Les Darcy's arrival in USA - 1916

[prewarboxing]

I said recently that I would start to post some items from the Sporting Life from the early years of the twentieth century.

Next up will be article from 28th December 1916 with details of Les Darcy's arrival in America. As we know he died three months later without ever getting his sought-after contest with Mike Gibbons.

Miles Templeton.

[prewarboxing]

[klompton]

He screwed himself. He had an overinflated sense of his worth. He was turning down massive paydays trying to hold out for larger purses against easier opponents. Initial goodwill turned against him and his window of opportunity closed. He should have honored his $45,000 contract to face Gibbons that his manager signed but instead he repudiated both and got left out in the cold. A lot has been written about Darcy as a victim of the powers that be but in reality he was a victim of his own immaturity and hubris.

[Taansend]

Thanks Miles.

This is brilliant stuff. I can't thank you enough.

Interesting to see that promoters were using other boxers names to promote fights back then. The Orchid Man didn't fight from 1914 to 1919 but they still used his name to push Darcy's name in 1916.

Wasn't Carpentier a pilot in World War One at the time?

[prewarboxing]

It's a pleasure Taansend. I will be putting up quite a bit of material like this. Glad it is appreciated.

[Taansend]

It's a pleasure Taansend. I will be putting up quite a bit of material like this. Glad it is appreciated.

It truly is. I've been reading about stuff like this since I was a kid in the 70's. I used to spend hours in 2nd hand books stores looking for old boxing writing.

Ironically there seems to be less stuff on the net then there was in print pre internet.. Or maybe I'm just too lazy to look anymore.

[Caractacus]

There is less stuff on the inter-net.
The library near me got rid (so called "weeded') approx. 70 perecent of the books
that it held 10 years ago.Its now a "Community Center".
imop Its a NATION-WIDE LEFTIST move to control the NARRATIVE.
They dont think Americans should be aware of their postive history in the history of the world.

[Chuck1052]

After arriving in New York City in late December 1916, Les Darcy had only five months to live before passing away in a Memphis, Tennessee hospital on May 24, 1917. According to various reports, Darcy had been in the hospital for several weeks before he died. He reportedly succumbed to blood poisoning caused by an infected tooth. There was speculation that the infection was caused by some dental work that Darcy had done in Australia about a year before his death.

My point is for all of the angst about Darcy being not permitted to fight in certain American locales is that he essentially was a doomed young man at the time he arrived in the United States. If there was a medical procedure that saved him, it may be that things would have turned out fine for him in the U.S. But one will never know.

Darcy chose a very poor time to leave Australia in a clandestine manner on a tramp steamer to eventually go to the U.S. At the time, Australia was fully involved in World War I with a staggering number of young Australian men being killed in action. It was illegal for a man of Darcy's age to leave Australia at the time. After leaving Australia, Darcy was roasted in the Australian press before his death. Meanwhile, the U.S. was very close to entering the war on the side of the Allies. Under the circumstances, it is little wonder that Darcy also received quite a bit of bad press in the U.S. for leaving Australia in such a way. The bad press resulted in Darcy being banned from boxing in various states.

It was only after Darcy died that he was literally canonized in Australia. Forgotten was that he was somewhat of a pariah in Australia during the last few months of his life. Such canonization of Darcy resulted Australians feeling that the young Australian fighter was not treated in a fair manner in the United States. In the eyes of some Australians, Governor Charles Whitman of New York became a villian because he banned Darcy from fighting in his state.

- Chuck Johnston

[Taansend]

After arriving in New York City in late December 1916, Les Darcy had only five months to live before passing away in a Memphis, Tennessee hospital on May 24, 1917. According to various reports, Darcy had been in the hospital for several weeks before he died. He reportedly succumbed to blood poisoning caused by an infected tooth. There was speculation that the infection was caused by some dental work that Darcy had done in Australia about a year before his death.

My point is for all of the angst about Darcy being not permitted to fight in certain American locales is that he essentially was a doomed young man at the time he arrived in the United States. If there was a medical procedure that saved him, it may be that things would have turned out fine for him in the U.S. But one will never know.

Darcy chose a very poor time to leave Australia in a clandestine manner on a tramp steamer to eventually go to the U.S. At the time, Australia was fully involved in World War I with a staggering number of young Australian men being killed in action. It was illegal for a man of Darcy's age to leave Australia at the time. After leaving Australia, Darcy was roasted in the Australian press before his death. Meanwhile, the U.S. was very close to entering the war on the side of the Allies. Under the circumstances, it is little wonder that Darcy also received quite a bit of bad press in the U.S. for leaving Australia in such a way. The bad press resulted in Darcy being banned from boxing in various states.

It was only after Darcy died that he was literally canonized in Australia. Forgotten was that he was somewhat of a pariah in Australia during the last few months of his life. Such canonization of Darcy resulted Australians feeling that the young Australian fighter was not treated in a fair manner in the United States. In the eyes of some Australians, Governor Charles Whitman of New York became a villian because he banned Darcy from fighting in his state.

- Chuck Johnston

Greed Chuck. The US promoters were talking about matching him with French war hero Georges Carpentier who later fought another draft dodger Jack Dempsey. I'm a big fan of Dempsey (not a big fan of war) but the irony is not lost on me.

[prewarboxing]

I am going to post three more articles on Darcy, all from January 1917.

The first one is from the Sporting Life dated 9 January 1917 and it tells how angered the Australian press were about Darcy shooting off to the States in the middle of a war.

The second one is from 10 January 1917 and it gives Darcy's side of the story.

The third one is dated 25 January 1917 and it confirms Tannsend's observation that there were attempts at matching Darcy with Carpentier.

Miles Templeton.

[prewarboxing]

[prewarboxing]

[prewarboxing]

[Chuck1052]

The Trove website has a massive Australian newspapers archive in digital form. One Sydney-bas sports publication, the Referee, had a huge amount of boxing coverage at the time that Les Darcy was active.

Darcy had two younger brothers who became professional boxers, Frosty and Joe. Frosty apparently was a victim of the Spanish Flu Pandemic during the early part of 1919. Joe was active during the 1920s, but was no more than a club fighter. Frosty showed a bit of promise during a short career before his premature death, but certainly not close to the level of Les.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

Mick King, another Australian boxer, apparently left Australia in an unauthorized way during late 1916 or early 1917. But he went on to fight in the U.S. and Canada on a regular basis from 1917 to 1920. In fact, King had at least two bouts in Memphis, Tennessee during May 1917, the same month and year that Les Darcy passed away in the same city.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

According to a January 17, 1917 news item with a New York dateline in the January 18, 1917 edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Mick King, a former middleweight champion of Australia, arrived in a relatively quiet manner in New York City on January 17, 1917. That evening, King was introduced to the crow while attending a boxing card at the Pioneer SC. King expressed an interest in getting another bout with Les Darcy.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

According to a news item in the March 16, 1917 edition of The Herald (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia), Mick King left Sydney on a tramp steamer as a stowaway on October 2, 1916. It was felt that King left Australia in an unauthorized manner, much like Les Darcy later did on a tramp streamer from Newcastle, New South Wales on October 28, 1916. But it took King three-and-a-half months to arrive in the United States by way of South Africa, Gibraltar and Genoa, Italy. He felt that the fight game was not good in Australia at the time he left.

- Chuck Johnston