Evening star., 1936-12-19
OLD SAILOR STILL
IS IN RARE SHAPE
Landed Hardest Blow Ever
Received by Dempsey,
Declares Jack.
BY GRANTLAND RICE.

Y OS ANGELES, Calf, December
19-Gunboat Smith never was
great fighter. not by any sys-
- tenn Of reckoning. But he was
Q good one and he had a terrific
punch. Over a stretch of few years
he mingled with the best heavy
weights in the world and beat some
of them He knocked out a heavy
weight champion of England and he
had Georges Carpenter on the floor,
and one night he hit Jack Dempsey
on the chin so hard that Jack fin
ished the fight in a fog. but he never
got close enough to the heavyweight
title to fight for it,
Smith was of the white hope era,
f4hough he wasn't white hope. He
was Just a big raw-boned bloke off a
battle wagon who ruined a lot OF
hopes that optimistic managers had
been grooming. Jack johnson was
champion when the gunner got out
of the Navy, to find a lot of clumsy
big fellows swarming and tumbling
around, each headed in the general
direction of the colored titleholder.
native of Philadelphia, who had
learned to fight in rings pitched on
shipboard, he waded into the pack and
fiattened many of them. He checked
jess Wizards rise by beating him in
20 rounds. He beat Frank Moran
He even beat Sam Langford once,
although Langford also beat him.
The Occipital Punch.
CUNBOAT'S best punch was long,
looping overland right that
nailed the victim at the base Of the
skull and-very often-took all the
fight out of him. Bob Edgren called
1t the occipital punch. but Gunboat
improved on that description. He
called it the 'ospital punch. Or may
be that was merely what he thought
Edgren had said in the first place.
One of his hardest fights was with
Jimmy Johnston's South African en-
try for the worlds heavyweight title
Boer Rodel The Boer had a good
left hand and he was a dead-game
fellow. He had won a few fights
around New York and Johnston tossed
him in with Smith one night in the
old National Sporting Club on West
Forty-fourth street. Gunboat smote
him with the 'ospital punch in the
frst round, and when he went down,
the crowd got up and started out
but the Boer got up, too-and the
crowd came back. 1t was a l0-round
fight and the Boer was going up and
down all evening, but he was on
his feet at the finish.
This earned him a return match
with Gunboat in the old Madison
Square Garden, and, for that fight,
smith sharpened up his best punch
and knocked him out in three rounds.
He K.O.'d the Bombardier.
CMITH was at his peak from 1913
~ through 1915. 1t was in 1918
that he had his two brushes with
Rodel. and that same year he knocked
out Bombardier Wells, heavyweight
champion Of England, in the old Gar
den. Wells was the picture book Brit
ash heavyweight. He was broad
shouldered and narrow-waisted. He
was . beautiful boxer. but he couldn't
take it. On a previous expedition
20 this country, he had been knocked
out by AL Palzer. and he came back
to fight Smith and was knocked out
again.
Smith went to London in 1915 to
light Carpenter, who also had knocked
out Wells, and was a tremendous
fsvorite not only in Paris, but in Lon
don. Smith had the better of the
fight. He had Carpenter on the floor
In the sixth round, but in his eager
ness to finish him, Gunboat rushed
at him and struck him a glancing
blow on the head while he was on one
knee. This cost Smith the fght-he
Immediately was disqualified for
fouling.
He fought for several years after
that, but he never could fight his
way back to the place held the night
he climbed into the ring with Car
pentier. He gave Dempsey a couple
of rough trips through four-round
hghts in San Francisco when Jack was
on his way to the heavyweight throne,
snd Jack frequently has said that
nobody ever hit him as hard as Gun
boat did in one Of those brawls.
Stocks and Bonds.
WHEN his fighting days were over
Nv Gunboat remained in New York.
He got Job as skipper of crew of
messengers delivering stocks and
bonds for Wall Street firm. He took
out a license as a referee and was
third man in the ring in some of the
most important fights held in New
York for couple of years. 1t was
his vote that gave the heavyweight
title to Jack Sharkey in his second
light with Max Schmeling.
Gunboat isn't very much in the pic
ture any more, but he still is around
New York. He bobs up at the big
fights and still is the same big, grim
ming, friendly fellow he always was.
He keeps in fine shape and he looks as
though, in pinch. he still could throw
an 'ospital punch with something
on it.
fr, nvr,zLt 1non