9-th, 2004 - 21: 1   (Posted By: Webmaster)
Jack Johnson    

Jack Johnson

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION AND DEMOLISHER OF "THE WHITE HOPE" (1878-1946)

WHEN STEVE BRODIE dived from the Brooklyn Bridge in 1886, his name reached into a wretched Negro cabin in Galveston, Texas, and so stirred a ragged Negro boy of twelve that he made up his mind to go to New York and meet Brodie in person. This flash of fancy, little as the black boy could have guessed it, was to lead him to the world's heavyweight championship, the most highly prized athletic honor since Onomastos won the belt at the thirteenth Olympic Games in 880 B.C.

The boy, John Arthur Johnson, L'il Arth'uh, as he was known to his companions, tried to stow away on a ship bound for New York, but was caught and put off. Finally, after several weeks he succeeded, but soon after the ship left, he was put off at Key West, where he found work as a sponge fisher in the shark-infested waters, and had a narrow escape from being eaten alive.

Boarding another ship, he was caught soon after it left port and handed over to the tender mercies of the cook, who worked him and beat him. Some kindhearted passengers rescued him and paid for his passage to New York, where he met Brodie, who befriended him for a while. He next found work in a stable in Boston, but while exercising a horse, it fell on him and broke his leg. While in the hospital he made friends who paid his passage back to Galveston, where he went to work on the docks. Here he met rowdy youths and crapshooters with whom he had fistfights, in some of which he was beaten. Finally, he whipped the bully of the docks, who was bigger and older than himself, and thus became the "champion." Leaving the docks, he went to work with a carriage painter, who was an amateur boxer and got him into fights whenever he could until he was the best boxer in the city, a reputation he was to retain in a fight with a grown man in a quarrel over dice. This man was so much bigger, stronger, and tougher than Johnson that his victory became the talk of the neighborhood and made him decide to become a professional boxer.

The next step in his career was his fight with a boxer who traveled with a show. This man, as a part of his performance, offered $25 to anyone who could stay four rounds with him. Johnson accepted the challenge and stayed four rounds but was so badly bruised that he had to stay in bed for two weeks. Deciding now that he needed a larger field than Galveston, he planned to go to Springfield, Illinois, where he heard that boxers were being sought for a tournament. With no money, he boarded a fright train and arrived in Springfield, hungry and penniless on the very night of the fight. But tired as he was, he met and -knocked out four of his opponents, leaving with a pocketful of cash and the plaudits of the crowd. From Springfield he went to Chicago, where he was matched with an experienced boxer, older than himself, named Klondike. He was beaten but showed such fine form that he received greater applause than Klondike and was given more money than he had ever dreamed of having. But he lost it all the next day at the races and had to bum his way to Pittsburgh, where he had offers of a fight with a white opponent who was very tough. He won and left with his hat "brimming

Page:  [ 1 ]  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10