That's a strange image to imagine, empty ringside seats with crowds in the back trading bets like the stock exchange, watching the fights through a smoky haze. Not that I believe everything I see in the movies, but no movie I've ever seen has represented the scene like that. Was that normally the ca...

Vincent Lee Foster b. Aug 17, 1927 d. July 18, 1949 Vince Foster was raised in Rulo, Nebraska. His father was Irish. His mother Potawatomi Indian. Foster had dark hair and blue eyes. (I'll skip what I have on his childhood until after I have the chance to talk with his brother.) As a teenager he got...

That's an excellent photo. I'm interrupting a bit with this question, but I'd like to ask: In the BoxRec profile for Rocky Graziano, Jack Hurley shares the box with Irving Cohen as Manager... Can anyone tell me more about this? When this occurred? I typed up a long bit of biography, compiling most o...

Thanks, Jaclem... I will look for the book on Rocky M. It sounds like that will add a lot of info to my hunt for Hurley in the 40's and early 50's, as he was butting heads with the IBC. I now have a wealth of information on Vince Foster (a bow to RobertSnell) and some of the folks associated with Om...

That's not very promising for me.... My main interest is still Vince Foster, whom my grandfather knew in Omaha and there is scant information on him. Since its rather clear that there would not have been much of anything to Vince Foster without Jack Hurley, the lack of information on Jack during the...

Question: Jim Norris? Chicago. Jack Hurley made matches for him for seven years. Above is mentioned that by Tegenm and backed up by an article I have... when the IBC took over the Coliseum, Jack moved to Seattle. Jack is quoted saying, "Norris ruined the fight game in this country." Does a...

I'm not so sure old Hurley was such a religious man... In an article published soon after Vince Foster fought Tony Pellone in Jan '49 (Boxing: Fighter with a Bible) says, "Although Jack Hurley's spare tallness, somber face and rimless spectacles give him the look of a preacher, he has spent the...

Still waiting....

Adding to the notes on "Broadway" Billy Smith aka "Oakland" Billy Smith aka... "Disappearing" Billy Smith. Thanks again to RobertSnell. As a side note: He caught the nickname "Disappearing" after his third bout with Moore. Following some great fighting leading...

No. Do you know when WMBI went on the air? I wonder if I can search that one out... I don't imagine they are still broadcasting. Robert Snell was gracious enough to email a newspaper archive from November 1972 by Jim Murray, LA Times. Its a well written farewell to Jack Hurley. Here's some gems... M...

Boone Kirkman... quite a record. Yeah, he seemed to have been stopped cold in his tracks with George Foreman. His first loss due to a cut over his eye, he turned right around and beat Doug Jones a month later, but after Foreman he didn't fight for two years. Although, he fought Foreman in November 1...

I spent a while looking into Foster's record. He fought Don Lee three times, each time doing progressively worse (D,L-PTS,KOinthe10thof10) but wasn't Don Lee a middleweight while Foster a welter? Don Lee out weighed him by ten pounds and fought primarily middleweights, what was with the match up you...

Thanks Simonpure. I'll check out the old threads for more on Boardwalk Billy. I'm so glad to have heard from someone who saw Vince Foster fight, even if it only lasted one round. Yes, it seems he had a pretty strange reputation... the badboy who turned to God. He found God through the Moody Memorial...

Has John Ochs published? Or is there any of his research available? It must be some pretty good stuff judging by a couple of quotes I've managed to find, for example: "Please don't call me honest, you'll ruin me." or "Putting an ex-fighter in the business world is like putting silk st...

Oh, and great thread on Sam...

The Black Orchid was an after hours place in Omaha, Nebraska owned by Leo Cubic. Leo also owned a place called The Flamingo. The Orchid was on 24th and Cummings Street and a cop named John Steiner ran and bounced it in those days. It was a favorite hang out of many of the local fighters. There was a...

Thanks Robert. There are a lot of articles there on both of them. All the meat and potatoes facts I'm looking for... if anyone out there has any gravy... old stories from Omaha. Anything about the Black Orchid Club or the old Nebraska gym scene... I suppose a lot of the details surrounding these guy...

Can anyone offer any information about Vince Foster and/or his manager Deacon Jack Hurley... I have some basic info on Foster from LIFE magazine, but little about Hurley who seemed to be quite the quotable character... I am researching for a pet project for my grandpa who grew up and boxed in Omaha ...