Name: Jersey Joe Walcott Career Record: click Birth Name: Arnold Raymond Cream Nationality: US American Birthplace: Merchantville, NJ Hometown: Camden, NJ Born: 1914-01-31 Died: 1994-02-25 Age at Death: 80 Stance: Orthodox Height: 6′ 0″ Reach: 74? Managers: Sonny Banks, Joe Webster, Vic Marsillo, Felix Bocchicchio Trainer: Dan Florio When I told Jersey Joe Walcott that I was sitting in the eighth row at the Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia the night he got clocked by Rocky Marciano, he smiled, then said: "I wish I had been sitting there with you." "Why did you want to become a fighter," I asked. "Why not a cook? Bricklayer? Truck Driver?" Boxing was his last desperate attempt to head off his heartaches, he said. When I told Jersey Joe Walcott that I was sitting in the eighth row at the Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia the night he got clocked by Rocky Marciano, he smiled, then said: "I wish I had been sitting there with you." "Why did you want to become a fighter," I asked. "Why not a cook? Bricklayer? Truck Driver?" Boxing was his last desperate attempt to head off his heartaches, he said. Born Arnold Raymond Cream at Merchantville, New Jersey, in 1914, Joe said he was 37-years- old, and the father of six kids when he knocked out 29-year-old Ezzard Charles on July 18, 1951 to become the heavyweight champion of the world. Some people claim he was forty-one. Like Archie Moore, and this writer, he never had a birth certificate. We couldn't prove we were born. Only the IRS believed us. "I became the oldest man to ever win the heavyweight championship," he said. It was his fifth attempt to reach his pinnacle. "When I saw Charles at my knees I gave thanks to God." Joe was a very religious man. The metropolitan press dubbed him, "The Praying Puncher." They should have called him "Murder One." He said he changed his name to Joe Walcott because "Cream" sounded unbefitting for a future champion. He borrowed his sobriquet from his favorite fighter, the original Joe Walcott, an ex-welterweight king. The press worshipped at his alter. They dubbed him, "The Barbadoes Demon." All demons meet with unhappy endings. The Barbadoes one was struck and killed by an automobile in 1935. The new Joe Walcott added the word 'Jersey' to signify the State of his birthplace. Archie Moore summed up Jersey Joe's boxing career as well as anyone I ever interviewed. Archie said, " He fought from 1930 to 1953. In 67 pro fights, he won 49, of them, 30 by knockouts. Can you imagine what he could have done if he'd had proper handling during his early career? That's why it took him so long to win the heavyweight championship. Aside from being black, he had no support." Some writers claim Joe was too cute of a fighter, too cautious, with too little regard for his own capabilities. Rocky Marciano said Walcott was difficult to fight because you could sit up all night trying to figure out his style -- only to discover he had none. He would run, twist on a dime, then reverse himself in mid stream. He would skip, then linger, and throw a right when it looked like his reflexes told him to throw a left. His behavior inside and outside the ring brought credit to a sport that could certainly use the likes of a Jersey Joe Walcott today. The story of Jersey Joe is stunningly comparable to that of Jim Braddock, who went through life like a serious mistake --- doing ordinary labor at a time when your take home pay couldn't take you home. Whereas, Braddock got a late start, Walcott embarked on a professional boxing career at age 16, and for the same reason Braddock did -- because the only two that could live as cheaply as one is a horse and a bird. "Boxing offered more money that ordinary laboring," Walcott said. "I broke my arm," Walcott told me, "I couldn't work and I was getting less than ten dollars a week in relief money to feed my wife and six babies. I was at rock bottom. Boxing saved my life" He began as a middleweight. The great Jack Blackburn handled him for a while, but left him flat when he recognized the talent in another young, black fighter named Joe Louis. James J. Johnston picked up where Blackburn left off, but abandoned him in 1945. He was 30 and had not made much of a splash in the world of Fistiana. During a career that dated back to 1930, Walcott took some frightful beatings from pugs like Al Ettore, who stopped him in 8; Tiger Jack Fox, who kayoed him in 8; Abe Simon, who bombed him out in 6; Joey Maxim, who beat him with his superior boxing skills. And so the press, and the boxing world in general, considered Walcott as nothing more than an imposter among heavyweight contenders. Promoters avoided him like the oriental plague. While Archie Moore blamed it on the fact that Walcott was black and had no support or proper instructions, there is a school of thought which holds that Walcott was somewhat of a lazy fighter, lacking the box-office appear of say, Joe Louis or Rocky Marciano, who weren't afraid to mix it up. Walcott, by his own admission, believed in one of the old axioms of prizefighting: He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day! Around the time Johnston lost interest in Walcott a local fight promoter, noticing his muscular physique, if not his artism, asked Walcott to give his new arena a start by fighting the main event. Walcott agreed and pleased the fans so much he was brought back week after week. It got the attention of a racketeer named Felix Bocchicchio who was so crooked he had to screw his socks on. But Felix saw in Walcott what so many others overlooked - a rugged jaw and iron fists. Felix new as much about boxing as the Mona Lisa did about swatting flies, but he decided to learn. He was seldom seen without a fight promoter, trainer or prizefighter in his company. He learned from them the mannerisms of the fight game. When he felt the time was ripe, Fleix challenged a fighter Joe Louis had side-stepped, Curtis "The Hatchet Man" Sheppard. Walcott foiled the odds-makers. He doubled Sheppard with rib- benders and stopping him in the 10th frame. Felix made more money on side bets than Walcott's purse amounted to. Other promoters quickly booked Walcott into places like Madison Square Garden, where he worked havoc on tough Lee Oma to take the decision, and pounded Tommy Gomez to destruction in three heats. Everyone, including the Brown Bomber predicted that Jimmy Bivins would be the next heavyweight king. In fact, Louis' camp turned down a $100,000 offer to fight Bivins. He was quick, tough, and had a bursting bomb for a right hand. He had trounced Hatchet Man Sheppard, whipped Joey Maxim, put a lily in Archie Moore's hand, and had run up a string of triumphs that made him a serious candidate for championship honors. Many sports writers felt Jersey Joe Walcott had no business in the same ring with the likes of Jimmy Bivins. His right hand could leave you cobwebby. It was no contest. On February 25, 1946, Walcott dropped Bivins and knocked the stuffing out of him, leaving Jersey Joe a sensational winner and Bivins refusing to fight him ever again. When Joe Louis was training for his first fight with Max Schmeling, Mashky Jackson was hustling sparring partners for the Brown Bomber at $25-a-round. Walcott needed the money. Mushky said Walcott refused to go another round with Louis so he ran him out of camp. Walcott told me it was because he dropped Louis. "That's why they ran me off," Walcott said. Mashky said Louis slipped. The newspaper played it up big. "It was pure pre-fight broadcasting, said Walcott, "so I went along with it." Just when it seemed as though Walcott was born to be sacrificed on a boxing alter, fickled Fate took over. 'Uncle' Mike Jacobs convinced him to box a ten-round exhibition for a Milk-Fund charity show subsidized by Mrs Randolph Hearst. His opponent: Joe Louis, the heavyweight champion. Few tickets sold, however, so Jacobs was forced to make it a 15-round fight with the Brown Bomber's title at stake. The result: a complete turn-around with a sell-out crowd of 18,000 excited fans taking up every seat. Jersey Joe surprised everyone by out-fencing Louis. At the finish, nearly everyone, including Louis thought Walcott was the new champion. Ruby Goldstein, the referee, gave the nod to Walcott, saying, "Walcott punched his ears off." But the two judges voted for the Brown Bomber, although Walcott had dropped him twice. "After the fight," Walcott said, "Joe put his arm around me and whispered in my ear, 'I'm sorry.' I looked across the ring and I could tell that Louis thought he had lost the fight. In fact, he wanted to leave the ring, but his handlers held him back." On June 25, 1945, they fought again in New York. This time, Walcott forgot to duck and Louis flattened him in the 11th round. Louis retired, and Walcott was signed to fight tough Ezzard Charles on July 18, 1951 for the heavyweight title. Charles was at ringside when Rex Layne beat Walcott four months earlier, and saw no harm in risking his chances against the man from Jersey.