Evening star., 1942-01-19
Leads All Sports
In Contributing
To Uncle Sam
Little Known Rinemen
Help Boom Come in
Service Towns
BY SID FEEDER,

Assoc1ateA Press Sports Writer.
NEW YORK, Jan. lo.-The much.
maligned business Of mashinR noses,
often sneered at and barred from
the front parlor of sports, il prov.
.tng for the second time in . quarter
century that it puts more into-And
gets more out of-a war than any
other branch Of athletics.
Prom World War I boxing re-
ceived its biggest shot in the arm.
Up TO now in World War II, thu
tight game has poured money and
men into the. pot and already In
reporting q new fan interest from
coast to coast.
The first big blowofY. back there
Is years ago. resulted eventually in
the first million dollar gate. Out
of the revival it produced came,
finally. Madison Square Garden.
generally regarded as the most IA
nous fistic arena in the world.
Ball Already Rolling.
AL cAOy "OflO VAI IL 1S BLATblnB
the ball rolling again. Places like
Toledo and Columbus, Ohio: Char
lotte. N. c.; Barre, VT: Holyoke.
Mass; Bangor and Augusta, Ne:
West Palm Beach, Fla. and two
or three towns near Army camps in
Texas all report q big boom in fist-
flinging, aristically and financially.
On the other hand, no sport has
gone so all out in doing it's bit.
Joe Louis and. Buddy Baer put on a
little clambake q week and . hayI
ago. and from 1t the United States
Navy relief fund collected a mere
$50 900. Late this month. feather
weight Champ Chalky Wright and
Richie Lemos tangle in California
for the same benefit. In March
Louis goes to work again for the
Army fund. Other such tea parties
are in the making here and there.
What's more, boxing has sent
dozens Of men to all branches of
the service. And fight folks. like
Promoter Mike Jacobs, Publisher
Nat Fleischer Of Ring Magazine. and
the boxing writer's OF New York.
have given equipment-rings, gloves.
punching bags and the rest Of the
paraphernalia to various Army
camps.
Two Champions In Uniform.
Two championS-Buck Pvt. J.
Louis Barrow Of the Army and the
heavyweights. and Welterweight
Freddie The Red) Cochrane Of
the Navy-already are in uniform.
Middleweight Ruler Tony Zale saws
he's going to join the sailors as soon
as he keeps his February 13 date
with Billy Conn. And Billy already
has taken his Army physical ex-
animation. George Abrams. rank
ing middleweight contender. and a
flock Of other fiSt-tossers are in 1t.
Comdr. Gene Tunney's Naval Re-
serve unit. Jack Dempsey tried TO
enlist as 4 buck private, was turned
down because of age. but still Is
hoping to land a soldier suit.
The most direct effect on the
sport up to now has been the re-
liCWCu HltcIcSt VI tllc Cd-Nil t"~-
toners all over. Toledo. for instance,
reports three straight sell-out shows.
Holyoke has resumed weekly shin
digs West Palm Beach used to run
once every three weeks. now It's
once a week. Barre's boxing busi-
ness was at 4 standstill: now there's
q card a month.
Obscure Fighters Draw.
Down in Texas. q good portion NJ
the $4,000 encamped soldiers are
willing to put a part Of that 21-s-
month on the line to see q fight.
Much of this box ofice action
is lured by fighters little known
outside their own backyards. young
sters who have come along to take
the places of the headliners of to
the wars.
If you can 60 by what happened
after the last war. the current
skyrocketing is only the beginning.
When that conflagration burned
itself out, boxing hit its money!
making peak. And you may recall
that the youngsters developed dur
ing that conflict only included 4
few like Gene Tunney. Tommy
Loughrsn, Joe Lynch and Mickey
Walker.