
 Palmer and his manager, Peggy Dettinson, were met ct the pier by c brass band, c long procession Of carriages, and scores Of celebrities. A Broadway banquet followed, with the band serenAding palmer'S hotel fer into tho night and hired hands circling the block with flares. There waS Q splurge of publicity: the entire country talked, and there were special trains from Philadel- ph!a, Hartford and other cities. Terrible Terry Hits Peak
 McQoyern fattened Palmer in 2 minutes and g seconds despite the fact that the Little Box of Tricks got c 30.second rest when someone who had bet on him pulled the bell cord ct the first knockdown.
 McdoveTn followed this up by stopping George Dixon, the feather. weight champion, and ironing out Frank Erne, the lightweight leader, ail within 10 months. Erne did 12e pounds. McQovern went on to knock out Joe Bernstein, 0 topnotchey; beat Kid Broad, and knocked out Joe Cans, then at his peak, in Q questionable affair that killed box. ing in Chicago.
 Not yet 2i end weighing no more than i22 pounds, Mc0overn was con- sidered too formidable for anybody under i40 pounds, when alonh came Young Corbett.
 Mc0overn had spent an entire summer and fall In the show busi- ness when the cocky Corbett fin- ished him with right cross coun- ter 1n the second round ct Hart. ford on the afternoon cd Thanks giving day, Nov. 90, 1901. Humphreys declares that Terrible Terry had had trouble with his wife. and Corbett's colossal nerve got un- der his thin Irish skin. On the way to the ring, Corbett, . short-ender ct i-b, knocked on the door of McQoverns dressing room and said: "Hey, Terry. Come on out. Terry, and take your lickingl" 
 Harris Fitch; COhan Catch Mc0overn never was the same af- ter that. He travelled all the way to San Francisco in an attempt to even his score with Corbett on March 3i, 1903, but the same thing happened after he had been badly beaten for n rounds.
 Following his victory over Palmer, Mc0oveEn starred in "The Gay Morning Glories," "The Fatal Wed- ding" "The Bower After Dark" "The Road to Ruin," and Fame and Fortune" Humphreys had . bit in each of these productions, which put Harris in the theatrical business in large way.
 Harris met George M. Conan at 6 beer racket of "The Song and Words Club" on Staten Island in the summer of 1902. There was an actors baseball game. Harris pitch- ed and Cohan caught. Joe Humphreys virtually man. aged Terry Afc0overn thereafter, for the famous firm of Conan and Farrie was on ika Wnv