The Washington times., 1936-02-15
Fur Pilot
F1inI,dsMOb
Tickle
By. KIRK MILLER
Times Sports Editor

1d4pU 0u1uOVh 40 O AOA4OA
young man these days.
In fact he is downright
melancholy.
Ralph has been notice. d
tramping around the slushy
streets shaking his head and
muttering only half audibly:
II can't understand tits
got me down."
Finally his bosom pal, George
King, Man Friday to Promoter
Joe Turner. tenderly led Murdock
aside and offered to share his de-
lection with him If he would only
unburden his woes to two sympa-
thetic ears. .-.
'"Why Is It they boo my boy,
Phil Furr, when he is introduced
In the ring" mOaned the mOrOse
manager Of the welterweight
champion Of Washington.
= whats . fellow got 10 do to
deserve the plaudits Of . COM
Inunity where he started. fight
! ing and where he has done 30
per cent Of his ring work?
why, he's the only recognized
champion In the District Of Co
lumbia. He has defended 1t time
and again, never picking his
spots, and has put up fewer poor
fights than any Of the regular
headlinerS hereabOuts. Why do
the fans give him the bird3 /
can't understand IT."
FANS ARE TICKLE
saThey didn't give him the bird
following his severe beating Of
Steve HaIaikO last Monday, did
they?' cOuntered King. "Why,
the fans tore the house down
after that one. It was Phil'S
greatest exhibition In Washing.
toni"
"No," admitted Murdock, ''but
before the fight, when he was
introduced from his corner,
there was . lot Of cat-caIlS and.
before his previous HalaikO
fight, when he came In several
pounds over the welterweight
limit, you'd have thought he had
leprOsy the way they razZed him.
Then, when two Of the three
ring officials gave Phil the dect
sion, the fans set up . hOwl that
j lasted for five minutes. My
goodness, what has o guy got to
do to. catch the fancy Of the
crowd and hold it2seas
Wen. by this time King was
rolling off his chair with laugh
ter.
You see, King has been around
a whole lot longer than his
buddy, Murdock. King is the
third oldest white child in Wash
ington, only Joe Turner and Mr..
Isaac Cans antedating him.
Years and Years Ago
King was the original manager
Of Joe Turner long before Joe
had a tin ear to his name. and
since that wasn't last week, con-
sequently King has learned lots
about crowd psychology.
'Why boy" assured King,
putting . fatherly arm around
the detected MurdOck. that's
Just . study in mob psychology.
Don't you know that the
minute . fighter or a wrestler
or any of the champions in
sport get to the top, immedi-
ately the crowd puts 'em on
the spot. It's human nature
to be for the underdOg, and
the fact that Phil Furr some
times gets the old razzberry
from the audience, simply
labels him as being on the top
Of the heap.
"Why, son." reminded King,
IS he reached for his snuff
box, I've seen the greatest
names in spOrtdOm bOOed. and
bOOed rOundly at that
COST OF FAME
''TO Cobb received more votes
than any man in baseball to be
named aS one Of its immOFtals,
yet I've seen him ribbed from
. thousand voices in the grand
stand. That's the cost of being
the best. They Immediately
want to tear you down.
1--WE heard Babe Ruth b0Oed,
, too, and so have you; but was
there any question about his
superiority when he was Still in
the game?
Don't let those jeers aimed
at Furr get you down, M boy.
Think Of Jim LOndcS. He got
Il, particularly from the women
wrestling fans who used 70
haunt the Auditorium and ball
park, yet his peer has never
been developed and in fact he's
so indispensable. to the wreSt-
ling game they've had to haul
him out of retirement.
"You talk about the price Of
being champion. -Furr has no
kick coming, and neither have
you. Pick up the papers and
try to find something about
Champion Jim BraddOCk-its
al Louis, Louis. Louis. these
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