Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-09-21
WxM LOSE or Draw
Bv FRANCIS srAnN 49, =
Farewell to a Stodium-No. a
BY FRANCIS sTAnN

Farewell to q St0dIum-N
: Last in series reDteaDing some of the
more memorable sports moments in the So
year Old history of Griffith Stadium,
" scheduled to be replaced By the neD Dis
trict OF Columbia Stadium as the cttys
major athletic arena
$. THE MANLY ART WAS the last of the
so-called major sports to be unveiled in
the old ball park. Such genteel pasttmes
Is that in which Ty Cobb engaged with his
Eazor-sharp spikes - and football when
helmets were not mandatory-had pre-
coded boxing by many years
This was because boxing was not legal
lzed in the District until 1894. In fact.
tegalized mayhem sort OF ran as an entry
with legal booze in our.city that year, like
horses wearing saddle cloths reading 81"
and "1R".-.
Il, F1sticuffing in the venerable park even
was predated by that whimsical game in
which human races whippet. A whippet
is a kind of junior-grade greyhound with
rather emphatic morning after nerves.
Jimmy Connolly Of Georgetown, best of the
Nations collegiate milersiin the 1920s, was
given a. So-yard start on d lO0-yard course,
II memory serves, but 1t wasn't enough. It
was dogs day
=
PRIOR TO THE BLESSINGS bestowed
upon boxing by the Congress and President
Roosevelt the distinguished practitioners of
the art were forced to bootleg their skills in
wooded suburban areas, Army posts, aban-
doned brewerieS and, in the very early days,
even barges. Some were leaky-roof arenas,
some open-air, but none was large enough
or sufficiently accessible to accommodate
What could be classified as BIG fight.
1t remained, however, for a bootleg
graduate not only to perform in the city's
first title fight but also to win it. His name
was Petey Sarron, a hairy Syrian out of
Birmingham, Ala, who fought all over the
world but with only indifferent success I'M
til he arrived in Washington
Here he won seven in row and earned
shot at the featherweight championship
held by Freddie Miller
- For Sarron, fighting Miller was like
having eggs for breakfast. The only differ
ence between his fight at Griffith Stadium
May II, 1895, and previous ones with Fred
die in Alexandra, Va, Cincinnati and
Miami Beach was that he won =.
The bout was beaut, too, and the de-
ciSion popular because Petey was well liked
here, although his well-wiSherS knew it.
was only a question of time before Sarron
you'd have to meet Henry Armstrong and
yield his crown. Which he did the following
year.
;, GOLDIE AHEARN, who promoted or
was matchmaker of most Of the more i'm
portant fights at the old stadium, says that
if it were not for the late Clark Griffith
there would have been precious little out
door boxing in D. C. IF crowd was lousy
~. youknow, kind of small Griff would
ask If I was going to turn buck" Ahearn
relates wistfully. IF said no, he'd say to
Johnny Morrissey, his box-office man,
Johnny, fix up Goldie' That meant that
instead of charging the usual is per cent
for the park he'd settle for only 10. Griff
was the most generous man ever knew"
The one BIG fight at Seventh and Flor
ida avenue was, naturally, Joe Louis
heavyweight title defense against Jacob
LbuuQyJ 0deE, May 20, 1874. 6uI Ue1OrS
looking back on that one it should be re-
corded that quite few wearers Of the
purple, including Barney Ross, Tony Can
zoneri, Henry Armstrong; Joey. Archibald,
Fred Apostoi, Harry Jeffra and frankie
Klick, fought there either for crown or in
ilon-title matches
Ahearn, in fact, once was forced to pre-
vent a non-championShip fight from be-
coming real thing. 1t was June, 1895, when
he matched Canzoneri, king Of the light
weights, against Kick, holder Of the junior
lightweight championship. Kick, whose
own synthetic division had 130-pound
limit, was to have scaled over 1875 pounds
so that, if he defeated Canzoneri, he could
have no claim to Tony's throne. 1t was so
specified in the contract.
frankie couldn't beef up to make it an
over the weight match. Even wearing
*runks and shoes, Kick weighed less than
the lightweight limit of 1875 so Ahearn,
resourceful man, slipped pair OF lead
weights into the fighters fists as he stepped
on the scales. AS it turned out, Canzoneri
won, anyway, in the only fight ever held in
the Capital involving two champions.
A. "a -