The Great Tex Rickard by F. Daniel Somrack
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BY F. DANIEL SOMRACK BOXING’S FIRST CHAMPION he manly art of In the 1896 bout in Mexico, prospecting success into purchasing a prizefighting has been Fitzsimmons scored a knockout win in 95 thriving saloon, the Northern. Yet his around since the beginning seconds. Wyatt and Masterson moved on eagerness to multiply his fortunes got of recorded time, but only along the boxing circuit. the best of Rickard. He gambled away T in the last decade has the Later that year, a scandal erupted. his business in Dawson’s “emporiums of sport been promoted into a billion- In a San Francisco, California, chance.” dollar industry. The evolution of boxing heavyweight contest, Fitzsimmons landed When Rickard struck pay dirt yet again, from a working class pastime of bare- a three-punch combination on “Sailor he poured his earnings into a newer knuckle brawling to a pay-per-view mega Tom” Sharkey, with the last punch hitting Northern, the largest saloon in Nome. attraction can be traced back to two below the belt. Wyatt ruled the final blow Wyatt and Josie had previously tried legendary lawmen from the Old West: a foul and awarded the fight—and its their luck in the Yukon in 1897. They Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. $10,000 purse—to Sharkey. made it as far as Juneau, Alaska, before The seed that launched the career of A friend of Sharkey’s manager Danny turning back, reportedly because Josie the greatest showman boxing promoter Lynch, Wyatt was accused of fixing the was pregnant (she later miscarried). in American history was planted during fight, a claim he denied. He dissuaded the The next year, they made it to Wyatt’s years in Alaska. embittered Fitzsimmons and the angry Wrangell, where bad weather forced crowd from seeking revenge by exiting them to hold up until the spring thaw. By Mechanic’s Pavilion with his trusty Colt the time they moved on to Rampart, the Wyatt “Referee” Earp .45 in his hand. Klondike Rush was all but over. Wyatt arrived in Nome in the summer After arriving in Nome in 1899, Wyatt of 1899. By then, Wyatt had gained some introduced Rickard to the lucrative fame in the boxing world—not all good. The Dawson Seed enterprise of live boxing shows, thus A skilled boxer, Wyatt, in his early 20s, Hoping to find some of the gold launching the career of one of began officiating boxing matches across glittering on the shores of Nome, Alaska, America’s greatest sports promoters Wyoming Territory for rail crews and Wyatt arrived there with his wife, Josie. and ballyhoo artists. buffalo hunters. In 1896, he helped his pal He had been invited by a friend, George Like his pal, Wyatt gambled on the Judge Roy Bean promote a bout between Lewis “Tex” Rickard. saloon business, building the Dexter heavyweight champion Bob Fitzsimmons Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1870 Saloon with C.E. Hoxsie, which opened in and Peter Maher. and reared in north Texas, where he September. Wyatt’s fame as a gunslinger With boxing outlawed in Texas, the worked as a city marshal in Henrietta, drew business. After two years, he sold bout was fought in a makeshift ring on Rickard had rushed to Alaska during his interest in the Dexter Mexican soil, in the town of Coahuila, the gold strike of to Hoxsie and transferred with spectators viewing the fight from a 1895. He staked his mining claims to hillside overlooking the Rio Grande. claims for two, Josie’s brother, Nathan. A former lawman in Dodge City, hapless years Wyatt and Josie Kansas, Masterson secured the ticket until the Klondike boarded the S.S. Roanoke handling and fight purse. He also covered discovery of 1897 for Seattle, Washington, the sport in his Denver, Colorado, pulled him into the with $80,000 (more than newspaper column for George’s Weekly greatest stampede $2 million today). They and promoted prizefights at his Olympic in American history. moved to Tonopah, Avenue Club. A move to Nevada, where Wyatt Masterson’s history in the boxing arena Dawson marked ran a saloon and included serving as the timekeeper at the the beginning of worked as a deputy first World Heavyweight Championship, Rickard’s “golden U.S. marshal. under the Queensberry Rules. In the 1882 touch.” Within a battle, “Gentleman Jim” Corbett defeated year, his claims had “Boston Strong Boy” John L. Sullivan by paid close to $60,000. knockout in the 26th round. He parlayed his t r u e 44 w e s t Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson planted the seed that BOXING’S FIRST CHAMPION launched the great “Tex” Rickard. Wyatt Earp earned the equivalent of Goldfield’s World Title Fight as deputy sheriff of Esmeralda County. millions after being lured to Nome, Rickard followed the Earps a few years With his left arm maimed and rendered Alaska, by George Lewis “Tex” Rickard later, landing south, in Goldfield, when useless by the O.K Corral shoot-out in (opposite page). He returned the favor the Silver State’s boomtown was in full Tombstone, Arizona Territory, Virgil took by introducing Rickard to the lucrative swing. With the 1902 strike, the mining a job as a security officer at the National trade of live boxing promotion. When camp’s population soared from a few Club. Struck by pneumonia, he died on Wyatt left to settle in Tonopah, Nevada, scrub prospectors to 20,000 souls, October 19, 1905. he built a saloon named after Rickard’s making it Nevada’s largest town. Rickard found a distraction for Wyatt popular Northern saloon in Nome. Wyatt’s Rickard opened the last and largest as he grieved his older brother’s death. Northern (shown above, in 1902) was run of his Northern saloons. Rickard announced on the news wire that by Al Martin, while Wyatt and wife Josie Goldfield is also where Wyatt’s Goldfield wanted to host a world title prospected. Some Earp experts speculate brother, Virgil, lived out his last days. fight. The first boxer to accept Rickard’s the woman on the horse at left is Josie. After arriving in 1904, he was sworn in challenge was the number-one contender – COURTESY JEFF MOREY – t r u e 45 w e s t The evolution of boxing can be traced back to legendary lawmen Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. for the lightweight crown, Oscar Rickard’s first “million-dollar gate” took “Battling” Nelson. place on July 2, 1921—the bout between Rickard needed to raise $30,000, so Dempsey and Georges Carpentier. he could sign Joe Gans, the country’s More than 90,000 hysterical fans paid first black lightweight champion. With $1,789,238 to watch Dempsey demolish the help of con artist and criminal stock the Frenchman in four rounds. The fight trader George Graham Rice, Rickard was the first national radio broadcast of a secured the funds within days. sporting event. Rickard stacked the purse’s $10 and Dempsey’s was also Masterson’s last $20 gold pieces in the window of the heavyweight championship fight. He local bank. A staggering sum at the died, on October 25, of a heart attack, time, the trick put Goldfield in headlines after writing a column for the New York nationwide. Morning Telegraph. Roughly 500 people Held on September 3, 1906, the mixed- attended Masterson’s funeral; Rickard race match-up became the longest bout of served as a pallbearer. the century. Gans outfought the “Durable The sport of boxing kept punching Dane,” winning on a foul in the 42nd on. Rickard assembled financial round. The sold-out, 20,000-seat event backers he called the “600 millionaires” paid $69,715 ($1.92 million today). and constructed a third edition of Rickard’s next “main event” was Jack New York’s Madison Square Garden. Johnson versus James J. Jeffries in Reno. The “house that Tex built” opened on Billed as the “Fight of the Century,” this 8th Avenue in December 1925. The July 4, 1910, heavyweight contest paid modern setting made it fashionable for out an unheard of sum of $120,000 ($3.13 ladies and bluebloods to attend boxing million today) to Johnson so he would matches. defend his title against the undefeated The boxing impresario also expanded Jeffries. Lured out of his six-year his sports empire; he bought a NHL Jack Johnson (top) took out undefeated retirement with a guaranteed payout for hockey team for the 1926–27 season. champion James L. Jeffries (above) at $60,000 ($1.56 million today), Jeffries got Tex’s Rangers, later the New York the July 4, 1910, bout in Reno, Nevada, knocked out in round 15. Rangers, won the division title in their and held onto his world heavyweight When Johnson was defeated by Jess debut season and the Stanley Cup in their champion title until 1915. Willard in Havana, Cuba, on April 5, 1915, second year. – COURTESY F. DANIEL SOMRACK – Masterson reported on the fight for the Throughout the 1920s, Rickard’s adept New York Morning Telegraph. manipulation of the press continued to Willard wore the crown until 1919, produce million-dollar gates at the box The frontier lawman died one week later, when he was crushed in three rounds by office. The Jack Dempsey-Gene Tunney on January 13, at age 80. “Manassa Mauler” Jack Dempsey. The championship rematch at Chicago’s Rickard’s body was brought to New Rickard-promoted event launched the Soldier’s Field generated a record York’s Madison Square Garden to lie Roaring Twenties and the Golden Age of $2,658,660.