Tom Sharkey

[robert.snell1]

The following story was published in 1932.

Sharkey, once Ace of Ring, now Option Seller.


Tom Sharkey, worlds welter, middle and heavyweight champion of the nineties, the Irishman who, as a little boy of 9 ran away from his home at Dundalk, Ireland, working his way on sailing vessel’s out to China, India, and down to Australia,where he fed the native pearl divers cocoanut milk as they came up for air from their work, who came to Brooklyn to join the United States navy.

Who as a world renowned fighter ,rich in money and crowned with success, went home to Dundalk, Ireland as the prodigal son to buy back for the family the old farm from which they were evicted when he was a baby, to buy brass beds that thrilled the countryside, and to buy for his mother a cook stove.

Partner of Jeffries

Who, after climaxing his fisticuff history with exhibition bouts at King Edward VII's Jubilee London, England, became a figure in partnership with Jim Jeffries in the saloon history of California.

Well, he, Tom Sharkey, has been selling you options up there at the Tanforan race track all season, and bet you never guessed it. Well, neither did we until the other day. Tom Sharkey sat down inside the
option booth, that is his particular stall, to talk about Tom Sharkey the fighter, and the boy that was before that fighter.

A great, powerful figure of a man, with a chest and shoulders of a, wrestler, and, of course, cauliflower ears, Irish blue eyes, and a voice with a rollicking, musical lilt those are the thing you know right away about him. But.

Up and Down

Tom Sharkey is Rudyard Kipling's man. Kipling would like to know and write about this man of the world since 9, he's been up and he's been down. He has seen the black holes of Calcutta, the dives of Hong Kong, sailing vessels to Buenos Aires and Algiers; sleep against his another's breast as a grown man on an Irish farm; a sailor's life in the navy, where he learned to fight; love born in a hospital where he lay terribly ill until his mate's death; horses and race tracks all over the world, and saloons and all that they reveal of men's souls.

And yet, there is about him with all a naive ness born of complete sophistication that causes him to ask, "Is it all right if I smoke while we talk? " With adventure and romance of a thousand ports behind him then, at 19 he joined the United States Navy in 1891 and went with some other, sailor buddies to see Corbett fight Sullivan .in New Orleans the following year.

Pugilistic Seed Sown

At that fight, his love for the game was born, and aboard ship he commenced to train. He was transferred from the old Vermont to the Philadelphia, which went out to the Hawaiian Islands for three years, and the fighter was made. And he found himself suddenly with $12,000 from his fights.

0ne day in Honolulu, the captain of his ship called him to his cabin and asked him how long it was since he had written home. "I've never written," replied Sharkey. "Do you recognize the writing on that envelope?" asked the captain. "Sure; it's my father's writing,"Sharkey responded.

The captain gave the boy fighter the letter to read, inquiring from the captain, to whom the epistle was Addressed, if it were possible that reading about in the Dublin papers as the fighter could be his son.

Sent Fortune Home ;

After a talk with the captain. Sharkey .sent home $5000 and wrote to his mother. He had always been afraid that his father would have him taken out of the navy, because he wasn't yet of age, if he had let the family know where he was. In letters that came then to the boy Sharkey from his mother, he found that they had believed him to be dead.

From Honolulu he was transferred to Vallejo, and his first fight in California was at the Colma Athletic club in 1895, when he fought Australian Billy Smith, and with the betting 3 to 1 in favor of Smith, knocked the favorite out In seven rounds.

There followed the fight with Joe Choynski at the People's Palace two months later, and Sharkey knocked his opponent out in three or four rounds, he doesn't remember exactly.

Then came Jim Williams from Salt Lake City. Sharkey fought him at the Mechanics' Pavilion, and the fight was stopped by the police in the ninth round.

Then Came Corbett

Australia's terror, Joe Goddard, came next at Woodward's Pavilion, and Sharkey knocked him out in four rounds. Came Jim Corbett, who, looking the boy Sharkey over, said he could knock him out in four rounds. Sharkey took him up, and then Corbett, who had offered to bet Sharkey $10,000 that he could finish him in four rounds, backed out. Sharkey changed managers from Danny Needem to Tim McGrath, and Corbett
just guaranteed to knock him out.

At the fight the police stepped into the ring and slopped the battle because of brutality, they said, in the fourth round. "But Gee! I'd already knocked him down twice, and if they hadn't stopped us I would have knocked him out," ruefully remembered Sharkey. "They called it a draw."

Bob Fitzsimmons came next on Sharkey's horizon, and for a purse of $10,000 the two went into the ring and Fitzsimmons fouled Sharkey, and he got the fight.

Then came a tour over the country offering anyone whom he could not knock out in four rounds, $100.

In 1897 Peter Maher, champion of Ireland, and Sharkey fought in New York on Lexington avenue, and the fight-was stopped by police in the seventh round.

Home With Top Hat

'In 1897 I went home to Ireland. had lots of money. I got off the boat at Dundalk in a top hat and tail coat, and my mother and father and sister didn't know me. Mother was looking for the little boy that went away in corduroys when he was 9," said Sharkey.

"I stayed about six weeks and bought the family bathtubs and everything. I always had it in my mind to buy back that farm since my father told me about it just before I ran away," Sharkey smiling at the memory.

Then back to America, where he fought McCoy, Jeffries, Ruhlin, Corbett. Marriage to his nurse, Katharine Mclntosh, and then back to London in 1900 and retirement from the ring.

Paris, Berlin, and all the capitals of Europe with his bride, and a home on Long Island. Then in 1914 wife died and he came to California, where he opened Barker's Inn on Kearney street. So now he likes horses and he travels about with the races, working with the option booths.

[Expug]

great read.
Thanks for that Robert.
Sharkey was a fascinating carachter. I bet old Tom didnt do a lot of whining and complaining in his day.

[barry]

Thanks Rob...where did the article come from?

[robert.snell1]

hi Barry , its from The San Mateo Times and Daily News Leader date 18th May 1932 which I shall email you in a few mins.What were Option Booths ? was it where people placed bets or something.

i also picked up a couple from the Oakland Tribune which i will take some details from.doing a newsletter hence the interest.some good stuff on CBZ also. always a good place to pick up information.

whether he was any better or worse than the other guys of the period is debatable as they all had their own view about rules - not changed much has it !! -

[TheRiverCityHippy]

sharkey fought in liverpool against punch vaughn in 1897.

[UpWithEvil]

I bet old Tom didnt do a lot of whining and complaining in his day.

Sure, but back then, who did?

[Aldo Pravisani]

What a colourful, interesting story, Robert. Thank you for sharing it with all of us.

Need was one of the main reasons for those days producing such fighters, and alas, all in all for the better, we shall never see those days and the boxers they spawned.

[Chuck1052]

During the 1920s, Tom Sharkey had a number of
exhibition bouts with Frank Fields, a journeyman
welterweight/middleweight from Southern California
who was active from 1901 to 1913 (as far as I can
tell).

- Chuck Johnston

[KOJOE90]

Great artical Rob, thanks for sharing it with us.

Sailor Tom was a very interesting character and lead a remarkable life. Everything I have read about him over the years suggests to me he was one of the roughest, toughest and hardest hitting Heavyweights of his and maybe any era. Jim Jefferies says Tom was the toughest man he ever faced, high prise indeed. The second fight between Jefferies and Sharkey was by all accounts a classic, brutal affair that compares with any epic Heavyweight encounter over the years. I am also lead to believe it was the first fighter ever filmed under artificial light. These lights were so hot they burnt both fighters.

There is of course the story that Toms hands were so strong he could bend silver dollers in them.

In later years I imagine the likes of Marciano and Chuvalo were the closest fans got to see of a 'Sailor Tom Sharkey' type fighter?

Does anyone know how much film there is of Sharkey?

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Lodge/6525/TS1.jpg

[TheRiverCityHippy]

Great artical Rob, thanks for sharing it with us.

Sailor Tom was a very interesting character and lead a remarkable life. Everything I have read about him over the years suggests to me he was one of the roughest, toughest and hardest hitting Heavyweights of his and maybe any era. Jim Jefferies says Tom was the toughest man he ever faced, high prise indeed. The second fight between Jefferies and Sharkey was by all accounts a classic, brutal affair that compares with any epic Heavyweight encounter over the years. I am also lead to believe it was the first fighter ever filmed under artificial light. These lights were so hot they burnt both fighters.

There is of course the story that Toms hands were so strong he could bend silver dollers in them.

In later years I imagine the likes of Marciano and Chuvalo were the closest fans got to see of a 'Sailor Tom Sharkey' type fighter?

Does anyone know how much film there is of Sharkey?

http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Lodge/6525/TS1.jpg

thats a nice pic joe, sharkey looks tough as teak there.
that jefferies fight you mentioned was one of the first old stories that first got me interested in boxing years ago.
wasnt it fought at coney island, and those burns you mentioned from the lights were 3rd degree ones to sharkeys scalp i seem to recall.

[Cap]

Jeffries said that the lights were so hot that both men lost some of their hair.

I always found it interesting that Jeffries, with all his power, couldn't put Sharkey away in 45 rounds, but light heavyweight Bob Fitzsimmons managed it twice.

As a huge fan of Tommy Burns, I would love to have seen him battle the Sailor. There was only an inch difference in height. Burns had the advantage in reach, and Sharkey would've outweighed the Little Giant of Hanover by less than ten pounds. Burns was easily the more skilled boxer, the better strategist. Sharkey likely had a small edge in power, but Tommy's right was a sleep-inducer too and he would've used it to Sharkey's belly. Both Fitz and Ruhlin stopped the Irishman by going to the gut.

Cap

[UpWithEvil]

I always found it interesting that Jeffries, with all his power, couldn't put Sharkey away in 45 rounds, but light heavyweight Bob Fitzsimmons managed it twice.

Well remember that Jeffries injured his left arm early in their second fight and could barely throw it for the rest of the night. The surviving footage from that bout confirms that Jeffries was almost completely unable to throw the left, and his left hook was always considered to be his best weapon.

What footage of Sharkey survives? To my knowledge only the bootleg films from the 1899 championship bout with Jeffries.

[robert.snell1]

he sure is a facinating guy to read about and as it so happens someone started a thread on him over on the CBZ - must be a revival of interest in him eh. its states he was 12 not 9 when he left home which i think is more credible that a 9 yrs old doing a runner from home.However i may well suggest to my 8 yr old grand daughter she might consider joining the french Legion..she likes sand.

i will be posting an addition to this thread shortly with regards to the fight reports of the day as they are very good indeed.

[robert.snell1]

this gives some good background info of the fight which i found very interesting - good build up stuff


Peter Maher and Tom Sharkey fought Tonight at the Palace Athletic club for a $15,000purse .At the end of the seventh round, the police interfered and the contest resulted in a most unsatisfactory manner.

Never in the history of the ring has there been such an enormous attendance at a boxing bout in this vicinity. There were about 10,000 persons squeezed into the big building at One Hundred and Seventh street and Lexington avenue. A more representative congregation of well known sporting men has never witnessed a boxing match than that which assembled at the club house tonight.

The quantity of money which would have changed hands had the bout resulted in favor of either man is well up in six figures. That there would be police interference it tbe men fought hard wasfeared by the majority of those who purchased tickets, but after the two boys who took part in the opening bout bad been allowed to pummel each other without being stopped by the police, those present had hopes that the big fellows would have a good chance to settle the question of superiority.

Maher, was a big favorite but there seemed to be plenty of money on Sharkey.Sharkey's style of leaving himself open when stepping away caused a good deal of comment and it was easily seen that Maher was in no hurry to mix matters, as he evidently preferred to size his man up. The
boxing was very tame for five rounds, neither man showing a mark.

In the sixth round. Sharkey, with a well directed straight right on the mouth, sent Peter sprawling half way through the ropes, where he struggled for five seconds before he regained his feet As Maher was getting up Sbarkev rushed toward him, but was called back by Choynski, who was evidently afraid that the sailor mightcommit a foul Ten seconds later thegong ended the sixth round and when Maher returned to his corner he spat out a lot of blood. Sharkey's friends, when they saw this, yelled "First blood for Sharkey" and there was a great deal of cheering.

The seventh round was nearly completed when Maher, after getting in some good blows on Sharkey. sent the latter to the floor near the ropes with a left in the wind and a right swing on the jaw. Tom was up again inside of five seconds and rushed into a clinch. In this clinch Maher kept
working his right on the body and when the gong sounded, neither heeded the warning of the timekeeper but kept on hitting each other. One of Maher's seconds rushed over and grabbed Maher. While he was trying to pull the big fellow away, Sharkey swung his right on the second's face, dazing him By this time, the house was in an uproar and there were cries of "Foul" from the partisans of both men. '

The din was terrific, but was increased ten fold when Inspector McLaughlin ordered the police, to arrest all those concerned in the fight. Policemen in uniform swarmed into the ring and a number of detectives also climbed through the ropes. The principals .were the first to be placed under arrest , and then the seconds and referee were told to accompany the officers
.
While all this was going on thousands of spectators were clamoring for a decision from the referee, who was busily engaged arguing with the officers who surrounded him. Finally it was made known that Referee Colville had decided to call the bout a "draw." This did not seem to please a good many, but, according to the conditions agreed upon by both men, the Judgment of the referee was right and proper.

Those arrested, including the principals, seconds and referee, were escorted to the One Hundred and seventh street police station, first allowing Maher and Sharkey to go to their dressing rooms and put on their street clothes. All furnished bail. Dan Lynch of San Francisco

Sharkey's timekeeper, and Steve O'Donnell of New York who acted as the club's timekeeper, were also arrested and released on bail.

The relative merits of the men is As much of a puzzle as ever, and until they meet again and get a definite decision their adherents will not be satisfied. It was said that over $40,000 was taken in at the box office and, judging from the number of people in the house, this was a very conservative estimate.


DETAILS OF THE FIGHT

When the doors of the Palace Athletic Club Were opened at 7 o’clock Lexington avenue was crowded with a surging mass of people, each one endeavoring to get to the box office, and the corridor at the entrance, was jammed. Police Inspector McLaughlin and a large force of bluecoats. As well as a big force of central office detectives in civilian dress, soon made the people form in queue, and the ticket sellers were kept busy.

By 8:80 o'clock there were over 6000 people in the house and the crowd outside did not seem to be in the least diminished. Half an hour later the big building was filled with a clamoring host of sports. The seating capacity of the house is estimated at 8000 and the aisles and every inch of standing room were soon crowded to suffocation.

Large delegations from the principal cities west of Chicago were on hand and it would be easier to name the prominent sporting men who Were absent than to enumerate those who were in the arena.. The betting on the big! Event was lively and Maher was a pronounced favorite. odds of 100. to 86 and 100 to 70 were bet on Peter's chances and some of those who were confident of Peter's ability to defeat the sailor lad Laid odds of a 100 to 60.

John L Sullivan, James J Corbett and Kid McCoy occupied box seats at the ringside and each of them got a rousing reception when he made his appearance. At 9:20 o'clock, Charley Royden of Jersey City and Bob Quade of this city Entered the ring At the end of the third round Referee Charley .White Stopped the bout and declared Quade the winner, the Jersey City boy being Weakened by the battering he received.

Betting on the result continued to be lively and several wagers were made at even money that Maher would win in 10 rounds. Kid McCoy took the Sharkey end of this for $1000. He also placed $1000 on Sharkey to win at odds ranging from 100 to 60 and 100 to 80. Riley Grannon bet $3000 against $1400 on Maher, and "Pittsburg Phil" had commissioners placing his money on Maher at 100 to 70.

There was a long delay in getting Maher and Sharkey to the ringside. And the crowd begun to show signs of impatience. Sharkey entered the ring at 10:10. He was accompanied by Joe Choynski, Tim McGrath, Tim Lansing and, Solly Smith. He chose the southeast corner which was the one, in which the winner of the first bout had sat. He was warmly received. But the greeting which Maher got was vociferous. Peter took his corner at '10:14. His seconds were Buck Connolly, Pat Scully, Peter Lowry, Jack Quinn Jack Cattanach ."Pittsburg Phil" held the watch
for Maher and Danny Lynch did the same for Sharkey.

Maher came into the ring wearing black sweater and black trousers while Sharkey was enveloped in a yellow bath robe trimmed with blue.Maher wore black trunks with green belt and Sharkey green trunks with an American flag for a belt.

Billy Brady announced that the agreement between The men and the referee was that, in case of Police interference if either men was in such condition as not to have a chance to win, in the opinion of the referee, the latter should give his decision in favor of the other man, but that if the referee saw that the man, having the worst of the contest bad a chance to win, then he was to declare the bout a draw.

The men were announced to box 25 rounds at catch weights. It was announced the men had to break clean and that they could box with either hand free.

They shook bands at 10:26.

[HomicideHenry]

If there is two words to say about Sharkey its these two:

UNCROWNED CHAMPION

If there ever was one...