The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1943-02-04
Busy Golden Era" OF Promoting Recalled
Jim Coffroth, Critically ID,
Had Sensational Sports Career

ment Of wines, confusing ana el11'
barrassing to q vulgarian, which 4
TO say one who always managed to
get BY on Scotch and Polly. There
was an elegance Of manner and
manners about Coffroth one does
not normally associate with Q fels
low who came up with prize night
ers and race horses; the answer is
Of course, he also came up with the
more genteel ways OF life.
In those days he had sign fast
ened to his front door. It read: IRE.
peal the 18th Amendment" Tha
amendment had already been re.
pealed. "Of course" Coffr0th would
smile, II Just want my visitors to
know how I always stood on the
miserable matter"
Tex Packard came after Coffroth
It Is significant Rickard incor-
porated many Of Coffroth's ideas IN
his own promotional policies. Coff'
roth wa sthe first to herd newspa-
permen and civic dignitaries to.
gether and entertained them al
fight camps with view to pub
licity. Rickard did the same thing
with added touches which included
even yachting parties. Coffroth was
the grst to eliminate the haphazard
seating arrangements common In
those days. If your ticket called for
certain seat, Coffroth saw that
you sat in it--even II It meant
throwing the chief Of police out, q
task which on one occasion he per-
sonally superintendent. This was one
Of Richards strong points when he
moved into the old Garden, q policy
which failed to heighten Tammany'a
affection for him. BY the way. Rick.
ard was like Coffroth In another re-
spect: He didn't know much about
fighters. Coffroth was basically o
shrewd promoter; he seemed to
know what the publica wanted. His
promotions helped establish most Of
the old champions, Jeffries. John.
son, Britt, Ketchell, Attell, Wolgast,
Richie, etc. We suspect his favor.
lite fighter was Tom Sharkey, gran.
tie man OF the heavyweights. Shar.
key was always good for q laugh.
Sunny Jim went for laughs.
Coffroth promoted Sharkey against
AL Kaufman. In those days heavy
black mechanics tape was used to
bind fighters hands. Kaufman must
have used nifty yards Of the stuff.
Sharkey watched him for Q minute
or so and then turned to Coffroth:
This fellow amt q fighter; he's an
electrician"
Another Coffroth story about
Sharkey. tom knocked out Kid
Mccoy but had his troubles in the
ten rounds. Mccoy started out by
keeping q left In Toms face and be-
fore long It looked like q rip toma-
to. Don't tell me this guys a sci-
entiflc boxer roared Sharkey be-
tween rounds, as he nursed his
bruised and bleeding beak. "A SCI
ertific boxer wouldn't keep hitting
In the same place all the time"
RivaIed Derby
CofSroth built up his famous ham
dicap by degrees. It was started In
1917 as q modest s., 600 added event.
BY 1925 1t was worth as much as
the Kentucky Derby. In 1929, the
last year the Coffroth was run I'm.
der that name, the gross value was
4I23, 900 and the value to the winner
was 408,250. That was the year
Harry Unna's Golden Prince came
Before Co1roth tossed in his
chips south Of the border his ham
dicap was attracting entries from
people like Mrs. Payne Whitney,
Commander J. K. L. Ross and Gift
ford Cochrane. As he said: big
money is irresistible, even to people
with big money"
Coffroth didn't know much about
horses either. He seldom saw hts
own racers run. He would be in his
private ONCE entertaining old
friends from New York and San
Francisco. "You can always get
good horses together" he'd boast,
"but It isn't always you can get good
fellows together"
We don't know how many heavy
weight fights he came to New York
to Sc and never saw. !. "You fellows
make 'em sound so much more ex-
citing in the newspapers the next
day anyway" he would say, reach.
ing for the phone TO order another
consignment of grape. They tagged
him right. Sunny JIM" We never
saw q cloud drift past his cheerful
personality.