Colorado's native son

 

Dempsey one of toughest in the West

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

 

Even after a century, all over the West you can find populations and locations that like to claim the legendary prize fighter "Jack" Dempsey as one of their own — but he was truly a Colorado native son.

William H. Dempsey, a.k.a. "the Manassa Mauler," was billed as “one of the toughest men to ever come out of the West. The moniker originated from Dempsey’s birthplace in the San Luis Valley town of Manassa, Colorado. 

Jack Dempsey Museum

 
"Manassa’s most famous figure is heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey, who left the community to make a life outside the San Luis Valley. He won the heavyweight championship in 1919, after knocking out Jesse Willard, but he lost it to Gene Tunney in 1926," says Museum infomation.
The museum in his honor, dedicated in Manassa in 1966, is housed in the cabin in which Dempsey was born. It contains several artifacts of Dempsey’s career, including the gloves he wore in the New York fight and numerous black-and-white photographs, which line the walls.​ The people in Manassa still celebrate his greatness, which stimulates them to succeed on their own in many professions, especially medical.

"This historic town was founded in 1878, after Mormon settlers arrived from the South, through Pueblo, fleeing persecution because of their faith. They also came from Utah and New Mexico, and they arrived near Los Cerritos, a settlement of Hispanics, who helped their Mormon neighbors survive a cold winter," says information from the museum.

After Manassa was established, the Mormon faith helped the settlers survive throughout the years, and many expanded families lived in the town that is now the biggest community in Conejos County.

Dempsey's dad later knocked around various Colorado mining camps, and eked out a living in low level mining jobs for years. Barely able to scrape by, the young Dempsey worked as a mucker in the Cripple Creek District’s Portland Mine before he and his brother hit on a scheme in which they would go into the local saloons and offer to whip anyone in the house for the amount they could collect by passing the hat.
Both he and his brother fought in the saloons under the name of Jack Dempsey, which was borrowed from an eighteenth-century Irish brawler.
Barely able to scrape by, the young Dempsey worked as a mucker in the Cripple Creek District’s Portland Mine before he and his brother hit on a scheme in which they would go into the local saloons and offer to whip anyone in the house for the amount they could collect by passing the hat.
Both he and his brother fought in the saloons under the name of Jack Dempsey, which was borrowed from an eighteenth-century Irish brawler. Though he appeared slight and non-threatening as a 16-year-old kid, according to the legend, Dempsey never lost one of these bare-knuckle brawls.
The Cyber Boxing Zone says that because of this, his record is still incomplete.
“As a hobo from 1911 to 1916, Dempsey had many ‘fights,’ most as ‘Kid Blackie,’ in various Colorado mining towns. His first fight was at 140 pounds during the summer of 1912, a KO of Fred Wood, the ‘Fighting Blacksmith.’ Later that year he Kayoed his future manager, Andy Molloy; It is possible that Dempsey had as a many as 100 unrecorded fights.”

The Old Pig & Whistle
"In Denver, news that the old Pig 'N Whistle restaurant on West Colfax burned down ... couldn't help leaving Eddie "Punch" Bohn with mixed emotions. After all, Punch's dad, Eddie Bohn, was the man who turned the site into a Denver landmark for the lion's share of the Twentieth Century, "
wrote Michael Roberts in and April 22, 2010, "Westward" article.
"I was so lucky growing up around all that," said Punch, 69, at the time. "I met every celebrity from every walk of life."
Of course, Eddie, who died in 1990, shortly before the restaurant went south, rivaled the famous folks from sports and politics with whom he rubbed elbows, including boxing legend Jack Dempsey, for whom he worked as a sparring partner. Indeed, taking blows from the Manassa Mauler provided him with the seed money to build his business in the first place, beginning back in 1924. "Eddie was born in 1902, the son of a brush maker whose factory was located at the Colfax and Wolff location the Pig later put on the local map. Then, in 1920, "he got on his Indian motorcycle with a buddy and went to California to find their fortune," said Punch, who's worked in real estate since 1971.
"They all got different jobs, but my dad ended up as a sparring partner for Jack Dempsey, and they became lifelong friends -- like brothers. Later, when I was four years old, Dempsey bought me a Shetland pony."

"My dad sparred a hundred rounds with Dempsey, and Dempsey always paid a hundred dollars a round. It took him a couple of years, but he saved up $10,000 and came back to Colorado and brought the property where my grandfather's brush factor had been. He put up a gas station and sold oil there. The grand opening was on Dempsey's birthday: June 24, 1924."
 

"The Pig 'N Whistle became a mecca for boxers, many of whom used the motel as a base during training: "They'd run around Sloans Lake at five in the morning and five in the evening, then go across the street, do their workups on the speed bags, and then they'd get up and spar. Thousands of people would come out to watch them. It was always a lot of fun." 

 

Pro baseballers such as New York Yankees stars Yogi Berra and Billy Martin were also friends of Eddie: "They used to come out hunting with us," Punch remembers. And then there were the football stars, too many for Punch to name, plus "mayors and governors and firemen and police men -- just a real cross-section of Denver." 

In addition to running the Pig, Eddie served as Colorado's boxing commissioner for forty years: "He was appointed by six governors," Punch points out -- and he was also heavily involved with the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame and many other civic projects." 

"Kid Blackie"
For most of his 89 years, boxing legend Jack Dempsey was known
the world over as the “Manassa Mauler.” But around Victor and Cripple Creek in the early part of the 20th century, he was simply “Kid Blackie,” wrote Danny Summers in the Pikes Peak Courier.
“We know that he had at least one fight at the Gold Coin Club in Victor,” said William Baetok, archivist for the Cripple Creek District Museum. 

“Records are sketchy, but it’s pretty clear he fought a lot in this area.”

Several years before he would win the Heavyweight boxing title in 1919, Dempsey worked as a miner in Gold Camp. He had jobs at the Portland Mine in Victor and Mollie Kathleen in Cripple Creek, while training for his boxing career.

Born William Harrison Dempsey on June 24, 1895, in Manassa to Hyrum and Mary Dempsey, the future champion was the ninth of 11 children. One story about the start of Dempsey’s career centers on his alleged brother, John, who first appears as a miner in Cripple Creek in 1902. The District Museum states that this brother was Bernie Dempsey.

 

Sometime between 1907 and 1913, William Henry arrived from Telluride to work in the mines alongside his brother. His first job was at the Mollie Kathleen. Bernie was working at the Golden Cycle Mine at the time.
Dempsey “attended” school through the eighth grade, but by the time he was 16 had already worked as a miner and boxed dozens of matches under the pseudonym “Kid Blackie.”

In December of 1907, the Cripple Creek Times reported that “Kid Blacky (not Blackie)” would be fighting J.W. “Kid” Thomas on Christmas night in Victor.

But Dempsey would have been only 12 at the time — unlikely even
as tough as William Henry was.
 

The beginning of Jack

 
According to legend, the most remembered “Kid Blackie” became Jack
Dempsey on May 13, 1913, at the Lyric Opera House in Cripple Creek.
That was the night Bernie — who was “pushing 40" asked his brother
to step in his place and fight George Copelin. Bernie registered his brother as Jack Dempsey — the same name as a deceased middleweight champion.
The first officially recorded professional fight on Dempsey’s record was Aug. 17, 1914. His opponent was Young Herman, who Dempsey defeated in a six-round decision. The fight took place in. Ramona — a stone’s throw from Old Colorado City, just northwest of Manitou Springs.
Dempsey’s only “official” professional fight in Gold Camp occurred Nov. 19, 1915, in Cripple Creek, when he knocked out Copelin in the sixth round in his old stomping grounds.

Dempsey’s early years were hard. His family was forced to keep on the move to look for work. By the age of 8, young Dempsey had shined shoes, sold newspapers, picked apples, and done off jobs for farmers. At age 11, he was working in the Gold Camp mines. He left home at 16 to concentrate on a career as a professional boxer.

“I guess I had a hundred fights between 1911 and 1916,” Dempsey recalled. He also fought for meals in dozens of Colorado Wild West saloons, and rode rails across the state as a “hobo.”
“I can’t sing. I can’t dance. But I’ll lick anyone in the house,” Dempsey was reported to have said.

The height of his career
 

For a period of time in the 1920s, Jack Dempsey was one of the
most recognizable figures in the world. "He rivaled Babe Ruth in both newspaper headlines on the sports pages and in popularity. He ran with the Hollywood crowd and was considered part of its royalty. The “Manassa Mauler,” drew huge crowds wherever he went. In all of his travels, however, Dempseynever forgot his Colorado roots," wrote Summers.

Dempsey’s road to stardom was not always glamorous, however. According to the Cripple Creek District Museum, the fighter’s early days ran the gambit from a well-liked fellow to a not-so-savory character. His time in Victor brought mixed reviews, and the stories that have been passed down about him from generation to generation are the stuff of legend.

He was arrested more than a time or two after “causing trouble in a local bar and fighting with other miners,” as it was reported in papers of the day. And he was locked up many times in a “one-man jail cell with three other guys” at City Hall.

"Ironically, the building that housed the jail, City Hall and the
fire station also held the room that Dempsey used to train in. It
was a small room on the second floor with a fire pole off to one
corner, " wrote Summers.
The majority of Dempsey’s time was spent at the Portland Mine and City Hall training for fights.
He turned professional in 1914 and fought his “last” professional fight in 1927. After a career launched in Colorado, his late in-state fight occurred May 29, 1918, in Denver as he knocked out Arthur Pelkey in the first round.
Champion of the world Dempsey (6-foot-1 and ranging from 165 to 205 pounds) was known for his devastating punches and quick footwork. He became good friends with Spencer Penrose (of Broadmoor fame), who churned out a fortune in Victor and Cripple Creek before and after the turn of
the 20th century.

"It is not known whether Penrose and Dempsey knew each other
personally while Dempsey worked in Gold Camp, but they certainly
were chums by the late teens once Dempsey became a famous
fighter," says Summers.

Dempsey captured the Heavyweight title on July 4, 1919, in
Toledo, Ohio, after knocking down the much larger champion Jess
Willard seven times in the first round. That was the night he
became the “Manassa Mauler” — a name given to him by Pueblo
Chieftain famed sports-writer Damon Runyon. He held the heavyweight
title for the next seven years.

Perhaps the greatest fight of Dempsey’s career occurred on Sept. 14, 1923, when he knocked out Luis Angel Firpo in three minutes, 57 seconds. It is referred to as “the most sensational four minutes in boxing history.”
Dempsey’s purse for the victory was $509,000 — a far cry from his hungry youth when he fought for a dollar, a beer, or a meal in the saloons of Gold Camp.
"Meanwhile, Penrose expanded his sphere of influence in Colorado Springs with the establishment of his lavish Broadmoor Hotel, which opened in 1918. Dempsey was a frequent guest of “Spec” — as Penrose was known to his friends — in the 1920s and supplied the hotel with free publicity as he trained for his fights, writes Summers.

Dempsey stayed at The Broadmoor in 1926 and trained at nearby
Turkey Creek Ranch (owned by Penrose) for his first fight with Gene
Tunney. But Dempsey was so barraged by reporters and fans he had to
leave Colorado Springs to finish his training.

He then lost his title to Tunney on Sept. 23 in Philadelphia when Tunney received his well-documented “long count” to help aid his claiming of the title.

Dempsey had just two more professional fights after that. On July 21, 1927, he knocked out Jack Sharkey in the 7th round in the Bronx, New York. And then on Sept. 22 of that same year he lost his rematch to Tunney in 10 rounds in Chicago before hanging up his gloves.

Western Colorado 

"In Montrose in the summer of 1912, a 17-year-old fighter who called himself Kid Blackie knocked down his friend and boxing opponent Fred Wood to win his first sort-of professional fight. He split the $40 purse with Wood," according to Jim Wetzel, Delta County Historical Society newsletter, April, 2019.

"Seven years later, Kid Blackie had a different nickname, the Manassa Mauler, and a new title: heavyweight champion of the world.
On July 4, 1919, 24-year-old William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey destroyed the reigning champion, giant Jess Willard in Toledo, Ohio. Willard surrendered after three rounds.

Although Dempsey was some 50 pounds lighter than Willard and several inches shorter, he "snapped Willard's jaw, pried loose six teeth, broke his cheekbone, squashed his nose, (and) closed one eye," wrote author Toby Smith.

Few boxing fans had ever seen someone punch as hard as Dempsey did against Willard. Afterward, writer Damon Runyon dubbed Dempsey the Manassa Mauler, combining Dempsey's fighting style with his birthplace in the San Luis Valley.

However, a number of Colorado communities share in Dempsey's legacy.
Montrose played an important role beyond the 1912 fight. The Dempsey family spent several years there when the Gunnison Tunnel irrigation project was being built.

Dempsey's mother, Celia, operated a restaurant for the tunnel workers until 1909. The future fighter helped wash dishes and bus tables.
But the Dempsey family moved a lot, and records of when and where they lived are not always clear.

Smith reported they moved to Delta in mid-1907. However, the Delta County Historical Society has records showing that Dempsey's father, Hyrum, worked at the Delta Brick and Tile Factory in 1905.

Other dates in Dempsey's young life are also disputed.
Originally from West Virginia, Celia and Hyrum Dempsey arrived in Manassa before the turn of the century, but left in 1903 or 1904.

They moved first to Creede, where Celia worked in a boarding house, then Leadville, where she became ill.

After a brief stint in Denver, it was back to the Western Slope, first to Wolcott, then Steamboat Springs, Rifle, on to a ranch south of Montrose, and finally to Montrose.

Where ever they lived, young Dempsey fought because boxing was a popular activity for poor youngsters.

Encouraged by his mother, the boy then known as Harry decided he would become a champion one day.

After Montrose, Hyrum moved the family to Lakeview, Utah, where Dempsey graduated from elementary School in 1911, just before his 16th birthday.

Soon afterward he began riding the rails, mostly to towns in Colorado, where he found work as a miner or ranch hand, anything to obtain food.
He also boxed. One friend estimated Dempsey fought 450 bouts in the saloons, hotels and bordellos of Colorado and Utah. Most fights were just for meals or a few dollars.

Often, Dempsey said, he would walk into a saloon and offer to fight any takers for a dollar.

Dempsey began to develop his boxing skills then. He learned to duck and weave, to hit with both fists, to observe his opponents and fight to their weaknesses.
He developed a reputation as a tough brawler, though peaceful outside the ring.

He learned from his older brother, Bernie, a not-very- successful professional fighter. Bernie sometimes called himself "Jack" Dempsey, and his younger brother appropriated that name.
"The teenage Dempsey also learned pugilistic technique from friends Pat and Andy Malloy in Telluride, where Dempsey worked as a miner. He fought multiple fights there and in towns from Gunnison to Salida to the Front Range," says Jim Wetzel, in Delta County Historical Society newsletter, April, 2019
He defeated a local champion in Cripple Creek in 1913. He is believed to have fought at the Park Opera House in Grand Junction, but the date and name of his opponent are unknown.
A 1915 exhibition in Durango, in which he knocked his buddy Andy Malloy down multiple times, is pictured in a mural on the wall of the El Rancho Lounge in Durango.
That same year, Dempsey attacked four men at the Grand Junction Hotel and Lunch Counter after he recognized them as a crew of thugs that had earlier robbed Dempsey and a Denver reporter at gunpoint.
The reporter described Dempsey as "a destructive dervish" who easily dispatched the four robbers and recovered the stolen money.

In 1916, Dempsey was lured to New York by a fight promoter, but the trip was a disaster. He lost multiple bouts to experienced boxers and was bilked out of his meager share of purses.
In 1917, he fought Pueblo's Fireman Jim Flynn, an experienced heavyweight with a national reputation. Dempsey lost by a technical knockout in the first round, but in a rematch a year later, Dempsey knocked Flynn out in the first round.
By then, Dempsey had spent almost a year in Oakland, California, with manager Jack Kearns. He had a succession of victories over recognized boxers, including seven knockouts in a row. He established a reputation that allowed him to challenge Willard for a title in 1919.
Dempsey held the heavyweight crown for more than seven years, and throughout the 1920s, he and Babe Ruth were the two best known U.S. sports figures.
While Ruth earned $80,000 a year at his peak, Dempsey made almost four times that in one fight. His bouts produced the first million-dollar gates in boxing history.
In 1920, Dempsey's ex-wife, a dance hall girl from Utah, accused him of dodging the draft in World War I.
He was exonerated when it was proved he had legally obtained an exemption as the sole breadwinner for his family. Still, the epithet "slacker" dogged him for years.
One of his best-remembered title defenses came in 1923, when he was knocked out of the ring by Argentinian Louis Firpo. He was pushed back by sportswriters, returned to the ring and KO'd Firpo in the second round.

His most famous fights were two losses to Gene Tunney, first in a 10-round decision in 1926, then in a famous rematch in 1927 with what became known as "the long count."
Dempsey knocked Tunney down hard in the seventh round of the 1927 fight, but didn't retreat to a neutral corner. Tunney laid on the canvas for nearly 15 seconds while the ref waved Dempsey away.
Then Tunney got up and won another decision.
Dempsey never regained his title, but he remained a popular ex-champion. Soon after the Tunney fight, he gave up his professional career but continued to stage exhibition fights.
Eventually, he opened a restaurant in New York City, where he held court and greeted customers well into the 1970s.
Dempsey returned to Colorado several times. He made stops in Denver and was inducted into Colorado's Sports Hall of Fame in 1965.
He went fishing in Gunnison. He traveled to Manassa in the early 1960s to dedicate his boyhood home as a museum.
Kid Blackie, aka the Manassa Mauler, aka William Harrison "Jack" Dempsey, died in New York in 1983, age 87.
According to Danny Summers, again, in another article for a different publication:
During his heyday in the 1920s when he reigned as the World Heavyweight champion, Dempsey was as famous as Babe Ruth and Charles Lindbergh. One of Dempsey’s best friends and admirers was none other than Spencer Penrose of Broadmoor fame.

 

At Penrose’s request, Dempsey stayed at The Broadmoor in 1926 and trained at nearby Turkey Creek Ranch (owned by Penrose) for his first fight with Gene Tunney. But Dempsey was so barraged by reporters and fans that he had to leave Colorado Springs to finish his training. He lost his title to Tunney on Sept. 23 that year in Philadelphia when Tunney received his emphasis “long count.”
Before Dempsey was a star, he made his living working the mines around Victor and Cripple Creek in the early part of the 20th century. Dempsey attended school through the eighth grade and had jobs at the Portland Mine in Victor and Mollie Kathleen in Cripple Creek while training for his boxing career. Known as a nomadic traveler, when he was done working in the mines he would fight for money, though his early fights are not listed under his official fight log.
Known as “Kid Blackie” in his early days as a fighter, according to official fight records, Dempsey had at least one professional fight in Cripple Creek — at the Lyric Opera House on Nov. 19, 1915. Dempsey knocked out opponent George Coplen in the sixth round.
According to legend, “Kid Blackie” had become Jack Dempsey on May 13, 1913, at Lyric Opera House. That was the night his brother Bernie — who was “pushing 40” — asked his kid brother to fight Coplen in his place. Bernie registered his brother as “Jack Dempsey,” the name of a deceased middleweight champion.
Dempsey’s early years were hard. Born William Harrison Dempsey on June 24, 1895, in Manassa, Colo., to Mormon parents Hyrum and Mary Dempsey, the young Dempsey was the ninth of 11 children. His family was forced to keep on the move to look for work. By the age of 8, young Dempsey had shined shoes, sold newspapers, picked apples and done odd jobs for farmers. At age 11, he was working in the Gold Camp mines. He left home at 16 to concentrate on a career as a professional boxer.

 

“I guess I had a hundred fights between 1911 and 1916,” Dempsey once told a reporter.
Dempsey also fought for meals in dozens of Colorado Wild West saloons, and rode rails across the state as a “hobo.”
“I can’t sing. I can’t dance. But I’ll lick anyone in the house,” Dempsey was reported to have said.
Sometime between 1907 and 1913, Dempsey arrived from Telluride to work in the gold camp alongside his brother, Bernie. His first job was at the Mollie Kathleen. Bernie was working at the Golden Cycle Mine.

According to the Cripple Creek District Museum, Dempsey’s reputation in the early days ran the gambit from well-liked fellow to not-so-savory character. His time in Victor brought mixed reviews, and the stories passed down about him from generation to generation are the stuff of legend.

He was arrested more than a time or two after “causing trouble in a local bar and fighting with other miners,” as was reported in papers of the day. He was locked up many times in a “one-man jail cell with three other guys.”

Ironically, the building that housed the jail, City Hall and the fire station also held the room that Dempsey used to train. It was a small room on the second floor with a fire pole off to one corner. The majority of his time was spent at Portland Mine and in City Hall training for fights.

On July 4, 1919, Dempsey became the World Heavyweight champion when he defeated Jess Willard in Toledo, Ohio. Dempsey was declared the champion after Willard’s corner stopped the fight after the third round.
 

Muhammed Ali and Jack Dempsey in 1979.
 

Sources: "Jack Dempsey," by Jim Wetzel, Delta County Historical Society newsletter, April, 2019; "Kid Blackie: Jack Dempsey's Colorado Days," by Toby Smith; "A Flame of Pure Fire: Jack Dempsey and the Roaring '20s," by Roger Kahn. "Ex-boxing Champion Dempsey Dies at 87," by Shirley Povich, The Washington Post, June 1,1983.