whatever happened to Albert "Turkey" Thompson ?

[Caractacus]

His name has been brought up here over the years, but no one seems to know whatever became of him.
any ideas ?

[Ambling Alp II]

Hard to find anything about him. Did find out that he died in 1984.

[Caractacus]

why do you think it is so hard finding info about him anyway ?

[HomicideHenry]

I think the answer is as simple as this, he didn't have much fanfare when he was competing and when he retired he was on the decline. So who really bothered to keep track of him?

It seems the only time he became something recognizable in the business was when Joe Louis was in the army, and whatever momentum he had was short-lived. He seemed inconsistent too.

Some people don't want to be remembered. When he left the business he flat out left it and never looked back. The fact that you can't find anything anywhere on the internet about the man pretty much tells me that he wanted to live a normal life after boxing.

[Caractacus]

yeah, but didn't usually the boxers use to hang around the local gym years after they retired ?
particularly back then.
I know Turkey Thompson was still popular enough to be scheduled to do an exhibition with Joe Louis
in Los Angles in 1949-50 but it was cancelled at the last minute.

[Wee Tommy]

why do you think it is so hard finding info about him anyway ?

I think he went home to roost.

[Caractacus]

I've been searching around for some clues.
I do not believe he had died in obscruity.
Did you know turkey Thompson's wife Eunice worked as a domestic circa 1950 for director Sam Fuller ?
( who would later become much more well known as a famous director)
and that the charector of Cpl. Thompson (played by African-American actor James Edwards who was a good friend of Turkey Thompson)
in THE STEELE HELMET (1951)was based in part on Turkey Thompson?

[Caractacus]

actor James Edwards died in 1970.

IMOP most likely James Edward's probably also used Turkey Thompson fighting style as a basis as how he fought in Movies and TV too. ( beginning at approx 17:25 of this clip here)

[Caractacus]

I guess someone did find out what became of him
since this question was first asked here some years ago,
( I just remember someone posting that they thought he died in 1984)
around the time when it was finally found out when Elmer"Violent" Ray passed away. after some years of asking.
It says here Turkey Thompson died 27.June.1984
but does not list the primary source of the info.
It would still be interesting to know what he was doing in the last 20 years of his life.
He used to work out at the Main Street Gym in LA when he was still an active fighter in the late 1940's.
My guess is that he probably taught boxing lessons to Hollywood celebrities after he retired.

[Caractacus]

BTW hey Woller,
what is Boxrec's primary source for when Turkey Thompson died anyway ?
was it Il Duece ?

[Caractacus]

you just gotta list the primary source(s) for it man.
( no exceptions)