Dempsey by Jack Dempsey, with Barbara Piattelli Dempsey
Page 7
Publication Date: 1977
While growing up in the 1970s, I often watched boxing matches on television, usually on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, and occasionally there would be a big fight on during the evening. My mother would sometimes tell me about her father watching Friday Night Fights, and said he would have enjoyed the experience with me by his side (unfortunately, I was just five when he passed away).
I was a casual fan, but when the 1976 Olympics came around, my viewing started growing a little more serious, and I became hooked on The Ring magazine, along with other boxing publications. And over the next several decades, I found myself absolutely in love with the sweet science.
Which leads to the book I’ve chosen for Page 7 (yes, I’m finally getting there). I made it a point to learn the history of the sport, and for a while I could name successive champions in several different weight classes. But I took it a step further and started reading about individual fighters when I could find books about them. Dempsey, by Jack Dempsey, with Barbara Piattelli Dempsey, was one of the earliest I read.
Many years have passed since I read this book (which is told from the first person viewpoint of the great heavyweight champion), so I don’t remember the details. What I do recall is how much I enjoyed learning Jack’s story, along with the many pictures in the book. Several years following its publication, a TV movie came out based on it, aptly titled Dempsey, starring Treat Williams.
As the heavyweight champion of the world, Jack Dempsey was a huge celebrity, attracting all kinds of fans. Here’s an interesting example from the book of one of his supporters:
Chicago’s Al Capone, to whom I was still The Hero, let the word out that he had enough dough and influence spread around to make sure I would win. Not wanting Scarface to do anything I might regret, I sent him a short handwritten note asking him to lay off and let the fight go on in true sportsmanship. If I beat Tunney, or Tunney beat me, it would only prove who really deserved to be champion. I didn’t hear a word in reply, but the next day Estelle received what must have been two hundred dollars’ worth of flowers, with a card signed simply, “To the Dempseys, in the name of sportsmanship.”
If you are a lover of boxing and desire to know more of the history of the men, the sport, and the times they lived through, you can’t go wrong with Dempsey.
Eventually, when life got a lot more complicated than I ever thought it would, I quit following boxing. But something about the sport has pulled me back, and I’ve been enjoying it again over the last few years.
…and stay tuned for Page 8, coming soon!
From the excitement of buying shiny new comic books to collecting older issues for those nostalgic leanings of yesteryear, my weekly blog Cool Comics In My Collection showcases something for everyone at edgosney.com.