Evening star., 1953-01-25

grand man
ner in the
-, turbulent '20s,
~ '"'OO' and the man
who helped Mike succeed in the
f1stic field.
Both died in the Miami area.
Rickard came here in 1929 for
the opening of the Miami Beach
dog track and the Sharkey-Strib-
ling fight and died at st. Francis
Hospital of gangrene and a burst
appendix.
'Uncle Mike" in failing
health, gave up the boxing en-
pire he built and ruled for more
tnan a decade when he resigned
from the Twentieth Century
Sporting Club in 1949.
His rule was established
through his control of Joe Louis
during the latter's reign as
heavyweight champion. His in
tereSt in sports remained to the
end.
Stricken at Hialeah Track.
Mike was attending the races
at Hialeah yesterday when the
first sharp pains of an old heart
ailment disturbed him.
He'd been feeling great right
up to about p.m.." said his
widow, Mrs. Josephine Jacobs. in
a quiet voice. "It didn't seem like
anything at first. We took him
home from the track and then
called doctor"
The doctor took immediate
action. Jacobs was rushed to the
hospital and admitted at $40
pm. He was placed in an oxygen
tent, but grew worse gradually
during the night and died at
6:15 am.
Mike was born in lower New |
York City March 10. 1880, the
third of nine children. His
father was a tailor and Mike
attended school through the
sixth grade, selling papers to
add to the family income.
Keen Grasp of Finances.
His keen grasp of finances
helped him all through his color
full career, whether he was op-
Grating a river excursion boat
line, "speculating" tickets, build
ing real estate development,
promoting prize fights or man
aging concert tour.
His retirement placed him on
the sidelineS and he spent six
or seven months of each year at
his Miami Beach home and the
remainder at his RumSon, N. j.,
house where he took the big pic
ture of Rickard that used to
adorne his Office wall.
Survivors include his widow, a
nine-year-old adopted daughter,
Joan Ann, and four sisters, Mrs.
Anna Kanan, Mrs. Eta Hirsch,
Mrs. Hanna Oppenheim and Mrs.
Mary Belts.
The body will be flown to New
York tomorrow. Services will
be held at / pm. Monday at
Riverside Memorial Chapel, with
burial in the family plot at
Washington Cemetery, Brooklyn.
At one time a section of Mid
town New York was nicknamed
Jacobs Beach" after Mike. 1t
was first called tilat because his
ticket Office was located there.
Later it became the unofficial
headquarters of fighters and pro-
moters who met to talk shop.
Saved Rickard in 1921.
The name of Jacobs was not
generally known to the boxing
public until five or six years after
Richards death in 1929, but they
had been closely associated since
1921 when Rickard staged that
amazing battle between Jack
Dempsey and Georges Carpenter
at Boyle's Thirty Acres in New
Jersey.
The story goes that Rickard
suddenly discovered he needed
another 100000 to complete the
wooden arena for the battle and
didn't know where the money
was coming from.
Rickard told Jacobs about it
and Jacobs got busy. AS one of
Broadway's biggest ticket brok-
ers. Jacobs promised blocks of
choice seats to other brokers
and quickly came up with the
required cash.
This led to q highly successful
friendship, with Richards flair
for the dramatic and Jacobs
grasp of financial matters prov
ing a great combination.
When Mike entered the boxing
promotion field in 1884, this
ticket know-how and willing
ness to make financial "ad-
vances" to important fighters
and managers helped him tie
UP the key figures he needed to
control the fight game.
Rose With Joe Louis.
He organized the Twentieth
Century Sporting Club and
signed a young Negro fighter
fresh out of Golden Gloves
competition named Joe Louis.
With each knockout the Brown
Bomber'S prestige grew and
Jacobs made money in propor-
ton.
Some of his competitors OBJ
jected to his methods. Opposi-
ton from Madison Square Gar
den came to a climax during an
historic legal battle when Jacobs
signed Louis to fight jim Brad
dock at Chicago.
Finally he was called in to
take over at the Garden with his
Twentieth Century Club. BY
1911 he controlled all the fiStic