The Hurricane We Don’t Hear About — Tommy Hurricane Jackson
By: Christopher A. Smith
Tags: Sports, Black History, Boxing, Writing, BlackLivesMatter

Tommy “Hurricane” Jackson (photo credit: BoxRec)

Growing up in Southeast Queens, New York City means that you come up with an embedded ethic of hard work and pride and perseverance. The bar is already high because of the many people who grew up and resided in the area. There’s a mural that depicts a few of these legendary figures that’s in the St. Albans neighborhood right underneath the Long Island Railroad station that extends over Linden Boulevard. These figures of note include Billie Holiday and James Brown. One person that’s present on the mural is someone that doesn’t get talked about much outside of some circles in the realm of boxing. The Hurricane. Not Rubin Carter, but the other storm force of the ring that we don’t hear of — Tommy “Hurricane” Jackson. Hurricane Jackson isn’t in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, but he was once a fierce contemporary of heavyweight boxing legend Floyd Patterson. Jackson was a fighter who exemplified the term and the word “unorthodox” to hear some tell it. The ending of his career and his untimely death, to some could consign him to that bulk of tragic figures that the world of boxing often comments as cautionary tales of what the business can turn you into. But “Hurricane” Jackson was much more than that.

“That Jackson is a tough man. Now I know I can go 15 rounds if I have to because I wasn’t tired after 12, even though I landed more punches than I ever threw in my life.” -Floyd Patterson

Thomas “Tommy” Jackson was born on August 9th, 1931 in Sparta, Georgia. His mother, Georgia Jackson, like many other Black people saw that the North had more opportunities for them and so she and her eight children made her way up to New York City during the period of “The Great Migration”. Georgia worked hard as they settled down in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens, where she operated a lunch counter. Young Tommy did attend his local school, P.S. 44 but according to the New York Times, “he never learned to read and could write only ‘’Best Wishes. Tommy Hurricane Jackson.’’

Jackson grew into a tall and strong young man, checking in at a height of 6”3'

and weighing about 195 pounds. Not much is available about exactly how he got into boxing, but he made his way to the gym of the legendary trainer Lou Stillman, two blocks from the old Madison Square Garden on 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue and began his career officially in 1951. While many neighborhoods in New York City had their own gyms during this time, the former beat cop’s gym attracted its fair share of greats such as Rocky Graziano, Willie Pep, Sugar Ray Robinson and Kid Gavilan among others.

Jackson stood out for being a fearless competitor with a seemingly unending well of stamina. But to others, they saw something else in Jackson. Some thought he was a madman.

Hurricane Jackson lands a blow against Dan Bucceroni on March 29th, 1954 at Eastern Parkway Arena in Brooklyn, NY. Jackson won by KO in the 6th. (Photo credit: Pulp International)

‘’Hurricane Jackson fights like a swarm of gnats, a cloud of mosquitos, a visitation of wasps. He doesn’t knock people out. He drives them mad.’’ — Red Smith

There are a few accounts that wonder aloud if “Hurricane” Jackson had all his wits about him. One eyewitness from that era, John Garfield gave his opinion on Jackson thusly: “When I thought I’d seen every eccentric, bizarre character imaginable, Jackson defied description. It wasn’t that he went out of his way to do all kinds of antics, like Lou Jenkins on his motorcycle, or Mickey Walker and Fritzie Zivic barhopping; Jackson defined ADD 40 years before the malady existed.” We’ll get back to that in a little bit. Jackson learned the ropes at Stillman’s, but still was considered such an unorthodox fighter that he threw off his opponents who were trained to combat other boxers with distinct orthodox styles. Whitey Bimstein, known as “King of The Cutmen”, became his manager and trainer. He established his reputation as a

game fighter who could take a ton of punishment, and it served him well in victories as he climbed the heavyweight rankings to be in the top ten contenders. He even beat former heavyweight champion Ezzard Charles twice by unanimous decision in bouts that were weeks apart (as was the custom at the time) in August 1955. Those wins raised his profile, and he wound up ranked behind Archie Moore as a contender for the title that was vacated by Rocky Marciano’s retirement. This led to his facing a former sparring partner and friend, the great Floyd Patterson in an elimination bout to see who would compete for the title.

Hurricane Jackson meets the canvas against Floyd Patterson at the Polo Grounds, July 29th, 1957. Jackson would lose by TKO in the tenth round.

The first bout took place on June 8th, 1956 at Madison Square Garden. The fight went the distance, twelve rounds. Many accounts held a note of surprise at the split decision which went Patterson’s way but one of the three judges scored in favor of Jackson. This was due to the fact that Floyd beat up on Hurricane enough to have appeared to have seriously hurt him in eight of the twelve rounds. But Jackson was resilient enough to have given Patterson what he dished out in return to the point of causing a broken bone in Patterson’s right hand. They would fight again, this time with Floyd defending his crown as heavyweight champion on July 29th, 1957 at the Polo Grounds in Harlem, New York. This time, Floyd beat Jackson in the 10th round by technical knockout. But the pummeling Hurricane Jackson took was significant — he was knocked down NINE times, but he kept getting up. The state boxing commission was so taken aback at what he endured that they took the unprecedented step of revoking Jackson’s boxing license until he had fully recovered. Take into account that this was five years before the death of Benny Paret in the ring against Emile Griffith. Questions were raised again

about his mental health. Some claimed he talked to himself, a lot. But other

reported accounts don’t depict that at all.

Hurricane Jackson fought on until 1961, when he retired with a record of 35–9–1 with 16 knockouts. And it seemed that he slipped into obscurity for some time. Some reported that he was out shining shoes for a living on Jamaica Avenue along with other odd jobs. He had gotten married to his wife, Hattie in 1956 and the couple still lived with his mother. The years went on, and Tommy would become a taxi driver. This was the job he held until that fateful day in December 1981. He was hit by another car on Merrick Boulevard in

Springfield Gardens, as he was getting into his own cab. He was rushed to Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica. While there, he received some well-wishes and a visit from an old friend — Floyd Patterson. Jackson would die from his injuries on Valentine’s Day, February 14th, 1982. He was 50 years old.

Hurricane Jackson didn’t have many regrets and took pride in his career, even

as he related how he felt he had been taken advantage of by promoters and managers. A few years after he retired, he was interviewed by Robert Lipsyte

of the New York Times. Lipsyte asked him how he felt about being referred to as a has-been. Jackson replied, ‘’There’s no such thing as a has-been. The only has-been is somebody that’s not in the world anymore. If you’re still alive, you can’t be a has-been, only a gonna-be.’’