Is Jack Hurley Forgotten?

[Chuck1052]

On October 14, 1938 in Chicago, the late Bob Soderman
saw Jack Hurley in action when the latter's fighter, Gene
Vinciquerra, a young heavyweight from Omaha, fought
a black fighter from the South Side of Chicago, Virgil
Clark in a scheduled four-round bout. According to
the the report in the Chicago Tribune, the fight was
the "liveliest of the preliminary bouts" in which there was "toe-
to-toe slugging." The report also said that by the order of
Secretary John Owen, Vinciquerra was disqualified and
Clark got the decision. Owen said that Hurley violated the
rules when "he stopped the fighters from falling off the ring
apron to which they had fallen after after an exchange in
the third round. The mixup occurred shortly after
Vinciquerra had suffered a nine count knockdown in
the round."

Soderman remember the incident differently and wrote
an article about it that was published in the August
1952 BOXING RECORD, a publication put out by
Dick Mastro over a number of decades in Chicago
and then Los Angeles. Vinciquerra got off to a
terrific start and he was punishing the groggy
Clark while trying to get the knockout in the
third round. But Vinciquerra got tired and had
fallen against his opponent after over one
minute into the round. Clark pushed Vinciquerra
back and threw a looping right that landed high
on the head.

"Vinciquerra stumbled backwards. He would fall
heavily on his hands and knees, but continued
fall until his head was outside of the ropes and
a few feet from his corner. The following excerpt
was from the article:

It was obvious that Vinciquerra was out. The
stunning punch thrown by Clark at a time when
Vinciquerra was totally exhausted had served
to render him almost senseless.

Hurley, see that Carl would most surely be counted out
for the first time in his career, raced the few feet along
the edge of the ring separating them and, reaching the
point where Vinciquerra lay inert, reached up and
sharply slapped Carl across the face! Once! Twice,
Now back and forth as the referee's count reached six.

The slaps revived Carl and he shook his head savagely
and roused himself to his feet at the count of nine. He
clinched and held the balance of the round to save
himself from a kayo. The fourth round saw Carl manage
to stave offf Clark's efforts to hang the kayo wallop on
him but Carl was still too exhausted to do much fighting
back himself.

The official decision was a draw though the Illinois
Commission reversed the decision afterwar and ruled
that Hurley's action in the third round of reviving his
man had disqualified his fighter."

Vinciquerra would knock out Clark in a rematch,
breaking the latter's jaw. Afterwards, Vinciquerra
would be a main event fighter, scoring many more
wins before he retired despite not becoming a
contender. It was wondered what would happen
to his career if Hurley's quick action in Carl's
first bout with Clark didn't take place.

- Chuck Johnston

[robert.snell1]

Hi Chuck ... another great story about the guy. Who do you think may rival him with regards to his ability and his comic comments.

I cannot think of anyone to be honest

[Chuck1052]

Rob- Another reason that I started this thread is that I don't
think that Jack Hurley is in any Boxing Hall of Fame. If that
is true, I think that something is wrong.

You may have a point about Hurley's ability as a boxing
man. Moreover, I can't think of another boxing man who
was such a character. Yes, I know about Don King, Cus
D'Amato, Jack Kearns, and Muhammad Ali, but it seems
that one could write a million great stories about Hurley
because he had so many unique character traits.

- Chuck Johnston

[robert.snell1]

Hi Chuck

yes you make a very interestiing point with regard to this Hall Of Fame


I must admit that I have little knowledge as to how people are included etc . However in some respects the new facility on boxrec can resolve this. So many fine men are not listed/recorded etc so putting details in the form of a bio at least ensures that the word goes out.

Ric and others have done a remarkable job on this so in some way this has been done.

[tiredoldngrey]

I've raed "the Professional" and various articles about Hurley and wanted to raed more. Thank you very much for taking the time to post all those wonderful stories.

[robert.snell1]

Hi .. thanks for that it is good to hear that you liked the various stories we have posted. If you wish I can email you the newspaper articles which I have.

Rob

[actjac]

Three books in a series about Jack Hurley written by John T. Ochs



https://books.google.com/books?id=aKfdA ... gQ6AEIJjAA

https://books.google.com/books?id=qGrgA ... UQ6AEIJjAA

https://books.google.com/books/about/Th ... e=kp_cover

[Kalan]

"A trainer," ha said, "is a man with a towel across his shoulders. Anybody can wrap a towel around his neck and fill his mouth
with toothpick swabs. I should let one of those bums ruin my life's work."

Boone Kirkman could have used a trainer like Jack Blackburn.. Kirkman was a terrific puncher and had a great chin when he started out.. He knocked Eddie Machen cold with a shot.. But he took so many shots on that chin that it softened up greatly.. He was badly damaged because nobody taught him how to defend himself.. His method was to bull his way forward and throw from left field, right field, and center field.

[Sidney Carton]

The fact that Billy Petrolle never won a title doesn't say much for Jack Hurley's managing ability.

[Kalan]

Yup!

[actjac]

Hurley threw Harry "Kid" Matthews in against Marciano when he was positioned for a Light Heavyweight shot.. . . . .also threw Kirkman to the wolves against Foreman when he was on the verge of a heavyweight title fight. Champion Joe Frazier was instead fighting guys like Ron Stander and Terry Daniels.