Evening star., 1954-12-16

IHfS Is LHe I3LfI o! 81 QTLtcteS
from Grantland Rice's auto
biography, "The Tumult and
the Shouting"
With crowd of 135, 900 con-
tributing to the first $2-million
gate, Gene Tunney, a superbly
cool and efficient boxer, marched
out of his corner at the opening
bell and hit Dempsey, the fighter,
with a high, hard right hand.
That blow sealed DempSey's
doom. 1t started to rain in the
fourth round and by the 10th
and final round it was a deluge.
At the end. Dempsey's face was
bloody. horribly beaten mask.
Blind by the final bell. Dempsey
grabbed one of his seconds and
said, Take me to him I
want to shake his hand"
Due to the rain it was impos-
sible to use a typewriter. ! die
tated the description of the fight
to my wire man. With me that
night were Ring Lardner and
Benny Leonard, the lightweight
champ from 1917-1925. Back at
the hotel a raging sore throat
and a hangover had me in bad
shape.
Trapped by Ghost.
"Take slug of bourbon and
lie down." said Lardner. "Ill
file your overnight Leonard, a
Dempsey man, told Lardner that
he suspected the fix had been in
for Tunney to win. The story
appearing next day under my by
line blistered the hide of both
Tunney and Dempsey. Neither
spoke to me for several months.
I couldn't blame either, but /
couldn't open my mouth. I had
a ghost.
The second Dempsey -Tunney
fight, in Chicago, exactly one
year later, was pretty much a
repetition of the first-except
for that long count.
Tunney boxed beautifully, his
straight left jab and combina-
tions jarring Dempsey but not
hurting him particularly. I was
thinking of my overnight lead
in the seventh--When, 10 and
behold-Dempsey landed a right
cross over Tunney's left lead.
1t landed like a bomb on the
left side of Tunney's jaw. The
lights in Tunney's mind flick
cred as second right to the
jaw knocked Gene into the ropes
AS Tunney came off the ropes,
clearly daZed. Jack caught him
with a short and crucifying left
hook . then a right :. left
and a right. Tunney went down
on the canvas. his left hand
clutching the middle rope near
one corner.
Far Corner Beats Jack.
Dempsey landed six or seven
punches. Had Tunney enjoyed
anything less than 100 per cent
physical condition, he would
have been "out" at the count Of
20 or 80. In the space Of
two seconds, Soldier Field be-
came a braying bedlam. AS Tun-
ney hit the deck. Referee Dave
Barry signaled Dempsey to that
farthest neutral corner" How
many seconds elapsed between
the time that Tunney fell and
Dempsey reluctantly reached
that far corner I'll never know.
do know that when Barry
started his count and reached
seven. Tunney was on one knee.
listening attentively, and was
up at nine.
That was DempSey'S last
chance-the only round of the
10 I could score for him.
Tunney today, at SIS, is a fine
figure of man enjoying robust
middle age. He is a director of
five or six corporations with Of
fees on Vanderbilt avenue near
Grand Central Station. and we
frequently have a cocktail and
lunch together.
We were discussing those
Golden Twenties one day recently
over luncheon at the Chatham
Hotel.
"Life's been good awfully
good to me. Grant," Gene said.
I'm my trade at the time-prize
fighting-there will never be an
other period like those twenties.
:. There were a lot of first