As Paul Harvey Would Say . . . And Here is the Rest of the Story About the Dempsey/Gibbons Fight in Shelby, MT
As in any story, one chooses to look into and understand, the July 4, 1923, Heavy Weight Boxing Championship Fight between Jack Dempsey, reigning heavy weight champ, and Tommy Gibbons, no slacker in the boxing world, with 12 years of boxing under his belt, and no knock outs, with Dempsey generally knocking out his opponents, as he did against Jesse Willard, whom, Dempsey, stole the heavy weight championship from in 1919, promising a purse based on knocking he champ out in the first round, which came almost close to true, with 7 knock downs, Willard, who outweighed Dempsey by 80 pounds, and stood a half a foot taller than the new, upstart, finally, stepped out of the ring after the third round, when managers, basically called it quits, seeing that the former champ, had a broken jaw and several broken ribs, after the third round . . . nice to see that there was a focus on humanity, rather than the money . . . still seemed to be lacking the answer to the question, why would Kearns, who stood to make $300,000 for the Dempsey/Gibbons' fight in Shelby, Montana, refuse to talk to the press, agree to the fight, until the last installment of the $300,000 was made, causing a great hardship on the fight promoters, who could easily have made the purse, had already paid $200,000, with the prospect of ticket sales, already purchased, but not paid for, of $500,000?
Answer: Two Celebrities, Two Motives, Two Warriors
So the fight that set up the fall and bankruptcy of the town of Shelby, was the bout between George Carpentier, a French war hero, matched up against, Dempsey, who deferred entrance into the military, 5 times based on family need, making him a black sheep, and not a favorite in the fight, with the crowd booing Dempsey when he knocked out Carpentier, and even though Dempsey, eventually won the fight, he didn't win public opinion, and favor, making both he and his manager unpopular. This was the first million dollar gate, with ticket sales, reaching about $1.8 million, with Dempsey's pay for the fight, $300,000. That was one of the pieces of information, that made me wonder, why would Kearns, who was being paid, $100,000 per exhibition fight, maybe due to the fact that Dempsey was unpopular, and Kearns, trying to make money, without taking the public ire, or the draft dodger, or black sheep, and staying out of the spotlight, so to say, protecting both him and his fighter, from scrutiny, and bad press.
From one of the accounts I read, Kearns was a big time celeb himself, and people were coming to see him, as much as they were his fighter, Dempsey. As is the case with most celebrities, early in a career, you are wiling to listen to the more sophisticated manager, who has been around the block, until you, yourself, become just as much of a ticket draw, and then, you set out of the shadows of the promoter and manager, and start exerting what you want, and are less willing to just do what the manager tells you, you will do. I think that is exactly what happened in this case, Kearns, the more shrewd, and experienced manager, was all about getting the money, and Dempsey, the fighter, not only need to get in to the ring for real, wanted to fight someone of note, and Tommy Gibbons, filled the bill. Kearns was referred to as a master manipulator, as demonstrated by the fact that, the attorney who brokered the deal, in Chicago, Molumby, sent in Body Johnson's place, because he was laid up in the hospital, either got drunk, was trying to be a big shot, like his hosts, or the victim of some sassy, Chicago, call girl, or something.
Nobody really knows why the not only verbally agreed upon purse for the fight, went from $200,000, but also in an acceptance letter, from Kearns, himself, agreeing to the amount, went up to $300,000, other than that is what Dempsey had received in the fight two years earlier, so American greed took over, easy money, small time attorney, vs. more experienced manager, wanted what they had gotten before, or maybe, Dempsey and Kearns were fighting over the types of fights, exhibition or heavy weight championship, hanging on to the status longer, or thought they deserved more money, more like what they had gotten for the previous fight, that brought celebrities, presidents, and royalty, to watch. A hold out, or taking advantage of dealing with someone who didn't know what in the fuck was going on, or even agreed to, but clearly taking advantage of the situation . . . Kearns had been around, and should we say, knew the ropes!
The 1923 Match Up . . . The Unpopular Dempsey vs. Tommy Gibbons, Un-Ranked, But Not Unknown, and a Good Fighter
Perhaps, behind the scenes, there was more going on, that met the eye, maybe, no ranked fighter would get in the ring with Dempsey, the unpopular war-dodging, anti-hero, who knocked out the war hero of the day. Mike Gibbons, Tommy's older brother, was the better known of the two, and that is who the Shelby boys wanted to come fight, due to his stature in the boxing world, but he was not in the heavy weight classification, so it was recommended, that Tommy fight, perhaps, riding on the name value of his older brother, who trained him well in defensive moves . . . with Gibbons the only fighter of the day, to ever really survive Dempsey's brutal assaults past the first 1 or 2 rounds . . . Dempsey, frustrated after the fight, said, he couldn't knock him out, because he couldn't hit him!
Gibbons, was even a like half, heavy weight, he wasn't even quite considered, a heavy weight, but he was a great fighter, and excellent performer, and an even greater defensive fighter. Basically, Kearns didn't want Dempsey to fight him, was he worried his meal ticket would be beaten by the Gibbons boy, un-ranked, and not that well known, that would be bad for business, and might stop the exhibition matches. I think there could have been a ton of reasons, that Kearns didn't want that fight in Shelby. In fact, for some time after Body Johnson and the boys, sent a letter to Kearns formalizing the fight, the purse, and the terms, Kearns didn't answer them. Like I mentioned a few blogs ago, this whole fight idea, was really a publicity stunt, to draw people's attention to the new boom town real estate projects that banker father, Johnson, and son, Body, were developing, so the free press was great, with anticipation of the fight.
The town of Shelby, during the speculation of the fight being held here, went from around 500 to 700, up to roughly 7,000 people during several months time, ranking the city of Shelby, the fastest growing city in the United States . . . so the stunt worked! That is until, unexpectedly, Kearns, sent Johnson a letter accepting the terms of the fight, as $200,000, with the payment schedule laid out, from the get-go, before Molumby, traveled to the Winding City, of Chicago, and got eaten alive, drunk, for fucked up by the big boys, not to be outsmarted by this little Montana country lawyer! Don't let anyone tell you that there was not some type of male pissing match going on, that fateful night in Chicago, behind closed doors, where Molumby, not only agreed to pay Kearns and Dempsey, an additional $100,000, but he also agreed to pay a whole lot more vendors, who were going to set up camp in Shelby, prior to the fight, costing the Shebly and Great Falls businessmen, even more than they ever imagined, but they were stand up kind of guys and met, and honored all of Molumby's obligations and promises . . . way cooler than the fight to me!
So, in essence, the smart manipulator, Kearns, controlled the purse, but not the fighter, Dempsey, to his credit, was a stand up guy, in and of the fact that he demanded to fight, even after Kearns tried to cancel, and had told the press that the fight was not going on. I believe this was the begining of the end of the manager, fighter relationship, Dempsey never, as did Gibbons, return to the city of Shebly, with the local boys, left holding the bag, and might have hung, both Dempsey and his devious manager, who bankrupt the town, over their differences, as it appears to me. That is a disgrace, in and of itself, and I think that Dempsey knew that, and that is why he fought, the HBO boxing special mentioned the fact that Dempsey wanted the fight, needed the fight after two years of bull shit, exhibition matches that meant nothing, and it was time to man up, stand up to his manager, regardless and side with the Shelby crew, who had worked so hard to bring this event to fruition, publicity stunt or not, they were making history.
The Crowd Crashing the Gates, Was Seen as an Act of Honor!
You know, often in life, things are not as they seem. We only see the tip of the iceberg, so to say, we only hear what the press wants us to hear, or we are tried in the press, with many fight sponsors, thinking that the press was in on the whole scam, to stop the ticket sales, the special trains, and I am not sure they were not . . . with Kearns being a celebrity in and of himself, and a draw, like various boxing managers have been, having fought himself, with his own status as a fighter, the press, like many, without spins of their own, would side with the alleged, popular guy, not side with what was the honorable thing to do, the stand up honest thing to do . . . just what was going to sell newspapers, thus siding with the big shot, rather than the small town businessmen of Shelby, a dot on the map, and to be crushed by the big city types . . . sad state of affairs indeed . . .
Yesterday, I walked down to the local Pizza Hut, having just finished my, what I thought, last blog on the Shelby Dempsey/Gibbons fight, actually thinking about catching the Amtrak back to Kalispell, although this morning I heard that it is colder than a witch's tit . . . come on, it is close enough to the eve of that hallowed day, of Halloween, 2014 . . . so, Shelby, with now, blue skies, and 10 degrees warmer, sounds good, live out my motel stay, until Tuesday, then hit the road, but as I talked to Trisha, my waitress, who actually a year ago, was scheduled to give me a ride to Helena, from Shelby, arranged by a local I met on the shuttle from Kalipsell, go figure, out of 3500 people, I get the one who was going to give me a ride--she had read some of my blogs, wanted me to meet her husband, Sean, who works at the Ben Taylor, True Value Store, close to the motel, because he is a big government conspiracy guy, would love to meet me, and Kim, born, raised and bred here in Shelby, with a streak of pride over the fight, as it should be seen, pointed out the Champion Park, with two fighters, just behind the Hut, where they think the original arena may have been built . . .
Kim gave me the name of Dean Hellinger-Devon, the curator for the Marias Museum of History and Art, located on the corner of 12th Ave. and 1st North, Shelby, 406.434.2551, that houses the Dempsey/Gibbons memorabilia, and she insisted would be glad to give me a tour of the museum, off hours, since I have come to Shelby, and never timed the hours for a tour right, with winter hours, being open only on Tuesdays, noon to 4:00 p.m., with me arriving last week, Tuesday at 4:00 p.m., on the shuttle and leaving on the shuttle, I think Tuesday morning, missing the date and time again, barely! Screeeeaammm! So, I appreciate Kim's insider's track and connections, with Dean, whom, I have seen his name in connection with interviews over the years, about the fight . . . Kim assured me that he could answer all my questions! Up until just an hour ago, I thought I had the whole story, until I just happened to pull up my addiction, to my son's bands, (Old School) Parallax, God's Revolver, and Maraloka, and to my surprise, something on Dempsey came up with all the music? I take that either as divine providence and a message, that you are not done, you don't know the whole story, so, don't stop . . . that is the track that led me to the HBO special . . . I had done searches yesterday, and none of this stuff came up, now I had tons of stuff, just on Dempsey that led me to what I learned today . . . while I was working in, none other than Chicago, poetic justice . . . Americans United for Life, symbolic in and of itself . . . I was called the psychic researcher, case in point! LOL!
Monday, I will call Dean and schedule a tour . . . nothing like a year attempt at getting in the museum!
Some Specs and Info On the Arena . . . A Marvel In and Of Itself
I just read a quote, from Bill Krueger, who is pushing for a new expo center in Great Falls, of the Shelby boys, ilk, and possibly worried about over building, but he said, of the new expo center, Make sure you do it right or not at all . . . I think that attitude, was the prevailing attitude of the day of the 1923 fight, that if we are going to do it, we are going to do it right and show off Shebly to the world. There were two open air arenas that had been previously build for outdoor fights, but both had been built with green pine, and the sap had ruined the clothing of many fight attendees; therefore, the lumber had to be of the finest quality. These were savvy businessmen, and they had great lines of credit with the local lumber company, and capitalized on that line, getting good lumber, rather than the green, cheaper stuff, with the intent to tare the arena down after the fight, a movable structure, which is amazing in and of itself.
I believe the other two structures, held about 20,000 people, and the one in Shelby, was twice the size of the other two arenas put together, holding, if the accounts I read were right, 40,000 people, the largest open air arena in the world, right here in little Shelby, Montana, home of the big sky and the big think, it covered 6 square miles, took over a million tons of lumber, and three truck loads of nails. There were 350 men who worked on the arena, I think night and day, starting somewhere in May, still cold, and completing the architectural feat, about 2 and a half weeks before schedule, that hard working, Montana pride. I am not sure if the workers charged for their time, but it would not surprise me, if it was volunteer labor. The arena was shaped in an octagon, and started low at the ring, and slowly grew, with each seat, being given a 19 inch span for the average butt, I might have had a bit of a time fitting, but, hey, I have been above average all my life, LOL! So, the pictures of this arena are great, modern day marvel, and worth seeing, in and of itself. I have a hard time believing, that the Champion Park, gives justice to the work . . . I am sure that they are going to have pictures, a kiosk as Kim said, and many more things like, landscaping, etc., a great start . . . so if anyone wants to donate, send the money to the Shelby Pizza Hut, who seems to be connected and in the right place, at least to get you to the right people or see that the money gets to the right hands . . . I am sure there is a foundation that started the project, but I can't remember the name!
The arena for the fight, alone, cost, $82,000 just in supplies . . . so imagine what an expense, a commitment, and a project, I am sure that Dempsey, already unpopular, was not going to let these guys down, as his manager, would have gladly done . . . Shelby got caught in a boxing match between two celebrities, and took the beating!
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