The Roscommon Giant A Boxing Biography © Copyright Seamus Coffey 2008 3nd Edition (2016) Many New York Times articles have been reproduced in this work with the acknowledgement of New York Times’ rep- resentative, PARS International Corp., who confirmed that the articles are in the Public Domain, and are therefore free to be downloaded from the New York Times archives, and also free to be reused in any way. Every effort has been made to ensure that all included art- icles and/or photographs are likewise in the Public Domain, or otherwise free to be used under other shared licensing agreements such as Creative Commons; e.g. many of the photos have been sourced from Wikipedia who provide provenance and copyright details. In certain cases where the original provenance of an item was unknown, permission has been sought from the cur- rent publisher of the item; e.g. thank you to “Box Rec” and “The Ring” for individual permissions to reproduce certain photos sourced from their content. Dedication This book is dedicated to both Jim Coffey, The Roscommon Giant, and to his son Seamus Coffey, whose dream it was to write a book about his Father’s life and boxing career. Seamus completed his work, but sadly passed away on the 4th December 2008, aged 80, before seeing a final published version of his work. He will be greatly missed. All text, other than these forewords, has been written by Seamus Coffey, son of The Roscommon Giant. Credits Seamus’ daughter, Mary (granddaughter of the Roscommon Giant), carried out a lot of research, even spending part of her vacation time in New York investigating The Roscom- mon Giant’s old haunts, and making contact with the help- ful Fred Brunner & Michael Coffey mentioned below. It is also thanks to Mary’s approval and encouragement that this book (and the related eBook & web site upon which it is based) was developed & completed. Special thanks to Mike Barrett, Michael Coffey, & Fred Brun- ner for their help in finding historical records and photo- graphs, and for spending their own free time in helping this project. Special thanks also to Mary Coffey of Tully for her help in uncovering family history. Tracy Callis of the Cyber Boxing Zone web site was invalu- able in providing a comprehensive list of Jim Coffey’s fights, and thanks should also be given to ‘The Ring’ magazine which went to the trouble of posting some articles for inclu- sion in the Roscommon Giant’s story. Table of Contents 1 Introduction.......................................................................................11 2 Place of Birth.....................................................................................13 3 Early Years..........................................................................................17 3.1 The Famine Years....................................................................20 3.2 Crossing the Atlantic.............................................................25 3.3 The Glebe...................................................................................28 3.3.1 A Chance Conversation.................................................30 4 New York.............................................................................................35 4.1 New Arrival...............................................................................35 4.1.1 Home from Home...........................................................36 4.2 Jack Johnson.............................................................................37 4.3 Motorman to Boxer................................................................40 4.4 Billy Gibson...............................................................................44 5 Hope Versus Hope...........................................................................47 5.1 Early Career..............................................................................47 5.2 Jim Coffey Rises in the Ranks.............................................50 5.2.1 A Word About Jim Flynn...............................................53 5.3 Battling Levinsky to Gunboat Smith...............................53 5.4 Fulfilling a Dream...................................................................58 6 Top of the Tree..................................................................................59 6.1 Jess Willard...............................................................................60 6.2 Coffey – Morris........................................................................64 6.3 Willard Offers...........................................................................66 7 Timber!................................................................................................69 7.1 Jim Coffey & Frank Moran...................................................69 7.2 Moran’s Title Shot...................................................................73 7.3 Willard’s Reign.........................................................................73 7.4 Moran’s Downfall....................................................................75 7.5 Back to Coffey...........................................................................75 The Roscommon Giant 7 1 Introduction 8 World War One..................................................................................81 8.1 Conscription.............................................................................81 8.2 Exhibition Bouts......................................................................84 8.3 Twilight of a Boxing Career................................................86 9 The Giant Comes Home.................................................................89 9.1 Return to the Glebe................................................................89 9.2 Retirement from the Glebe.................................................91 BOXING RECORD OF JIM COFFEY.................................................97 1912....................................................................................................99 1913.................................................................................................. 100 1914.................................................................................................. 101 1915.................................................................................................. 102 1916.................................................................................................. 103 1917.................................................................................................. 103 1918.................................................................................................. 104 1919.................................................................................................. 104 1921.................................................................................................. 105 APPENDICES.......................................................................................107 Appendix 1 – Tully......................................................................108 Appendix 2 – Townlands..........................................................109 Appendix 3 – Census..................................................................110 Appendix 4 – Birth Certificate................................................111 Appendix 5 – Griffith’s Valuation..........................................112 Appendix 6 – Genealogy...........................................................113 Appendix 7 – St. Nathy’s College...........................................114 Appendix 8 – The Oceanic.......................................................115 Appendix 9 – Oceanic Passenger List..................................116 Appendix 10 – Oceanic Passenger Record........................117 Appendix 11 – Coffey Vs. Kearns...........................................118 Appendix 12 – Luther McCarty..............................................119 Appendix 13 – Coffey Vs. Rodel.............................................120 Appendix 14 – Charley Weinert.............................................121 Appendix 15 – Conveyance......................................................122 Appendix 16 – Coffey Vs. Sullivan.........................................123 8 The Roscommon Giant 1 Introduction Appendix 17 – Coffey Vs. Morris...........................................124 Appendix 18 – Willard Offer...................................................126 Appendix 19 – Willard Offer 2...............................................128 Appendix 20 – Coffey Vs. Flynn..............................................129 Appendix 21 – Coffey Vs. Moran............................................132 Appendix 22 – Comeback.........................................................134 Appendix 23 – Coffey Vs. Gunboat Smith...........................135 Appendix 24 – Coffey Vs. Moran 2........................................137 Appendix 25 – Coffey Vs. Geyer.............................................139 Appendix 26 – Coffey Vs. Morris 2........................................141 Appendix 27 – Coffey Vs. Brennan........................................143 Appendix 28 – Coffey Vs. Madden.........................................146 Appendix 29 – Navy Guard......................................................147 Appendix 30 – Recruitment....................................................148 Appendix 31 – Gene Tunney...................................................150 Appendix 32 – First Million Dollar Fight...........................151 Appendix 33 – Spalla Pre-Fight.............................................153