BIRTH NAME: William Harrison Dempsey
NAME CHANGE: Changed his name to Jack Dempsey at the age of 19.
NICKNAMES: 'The Manassa Mauler',
'Kid Blackie', 'Young Dempsey' Called Harry while growing up.
BORN: June 24th, 1895
BIRTH PLACE: Manassa, Colorado.
DIED: May 31st, 1983
DEATH PLACE: New York, New York
BURIAL PLACE: Southampton Cemetery,
Southampton, New York
CLASS: Heavyweight
HEIGHT: 6'1"
WEIGHT: 187
REACH: 77 inches
STANCE: Orthodox
OCCUPATIONS: Digging ditches, picking peaches, cutting timber and being
a circus roustabout were among his jobs early in his career while traveling
from town to town. Professional boxer, and after After retirement, he worked
occasionally as a referee and was owner of Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Restaurant from 1935 until 1974 on the site the old car barn across from Madison Square Garden. Dempsey was also a commander in the U.S. Coast Guard.
SIBLINGS: 10 brothers and sisters
FILMS/PLAYS: Dempsey made two films during his career, "Daredevil Jack" & "Manhattan Madness" He also co-starred in a Broadway play called "The Big Fight" with this then wife Estelle Taylor.
• Jack was the 9th of 11 children.
•Trained to be a boxer at Young Peter Jackson's
gym in Salt Lake City Utah at the age of 16.
• He started boxing professionally in 1914 calling
himself "Kid Blackie".
• Damon Runyan nicknamed Dempsey the "Manassa Mauler" during the fighter's first, unsuccessful trip to New York, in 1916.
• Dempsey was one of the most popular heavyweight
boxing champions of all time.
• Knocked out Jess Willard in 1919 to
win the Heavyweight boxing title and held that honor until September 23rd,
1926 when he lost a 10 round decision to Gene Tunney in Philadelphia.
• He lost his second fight with
Gene Tunney because of a long count. Dempsey knocked
Tunney down in the seventh round but because he did not go to a neutral
corner immediately and, therefore, the referee delayed the count. Tunney
got up at the count of nine and went on to win the bout on a decision.
The
count
of nine
was estimated to be a count of 14 but the long-count controversy would
remain etched in boxing history.
• Throughout his career Dempsey had 4 different
managers: Andy Malloy, A.J. Aurback, Frank Price and Jack "Doc" Kearns.
• At one time Dempsey shared an apartment with Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
• On his 75th birthday, in 1970, Dempsey was invited
to Madison Square Garden where 19,000 people sang "Happy Birthday" to him.
• Dempsey was inducted into the boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
• In 2003, Dempsey was named the seventh best puncher of all time in boxing
history by Ring Magazine.
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