"Tall men come down to my height when I hit 'em in the body," Jack Dempsey said in 1923. That was a bold, yet confident statement made by a man who struggled throughout his life.
From meager beginnings, Dempsey fought literally for everything he had, including the world championship boxing title in 1919. It was a time when America needed a hero and Jack Dempsey delivered.
William Harrison Dempsey, (he didn't fight under the name Jack Dempsey until 1913) was born in the tiny farming and ranching community of Manassa, in southwestern Colorado on June 24, 1895. He was the ninth of thirteen children born to Hyrum and Celia Dempsey.
Hyrum Dempsey did his best to provide for his family, working several different jobs, but usually failed. He turned to hard rock mining, which took him to different mining camps, often leaving his family behind. While the Dempsey family struggled financially, they stayed together, largely due to Celia.
Possibly because of the family background, Celia encouraged young William at the age of seven, to pursue his interest in boxing. His grandfather, Andrew Dempsey, had been a regional boxing champion in West Virginia.
It is said his great uncle, "Devil" Anse Hatfield of the Hatfield and McCoys, feuding fame, was also a boxer.
For young William, the inspiration was instantaneous. He had first realized he could punch, when at the age of seven, he got into a fight with a boy named Fred.
During the fight, Fred's father urged his boy to use his teeth. When Fred turned to question his father, Dempsey hit him so hard he had to be revived by the local veterinarian. From that moment, the boy was hooked.
Boxing While Mucking
Moving from mining camp to mining camp, William and his brothers quickly learned that boxing was a common form of entertainment in the mining camps, and William loved it.
As William grew older, watching his parents struggle, the sport of boxing became a way out of the poverty his family experienced. Boxing became a dream for a better life, for William, much as the West was that same dream for his parents when they left Kentucky.
In mining areas such as Creede, Leadville, Cripple Creek, Montrose, Ouray, and Salida, the Dempsey boys picked up every boxing tip they could. By the age of 13, Dempsey had dropped out of school, taking any job he could find, including hard rock mining.
He trained in the off hours to become to be a prize boxer fighter, with his older brother Bernie as his instructor. Living in Montrose in 1909, the Dempsey brothers converted the backyard chicken house into a training house, installing an old mattress for soft landings.
To gain endurance and speed, for Dempsey was short, thin and a bit frail, he would chase horses, or jump rope. To strengthen his jaw, Bernie instructed his brother to chew pine tree gum right off the tree. To toughen his skin, Bernie made his brother bathe his face, ears, and hands in beef brine, a ritual Dempsey continued throughout his career.
Taking the name “Kid Blackie,” Dempsey was soon ready for his first prize fight. The fight was against one of the local boys Dempsey regularly squared off with. Dempsey later recalled, "I won the fight, but you'd never know it if you'd seen my face."
Dempsey and his brother went from one mining camp to another, looking for boxing matches.
To solicit a fight, Dempsey would walk into the local saloon and announce, "I can't sing and I can't dance, but I'll lick anybody in the house." His high-pitched voice and skinny size usually resulted in laughter, and was not taken seriously.
Yet there were usually a couple of patrons who had one drink too many and were willing to take on the skinny kid with a loud mouth.
Soon, the Dempsey brothers were getting legitimate fights. Bernie took the name “Jack” Dempsey in honor of his favorite Irish fighter of the time.
One of the earlier fights occurred in Cripple Creek, and proved to be a pivotal point for young Dempsey. Older brother Bernie was scheduled to fight George Coplen, a seasoned boxer and local miner, at the Opera House in Cripple Creek. For whatever reason, Bernie decided to back out and talked his brother into the fight.
Young William Dempsey entered the ring under his brother's name of “Jack” and no one knew the difference. Dempsey clocked Coplen six times in the first round.
The fight should have been over, but Coplen managed to get up. Coplen went down twice more in the second round, but nearly ended the fight with a blow to Dempsey's ear. By the third round Dempsey was having trouble breathing. At the end of the sixth round, he was so beat up, he thought of quitting.
In the seventh round, Dempsey delivered two tough blows, putting Coplen down. But it wasn't over, Coplen got up, staggered, and Dempsey knocked him down for a third time, and watched, horrified, as Coplen started pulling himself up by the ropes. But Coplen couldn't get up, and the referee called the fight, announcing Jack Dempsey the winner.
From that fight in Cripple Creek, Jack Dempsey kept the new name and became the fighter America would idolize.
Making A Champion
"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't," Jack Dempsey would later say.
Within three short years, Jack Dempsey had built himself quite a reputation. He improved with every fight, winning nearly 60 fights, most by knock outs.
Promoters back east were hearing rumors of the kid in Colorado. While working part-time as a janitor and handyman at Miss Laura Evans' legendary brothel on Front Street in Salida, Dempsey fought in his last Colorado fight. It was a sight (or fight) to behold.
Dempsey, all of 145 pounds, faced off against a local machinist, 200-pound Hector Conrow. The fight was held at The Rink, a local gathering spot in the community.
Hector danced around the ring for the first few rounds, and Dempsey became bored. In the third round, with Miss Laura in the front ring seating section, Dempsey delivered a punch that sent him through the ropes.
Hitting the Big Time
Hiring Doc Kearns, a swanky New York City promoter over the next three years, Dempsey fought his way up the ranks. He traveled across the country to fight in professional public events. In New York, Dempsey felt horribly out of place and unwanted.
His good friend, one-time Pueblo newsman, Damon Runyon told Jack, “New York doesn't want you—it’s you that wants New York.”
In retirement, Dempsey reflected that his good friend was right.
Even so, Dempsey's fight record gained him unprecedented fame. In over 80 professional fights by 1919, Dempsey finally earned the right to fight for the heavyweight champion of the world.
"You came out of a fight with Dempsey full of welts and bruises and every bone aching," said heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey.
On the night of July 4, 1919, before a crowd of 20,000, in Toledo, Ohio, Jack Dempsey entered the ring against Jess Willard. It was the fight of his life and he let his opponent have it.
The crowd was on its feet by the third round when Dempsey unleashed his left hook, breaking Willard's jaw, hitting again, knocking out six of his teeth, and landing a blow that closed an eye. In a thrilling knock out fight, Dempsey became the world champion.
"I wasn't just fighting for the championship. I was fighting for my life,” Dempsey said.
A Hero For America
Dempsey became a modern-day hero all across America. Yet famed western marshal turned sports writer, Bat Masterson, probably bitter after betting on Willard, wrote, “Dempsey wouldn't last six months as champion.”
Masterson was wrong. The victory was reported to high acclaim world-wide. Dempsey’s old friend, Damon Runyon wrote of the fight and dubbed Dempsey the “Manassa Mauler.” The name stuck and the legend was born.
The Manassa Mauler was a name that haunted all opponents as Dempsey defended his championship for the next seven years.
Five of the six matches were knock-outs in the first to third rounds. Dempsey held the championship until September 23rd, 1926, when he lost a ten-round decision to Gene Tunney in Philadelphia.
Dempsey continued boxing in exhibitions after his defeat but retired from professional boxing in 1940. He opened a successful restaurant in New York, where he lived until his death in 1983, at the age of 88.
“He came along at a time when the sport was at its all-time low. Dempsey was the first universally-accepted American sports superstar," wrote Steve Farhood in The Ring Magazine.
Linda Wommack can be reached at lwomm3258@aol.com
