Vintage Montana Boxing

[granberry]

From Norm's posting:

Kearns, who knew that interstate transportation of boxing films was illegal under an obscure federal law (it was repealed in 1940), learned early in negotiations with the Shelby people that they were ignorant of the law.

He gave all future film revenues to the promoters, who only later learned that such a concession was worthless.

Kearns was a slime among slimes.
. . .

Gibbons made $7,500, plus a considerable sum he was said to have earned from paid admissions to his training camp. Afterward, he was signed to a 20-week vaudeville tour at $2,500 a week.
And the attention from his showing against Dempsey earned him a much bigger purse against Frenchman Georges Carpentier, in 1924.

That is good to hear.

. . .
Body Johnson is 89 and lives in Palm Desert, Calif.

"Make sure you get it right," he told a reporter who called recently. "There's been a lot of inaccurate stuff written about that fight.

"My Dad and I lost $169,000 on the fight, but no one else lost anything. Kearns was a crook. He did us in. Every time he opened his mouth, he lied to us.

[Chuck1052]

While Jack Kearns was far from being the most trustworthy individual in the world, Loy Molumby deserves a great deal of the blame in the financial debacle of the bout between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons. When you have a bout in a poor venue with some incompetent people involved in the promotion, the odds are that it is going to be a financial debacle even Kearns was the nicest individual in the world.

Do you think that there were many people who believed that the film rights of the bout would make the promotion a financial success? Moreover, it is hard to believe that people involved in the promotion weren't aware that there was a Federal law on the books prohibiting fight films being transported across state lines, an important consideration in a sparsely populated state like Montana. If the bout took place in New York City, I would think the film rights would have been more lucrative because of the large population in the state of New York.

In regards to the financial debacle of the 1933 Chinook card, I am not surprised because the Montana farming areas were economically decimated during the 1920s and 1930s. Moreover, 1932 and 1933 were the worst years of the Great Depression.

The average gate of California professional boxing shows were much higher in the 1920s than in the 1930s. While there were plenty of professional boxing shows taking place in California during the 1930s, the ticket prices had to be slashed dramatically in order to attract people to the boxing venues in the state. For instance for a regular boxing show staged at the Olympic Auditorium, a general admission ticket cost a dollar during the 1920s, but only twenty-five cents at one point during the 1930s. It also meant that a full house for a regular show at the Olympic Auditorium drew a gate about $18,000. during the 1920s, but only a little over $5,000. during the middle 1930s.

One also have to consider the fact that almost every California boxing venue had periods in which it didn't have boxing shows for at least several weeks during the 1930s. The most notable exception was the Hollywood Legion Stadium, which was the most successful and stable professional club uring the period by a considerable margin.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

According to a news item in the August 26, 1930 edition of Billings Gazette, Emile Sencio of Butte died in Dillon on August 24, 1930 from injuries sustained when he was knocked out in the tenth round during a bout with Wedge O'Leary which took place on August 23, 1930. An autopsy showed that Sencio sustained a fracture at the base of the skull.

Ironically, an exciting young Filipino bantamweight with the ring name of Clever Sencio had sustained fatal injuries in a hard-fought bout with Bud Taylor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin during 1926. In 1925, Clever Sencio had arrived in the United States as a replacement for the great Pancho Villa in the stable of Frank Churchill. Villa had died tragically due to an infected tooth soon after his bout with Jimmy McLarnin during July 1925. Like a number of other Filipino boxers who were active in the U.S. during the 1920s, Sencio was an "action" fighter who was extremely courageous. As a result, Sencio had quickly become extremely popular with boxing fans in the U.S. before his tragic end.

Looking in the Montana Death Records database on Ancestry.com, I could not find one Emile Sencio. But I did find one Celestino Cenit who was born about 1907 and died on August 24, 1930 in Beaverhead County, Montana. Dillon is the county seat of Beaverhead County.

In the Seattle Passengers List database on Ancestry.com, there is one "Celestine" (partially illegible) Cenit who was born on April 6, 1907 in San "Remego" (partially illegible), Philippine Islands. He arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on January 24, 1927 while traveling in steerage aboard the U.S.S. Empress of Asia starting in Hong Kong on January 6, 1927.

- Chuck Johnston

[Norm]

According to a news item in the August 26, 1930 edition of Billings Gazette, Emile Sencio of Butte died in Dillon on August 24, 1930 from injuries sustained when he was knocked out in the tenth round during a bout with Wedge O'Leary which took place on August 23, 1930. An autopsy showed that Sencio sustained a fracture at the base of the skull.

Looking in the Montana Death Records database on Ancestry.com, I could not find one Emile Sencio. But I did find one Celestino Cenit who was born about 1907 and died on August 24, 1930 in Beaverhead County, Montana. Dillon is the county seat of Beaverhead County.

In the Seattle Passengers List database on Ancestry.com, there is one "Celestine" (partially illegible) Cenit who was born on April 6, 1907 in San "Remego" (partially illegible), Philippine Islands. He arrived in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on January 24, 1927 while traveling in steerage aboard the U.S.S. Empress of Asia starting in Hong Kong on January 6, 1927.

- Chuck Johnston

Note about the O'Leary vs Sencio bout on Boxrec states Sencio had scored a 2nd round KO over O'Leary previously. Also, O'Leary's first name is listed as Wege rather than Wedge, I wonder if Wege was his ring name while Wedge his birth or legal name?
http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_ ... &cat=boxer

Also, Boxrec boxer listing shows Sencio's birth name to be Celestino Cenit and also shows April 6, 1907 birthdate, so I'd bet Celestine would be him, given the typo-land that historical documents can tend to be. Anyway, its neat research to put the details together.

I have a Physician Report for a card in Butte scheduled May 5, 1930 that includes Emile Sencio and Wege O'Leary among the 12 boxers examined for the card. It doesn't show the matches made, so I haven't been able to add it to the database. But I wonder if that is when the previous meeting between Sencio and O'Leary took place.

[Norm]

While Jack Kearns was far from being the most trustworthy individual in the world, Loy Molumby deserves a great deal of the blame in the financial debacle of the bout between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons. When you have a bout in a poor venue with some incompetent people involved in the promotion, the odds are that it is going to be a financial debacle even Kearns was the nicest individual in the world.

- Chuck Johnston

Attorney Loy J. Molumby, in Great Falls, was also the State Chairman of the American Legion. In his response, posted below, he responds in his capacity of the American Legion and represents the sentiment of the National Organization which publicly disconnected themselves from endorsement of the bout. Of course he soon became one of the promoters of the Dempsey - Gibbons bout in a private capacity. Definitely his inexperience in boxing was a detriment to the promotion.

[Norm]

(left to right) Chicago publicity man Fred Delaney, Manager Eddie Kane, Loy Mulumby and pilot Earl Vance when arriving in Shelby.

[Chuck1052]

Norm, I was the one who entered "Celestino Cenit" as the real name of Emile Sencio on the latter's BoxRec record. How I found the name of "Celestino Cenit" was when I typed in "Beaverhead County" and "1930" on the search engine of the Montana Death Records database. As a result, I found one Celestino Cenit who died on the same date and in the same county as Emile Sencio. Further research seems to indicate that Cenit was a Filipino like Sencio.

- Chuck Johnston

[Norm]

Norm, I was the one who entered "Celestino Cenit" as the real name of Emile Sencio on the latter's BoxRec record. How I found the name of "Celestino Cenit" was when I typed in "Beaverhead County" and "1930" on the search engine of the Montana Death Records database. As a result, I found one Celestino Cenit who died on the same date and in the same county as Emile Sencio. Further research seems to indicate that Cenit was a Filipino like Sencio.

- Chuck Johnston

Ah, ok, I should have known that you're more than aware of that.

[Chuck1052]

Norm, thanks for posting the remarkable letter of Loy Molumby. It is obvious that he was an not an admirer of Jack Johnson because of racist reasons or of Jack Dempsey because of the World War I draft avoidance allegations. But I was most astounded by the fact that Molumby or his secretary wrote a letter which would give any English teacher a heart attack. Wasn't Molumby an attorney? If so, the Montana bar admission standards must've been very low at the time.

- Chuck Johnston

[granberry]

Norm, thanks for posting the remarkable letter of Loy Molumby. It is obvious that he was an not an admirer of Jack Johnson because of racist reasons or of Jack Dempsey because of the World War I draft avoidance allegations. But I was most astounded by the fact that Molumby or his secretary wrote a letter which would give any English teacher a heart attack. Wasn't Molumby an attorney? If so, the Montana bar admission standards must've been very low at the time.

- Chuck Johnston

Did you ever hear Johnny Cochrane talk?

He couldn't pass a 4th grade grammar test.

[raylawpc]

Norm, thanks for posting the remarkable letter of Loy Molumby. It is obvious that he was an not an admirer of Jack Johnson because of racist reasons or of Jack Dempsey because of the World War I draft avoidance allegations. But I was most astounded by the fact that Molumby or his secretary wrote a letter which would give any English teacher a heart attack. Wasn't Molumby an attorney? If so, the Montana bar admission standards must've been very low at the time.

- Chuck Johnston

Chuck, what in the world do you have against a few run-on sentences? ;;-) ;;-)

[Chuck1052]

In fairness Loy Molumby, I found while looking at micro-film of the Great Falls Tribune from the 1920s that he was involved in the staging of the American Legion professional boxing cards in Great Falls, Montana starting about 1921, close to two years before the world heavyweight championship bout between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons took place in Shelby, Montana. But such cards were on a comparatively small scale with the average gate being only a few thousand dollars at best. In other words, Molumby was making a huge jump from staging small boxing cards to being involved in a boxing promotion of a world heavyweight championship bout, which he wasn't ready to do.

In the January 29, 1939 edition of the Helena Independent on the newspaper database of Ancestry.com, there is an obituary of Molumby, who died suddenly at the age of 47 in Choteau, Montana while attending court sessions. The cause of death was "attributed to a heart ailment."

The obituary did not mention anything about Molumby's involvement in the promotion of the bout between Dempsey and Gibbons, but it did say that Molumby played an important part in establishing the Veterans' Bureau in Helena, Montana and the Veterans' Hospital in Fort Harrison, Montana. It was mentioned that he made more trips as the State Commander of the American Legion on the behalf of veterans to Washington D.C. than anyone else in Montana. He was regarded as a "leading Great Falls attorney" and a prominent figure in Montana Republican Party circles.

Molumby was born on March 29, 1891 in Elkader, Iowa. While attending Minnesota State University, he starred on the football and track teams. Soon after graduating, Molumby settling in Great Falls to practice law.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in Seattle on November 1, 1917. While directing training in March Field, California during World War I, Molumby attained the rank of second lieutenant in the Air Pilot Service. He received an honorable discharge on January 3, 1919.

Note- It appears that there was an American Legion Post in Great Falls which was named after Molumby about 1940.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

In the U.S. Records database on Ancestry.com, there is a "Celestine Cruit" (almost illegible) who was born in the Philippines about 1907 and resided in Butte during 1930. According to the record, he was living at the same address as ten other men. Nine of the people living at the address were Filipinos who worked as copper miners, including "Celestine Cruit." The remaining two men were born in Missouri and North Dakota respectively, the former working as a salesman in a cigar store and the latter working as a "swamper" (almost illegible) in the copper mines.

Note- Emile Sencio was a boxer with a Filipino-like ring name who died of ring injuries in a bout which took place in Dillon, Montana during 1930. Since Montana had only about 290 residents who were born in the Philippines at the time, I was wondering how a boxer with the name of Emile Sencio happened die in Dillon during the same year. It does appear that the story of Emile Sencio or Celestino Cenit is quite compelling despite the fact that he was a prelim fighter with only four known professional bouts.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

In the U.S. Census Records database on Ancestry.com, there is one Thor Olson, 19 years of age and a native of Finland, who was living with his parents in Butte during 1930. Olson was listed as being a boxer.

In the Social Security Death Records database on Ancestry.com, there is one Thor Olson who was born on March 15, 1911 and died on May 9, 1989. His Social Security card was issued in Montana before 1951. There wasn't any last residence listed for Olson on the record.

In the Montana Death Records database on Ancestry.com, there is one William Quilter who was born about 1904 and died on November 3, 1940. In the U.S. Census Records database on Ancestry.com, there is one William Quilter, 26 years of age, who was living with his parents in Great Falls, Montana during 1930. Both Quilter and his father were listed as being cooks.

- Chuck Johnston

[granberry]

I see that Clever Sencio lost a DECISION in 10 rounds to Bud Taylor

and was found dead the next day IN HIS HOTEL ROOM.

Sencio only lost to Pancho Villa, Fidel LaBarba, and Taylor and one other fighter, Johnny Hill.

Villa, LaBarba and Taylor were unable to stop Sencio.

He lost decisions to each, including a 15-round decision to Pancho Villa for the flyweight title.

HERE is an excerpt from an article in Milwaukee.com

http://onmilwaukee.com/sports/articles/ ... encio.html
_________________________________________-

The fighter, born Innocencio Moldez, had come to the States eight months earlier to emulate countryman Pancho Villa, who'd won the world flyweight title in 1923. Three years later, Villa died from blood poisoning after he'd gone into the ring right after a tooth extraction. In his penultimate fight, Villa successfully defended his 112-pound title in Manila against Sencio, winning a 15-round decision.

Upon Villa's death, American manager Frank Churchill sent for Sencio. "He had the cleanest habits and most lovable nature of any fighter I ever knew," Churchill would later say of Sencio.

Churchill's partner, Bill Miller, called Sencio "the most lovable lad I ever knew, white or brown-skinned ... a smiling, cheerful, happy-go-lucky little fellow with the finest set of teeth I've ever seen on a human being."

Churchill said Sencio was 22, but later it came out that he was only 18. The lie was so he could be licensed to fight in states like Wisconsin, where 21 was then the minimum age for pro boxers.

One of the only five defeats Pancho Villa suffered in 93 fights was in 1923 to Indiana's Bud Taylor, "The Blond Terror of Terre Haute," at the Milwaukee Auditorium. In his 13th fight in America, Sencio met Taylor at the same venue. The date was April 19, 1926.

"Another mighty atom, tiniest ring gladiator in ring captivity, fired with the ambition to regain a title held by his countryman, the late Pancho Villa, goes on display at the Auditorium Monday night," wrote The Journal's Sam Levy about the 5-foot Sencio.

Six inches taller and more experienced, Taylor was the favorite, but Levy assured readers that "regardless of the result, cash customers will be thrilled by the latest Filipino tourist to seek American-made greenbacks."

They were. "For nine rounds, furious and torrid from each gong to the other, Sencio held Taylor on even terms," reported Levy the day after the fight. "His incessant punches left red blotches up and down the American's torso."

Warned as he waited to go out for the last round that he could lose, Taylor went all-out, catching Sencio with telling punches that had him reeling. "In Bud's last-round rally, there was a spring, an alertness, a snap and a marked ambition to destroy the little man from Manila," wrote Levy.

Sencio made it to the bell, but was in such bad shape from the battering he'd received that his trainer, Walter Eckwart, had to carry him back to his Auditorium dressing room. There he seemed to make a complete and impressive recovery.

Doctor Ernest Miller of the state boxing commission examined Sencio and marveled, "Anybody who can take a beating such as you did and have such perfect respiration and heart action must be in wonderful physical condition."

Eckwart took Sencio to his room at the Plankinton Hotel, rubbed him down and put him to bed. When Sencio complained of a bad headache, the trainer swaddled his head in cold towels. Sencio fell asleep and Eckwart left.

At 9 o'clock the next morning, a hotel employee who'd let himself into Sencio's room to wash the windows notified the desk that the fighter was still in bed and there was blood flowing from his mouth.

An ambulance took Sencio to Emergency Hospital on 24th and Wisconsin, but he had died several hours earlier from a cerebral hemorrhage, alone and 8,000 miles from home.

On the morning of April 21, there was a funeral service for Sencio at St. John's Cathedral. "He died a stranger in a strange land," said Father William E. Wright, "and in our hearts we think of those in a faraway land who will mourn for him. Only Monday night we saw him fight and put all that he had into that fight that he might win. Neither he nor you could realize that today his body would be resting in this casket, which cannot but impress upon us the shortness of this life."

The remains were shipped by train to Seattle, and then put aboard the steamer Empress of Russia for the month-long trip home.

"Poor little Sencio's body is on its way home," wrote Manning Vaughan. "They'll forget about him in a week. That's the way of the world."


CLEVER SENCIO

[Chuck1052]

You will get a great idea about how Clever Sencio took Los Angeles by storm if you read ringside reports of his two bouts with Fidel LaBarba. Both bouts took place at the then-new Olympic Auditorium, drawing packed houses (capacity- 10,400 at the time) and gates of about gates of about $19,000. and $32,000. respectively. While Sencio was an exciting fighter who was a favorite of the fans, it was apparent that he took a tremendous amount of punishment in his bouts, possibly an indicator of what was in the near future for him.

Pete Sarmiento, another Filipino fighter in Frank Churchill's stable, was regarded as one of the greatest action fighters at the time he was active during the 1920s. As a result, Sarmiento was in great demand among matchmakers in the United States.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

To get an idea of the impact of Filipino fighters in California, take a look at the records of Young Nationalista, Speedy Dado, Young Tommy, Pablo Dano, Small Montana, Ceferino Garcia and Little Dado. Keep in mind that I have mentioned only the top Filipino fighters who were active in California during the 1920s and 1930s. There were a staggering number of Filipino fighters at all ability levels who were active in California rings during that period of time.

One must not forget the young Filipino men who turned out in large numbers at California boxing venues to see Filipino boxers in action. The vast majority of such men migrated to mainland of the United States during the 1920s and were employed as stoop laborers in the agricultural fields, workers in the service industries and laborers in the Alaskan fisheries, mostly on the West Coast. In 1920, there were about 5700 Filipinos living on the mainland of the United States, about 3300 of them in California. Ten years later, there were about 45,000 Filipinos living on the mainland, about 30,000 them in California.

In 1930, the vast majority of the Filipinos on the mainland were males who were born during the period from 1900 to 1915. In fact, Filipino males outnumbered their female counterparts by a ratio of about 13-to-1. As a result, a large of this first wave of Filipinos would be remain unmarried during their lives, creating a large bachelor society similar to that of the Chinese men who migrated to the U.S. during the 19th Century.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

During the 1920s and 1930s, Filipinos living in California were known for being "clothes horses." On weekends, many of them would be wearing McIntosh suits when going out on the town. This is despite the fact that they often were toiling for very modest wages as "stoop laborers" in the agricultural fields or as workers in the service sector of the economy.

One also should keep in mind that the vast majority of the Filipinos in California were single young men at time, which meant that they usually didn't have families to support. This meant that they were more likely to have money to spend on items other than food and shelter. Besides wearing McIntosh suits, young Filipino men also were known for gambling at establishments and frequenting "taxi dance halls" in order to dance with women employed at such halls for ten cents a dance in California during the 1920s and 1930s.

Speedy Dado, a Filipino boxer who was active in California for many years, was known to be quite a "clothes horse." After seeing some photos of him wearing civilian clothes, I can believe such an assertion.

- Chuck Johnston

[Norm]

Referendum Measure No. 6 of June 1914 to be voted on Nov 3, 1914 to establish commission to regulate boxing and sparring in Montana. This led to the Inspector's Reports and Physician's Exams besides accounting for taxation of gate receipts and license fees of boxers and cornermen.

[Norm]

page 3 of 1914 referendum

[Norm]

The first construction material for the Shelby Arena arrive from Kalispell, MT, 1923

[Norm]

Shelby lumber men combined in furnishing the 1,000,300 ft. timber for the arena. Mike Collins (in center) and Loy Molumby stand with the driver on the first load of lumber to the arena site.

[Norm]

[Chuck1052]

Norm- There appears to have be quite a few good photographs of the construction of the arena where the bout between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons took in Shelby. Thanks for posting them.

- Chuck Johnston

[Chuck1052]

While visiting Great Falls three times from 1988 to 1997, I went to the local library to do some research on boxing in Montana during the 1920s. While looking the Great Falls Tribune on mico-film, I took notes, listing results of bouts on boxing cards which took place in Montana. In Great Falls, the American Legion was staging cards starting in early 1921 after a majority of the Montana voters cast their ballots during the November 1920 election in favor of a law permitting professional boxing in the state.

While doing the research, I noticed that there were a number of California-based boxers who had some bouts in Montana during the early 1920s, notably Earl France (also known as Young France), a lightweight from Los Angeles; Monk Fowler, a lightweight from New Orleans who was active in California rings during the late 1910 and early 1920s; and Salinas Jack Robinson, a lightweight/welterweight from San Francisco. There also were some boxers from Minnesota who had at least one bout in Montana at the time, notably Jimmy Delaney, Earl Blue, Dandy Dillon and Johnny Schauer.

There was an interesting incident involving France when he won a decision in a fifteen-round bout with Schauer at the Grand Theater in Great Falls on May 16, 1921. France weighed in at 138 3/4, which was thought to be over the contracted weight and that France had to pay $100. in a weight forfeit of Schauer, who weighed in under 136 pounds.

But it turned out France didn't have to pay the forfeit because his contract didn't have any weight clause. At the same time, Schauer's contract DID contain a weight clause, so the club had to pay him the forfeit. In light of what happened in the promotion of the bout between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons a couple of years later, I thought that the weight forfeit story involving France was an omen for things to come in Montana boxing. In addition to being heavily involved in staging boxing cards in Great Falls during the early 1920s, the American Legion played an important part in the promotion of the Dempsey-Gibbons bout.

- Chuck Johnston