Boxers who wrote for the newspapers

[robert.snell1]

Boxers who wrote for the newspapers

As many of you are aware I have a more than a passing interest in old news items. One thing which has puzzled me is how the articles , said to be written by such people as Jim Corbett and Tommy Ryan, came to be published.

Did they dictate the to a staff writer at the newspaper, who then produced the finished work as published. Or was a case of them sending the work in to the paper and then have them edited.

A further , quite amusing to me, thought is that when Jim Corbett and Tommy Ryan where both having work published on the same pages of the Syracuse herald that they were actually sitting close by in the newsroom dictating their respective stories.

The image comes to mind of the both listening to each other’s tales of fistic glory and passing some less than polite comments on each other’s recollections of events. Ryan , as can be seen from the articles I have posted, was not shy by any means when it came to came to passing opinions on his own qualities as a boxer and that of his opponents.

What thoughts do you have on this ?
This is the link to the Ryan articles. More of them soon to be available to fully complete the series published.
http://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index. ... &Itemid=29

[raylawpc]

Boxers who wrote for the newspapers

As many of you are aware I have a more than a passing interest in old news items. One thing which has puzzled me is how the articles , said to be written by such people as Jim Corbett and Tommy Ryan, came to be published.

Did they dictate the to a staff writer at the newspaper, who then produced the finished work as published. Or was a case of them sending the work in to the paper and then have them edited.

A further , quite amusing to me, thought is that when Jim Corbett and Tommy Ryan where both having work published on the same pages of the Syracuse herald that they were actually sitting close by in the newsroom dictating their respective stories.

The image comes to mind of the both listening to each other’s tales of fistic glory and passing some less than polite comments on each other’s recollections of events. Ryan , as can be seen from the articles I have posted, was not shy by any means when it came to came to passing opinions on his own qualities as a boxer and that of his opponents.

What thoughts do you have on this ?
This is the link to the Ryan articles. More of them soon to be available to fully complete the series published.
http://boxingbiographies.com/bio/index. ... &Itemid=29

They were all ghost written. I doubt those guys were ever in the Herald's newsroom at the same time.

[Brutu]

Im sure some if not all were ghost written,but to what extent?
A newspaper editor would have probably just cleaned up the
bad grammer and syntax and made it more coherent to readers
if the ex-boxer rambled back and fourth while telling his stories.
What about Jack Johnson's written accounts?
He had a newspaper column for a while in Mexico City or Argentina I believe.

[raylawpc]

Im sure some if not all were ghost written,but to what extent?
A newspaper editor would have probably just cleaned up the
bad grammer and syntax and made it more coherent to readers
if the ex-boxer rambled back and fourth while telling his stories.
What about Jack Johnson's written accounts?
He had a newspaper column for a while in Mexico City or Argentina I believe.

My understanding, Brutu, is that, typically, a ghost writer would interview the fighter, and then write it up what the fighter told him, under the fighter's by-line. I know that's how both of Jim Jeffries' "autobiographies" were written, and how John L. Sullivan reported on the Jeffries-Johnson fight for the NY Times.

Jim Corbett used to write a weekly column in one of the NY newspapers. That meant, he'd call up his ghost writer, tell him what he had in mind, and the writer would put it into legible prose. One of the things Corbett did was predict the outcome of big fights . . . and he was always famously wrong. His pick nearly always lost.

Anyway, along comes the first Dempsey-Corbett fight and Corbett's supposed to make his prediction. But as deadline approached, Corbett didn't call in. Finally, his writer just went ahead and wrote up a column predicting Tunney to win in an upset, by decision. A few hours later, Corbett is chagrined to realize he missed his deadline and absolutely infuriated because the writer had him picking Tunney (Corbett was going to predict that Dempsey would stop Gene.) But his sadness turned to gladness when Tunney won . . . and by decision in exactly the manner the writer predicted. Thereafter, Corbett always carried a copy of the column in his wallet to show everybody how he went against the conventional wisdom and picked Tunney!

[jaclem2]

..raylawpc.....a most interesting post.....but then i expect those from you..

[raylawpc]

..raylawpc.....a most interesting post.....but then i expect those from you..

Thanks Jaclem!