Jack Dempsey left holding Jess Willard’s bag of sh*t

[APerno]

The day after President Wilson called for a declaration of war against the Hun (April 2nd, 1917), the reigning heavyweight champ, Jess Willard saw an opportunity for a little free press and wired the War Department declaring his readiness to do his duty and serve his country. If Willard believed that he could make such an announcement and not follow through, he was sadly mistaken. The next day the Army wired the big Kansan that they were ready to accept his offer and offered a commission in the Army Reserves.

Not surprisingly Willard who was about to embark on a circus tour for $1000 a week did not appear for induction, instead released a second statement that he had already been rejected by the Army, in Chicago, for being “too big.” But the Army chose not to let the matter go and Captain F.R. Kenny, who was in charge of recruitment for the Windy City, assured the press that he had the authority to wave such a restriction and was ready to receive Willard. With the situation now becoming a national embarrassment Big Jess decided to go silent on the matter and went on-tour with the circus (as a celebrity rodeo cowboy,) but the press and public were not about to forget or forgive the ruse.

The following year, spring 1918, (with the war still on) Willard, who had not fought since defending against Frank Moran back in 1916, announced he was ready to defend his title against Fred Fulton, “The Minnesota Plasterer,” but the press and public would have no part of it; no one had forgotten Willard’s bogus grand-standing and a ‘stop the fight until the boys come home’ protest got legs under it.

To add injury to insult, promoter J.C. Miller announced that the big fight would be in Colorado on July 4th, Independence Day. With this (very stupid) announcement, public outcry reached such a fevered pitch that a bill calling for the fight to be stopped actually reached the floor of Congress. But before Congress could act, the Governor of Colorado announced that no such fight would take place in his State, and the fight was off.

A second attempt to make the fight in Fulton’s home State of Minnesota was also thwarted when newspapers began printing ‘cut-out / mail-in’ ballots for its readers to ‘vote for or against the fight.’ The ballots were pre-addressed to Governor Burnquist of Minnesota, and when Saint Paul became inundated with ‘no votes’ the politically minded governor quickly pulled back his offer and the fight was dead.

It would take the end of the war and two years’ worth of distant before the public and press would relent and let Willard off the hook, by then Dempsey had dispatched Fulton in 23 seconds and was the new presumptive challenger. Willard-Dempsey then took place, as we all know, on July 4th, 1919.

But soon after Dempsey’s victory, newspaper articles began to appear challenging the validity of new champion’s military deferment; Dempsey, who had claimed his deferment on being the sole supporter of his mother and siblings would, in 1920, be officially cleared of the charge at trial, but the newspapers were of a different mind. Dempsey, on trial in the newspapers, was found ‘guilty’ of being a slacker, a label that would follow him the rest of his career.

All this begs an interesting question; would the government or the press have even looked into Dempsey’s military deferment if the Willard debacle never happened; did Jack Dempsey get left holding a bag of shit because of Willard’s very stupid publicity stunt?

How Doc Kearns added gasoline to the fire, with his bogus ‘war effort’ photo, is another story.

[Caractacus]

Man,thats some really obscure information.
Are you preparing a biography on "Big Wheeler" or something ?

[APerno]

No, just a retired high school history teacher and a prize fight fan – I have a personal peeve with how often history is written/taken out of context – the Dempsey/slacker controversy is often written about, but no one seems to think it necessary to include that there was a prevailing negative temperament playing against Dempsey from the get-go.

[Counter-puncher]

I never heard that before, great info thanks

[Cutman Scabbers]

Enjoyed the read!

Any historical insights on Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling?

[Kalan]

Willard was an ungainly and awkward blowhard. The public didn't care for him. Dempsey was a regular guy and the public loved him. Willard was a slacker. Dempsey was also a slacker and both got justified flak for it. Tunney enlisted in the marines immediately upon the war breaking out - but the public didn't take to Tunney. The press coverage Tunney got was that of a pretentious intellectual who thought he was better than everybody else. Will Rodgers made Tunney the butt of many of his jokes, "We need prize fighters with harder wallops and less Shakespeare."

[APerno]

I agree on Tunney, got a raw deal from the press/public - Dempsey was a hard act to follow, that didn't help. - And Tunney was so 'for real' - a true journeyman who eventually mastered his trade; he earned everything he got (Even taking a beating just to learn how to beat Greb the next four times.)

[Caractacus]

yeah,but remember Jess Willard was already the Heavyweight Champion when the USA entered the First World War.
Do you think he should have been sent to the Front Line ?
What if the Germans had captured the Heavyweight Champion of the World ?

[APerno]

I can’t speak for 1918, but today it would probably run its three day news cycle, two of the sanctioning bodies will strip him, and HBO would do a special.