BrocktonBlockbuster49 wrote: ↑08 Oct 2008, 10:43
This is the best elmer ray article you will ever see written at eastside boxing by the fabulous poster marcianofrazier, one of the most knowledgable men on the era i have ever spoken too....thank him for this.
Part 1:
Elmer Ray is an intriguing fighter, and one on whom information is scarce. He had an outstanding record, but has received very little media coverage, and there is no surviving film of any of his fights. In addition, much of his career, particularly early on, is oddly mysterious and difficult to sort through. This has all made me exceedingly curious, and in recent months, I've spent a fair deal of time sifting for information on him, largely from old magazine and newspaper accounts. I wanted to share some of my more interesting findings here, and discuss the confusing points which still remain.
Here's some background on Ray:
In the years before he became a famous professional boxer, he rose to prominence in the southern battle royale circuit- battle royales being a fight game from that time period in which 10 competitors would be put into the ring with each other and have an "all-against-all" throw-down until only one was left. Ray won 61 battle royales and supposedly once knocked out nine opponents with one hand behind his back during a match in New Orleans, earning himself the title "King of the Battle Royale." According to the Traverse City Eagle, March 11, 1946,
"Ray had a system that let him win 61 of those free-for-alls. In these bouts, the usual order is for the little guys to gang up on the biggest man and down the batting order in that manner. Elmer simply dropped to the floor when the bell sounded, crawled to a corner, placed his back against the ropes and took the whole gang as it came at him."
He also had a reputation as an alligator wrestler. When he held camp near his home town in Florida, he would scare his manager to death by going out into the mud and wrestling 'gators, often to entertain tourists. In fact, he was so comfortable around them that he was known to casually play with them and let them eat out of his hand.
All-in-all, I think the nickname "Violent" fits him just fine. Interesting side note- after WWII, Ray's rather outspoken and creative manager, Tommy O'Loughlin, apparently tried to rechristen him "Elmer 'Atomic' Ray," but it didn't stick.
Now, on to the confusing parts:
First, His Age and Early Record
Ray is listed on boxrec as having been born in March 10th, 1910, but elsewhere on the internet is listed as having been born in October, and, in one newspaper account I've seen, is said to have been born in May. But even odder is the age discrepancy; some accounts have him born in 1910 and hence being in his late 30s at the time of all of his major fights, but others have him at seven years younger. Accounts of the Charles fights disagree on whether he was 31 or 38 at the time of the fights! I've seen one other article which clarifies that Ray himself was not sure how old he was, but even then, a seven year discrepancy in age is hard to account for.
Now, boxrec used to list Ray as having had a series of fights in the late '20s, before taking an inexplicable six-year layoff and then coming back in 1936. However, I have seen it said that the '20s fights were considered "suspect," and they have now been removed from his boxrec record. Still further, I've seen at least one article which specifically describes Ray as having taken up boxing in 1936. If the '20s fights did happen, then the age issue is more or less resolved, since he would've had to have been having professional heavyweight fights when he was 10 years old in order for the younger age to be true, but if they are spurious (which now seems likely), then the younger age actually fits much better with the timeline of his career in a lot of ways, since that would make Ray 19 when he turned pro in 1936 (a typical age for turning professional) and would have him peaking in his mid-late twenties (also typical) before starting to decline in his early thirties, instead of turning pro at 16, having a few fights and then being inactive for six years, coming back in his late twenties and then finally rising to the top of the division in his late thirties, which would be extremely unusual in that era, particularly for a swarming-style fighter like Ray. In addition, I've been able to find no evidence anywhere of Ray dying, and if he's lived to the present day, a younger birth date seems more likely.
The answer to this question could change the way one would look at Ray's record in the late '30s through early '40s. If he was a 19-to-20-year old who probably wasn't completely physically mature and had no prior one-on-one boxing experience, then his results in those years are cast in a considerably different light than if he was an older guy who had had some pro boxing matches a few years back and gone on a layoff.
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The Allegations That He Was Avoided
This one is particularly interesting. Here are some quotes from contemporary newspaper accounts:
"Elmer (Violent) Ray has the extraordinary distinction of being the only man Joe Louis wouldn't even meet in an exhibition. Louis boxed Dan Merritt of Cleveland instead, and stood watching as Ray, a crowding weaver and bobber with the speed of a swift middleweight, ironed out Claudio Villar, a Spaniard, in 29 seconds flat.”
"Arturo Godoy and Tami Mauriello rejected guarantees to square off with Ray at Madison square Garden, Lee Oma the Violent One's share of the swag in addition to his own. Joe Baksi and Lou Nova refused. Melio Bettina will have nothing to do with the Hastings Hammerer. Jimmy Bivins turned down the chance to march front and center with him in Los Angeles, where the terror recorded 19 knockouts in a row. The current Joe Walcott will have no truck with him in Baltimore... Currently he is drawing and at Miami's Negro ball yard, Dorsey Park, while putting the slug on such as Dan Merritt and Al Patterson, the latter a slatty character out of Pittsburgh. "It's better than wrestlingalligators and fighting nine guys at once," beams Violent Ray."
-The Coshocton Tribune, March 8, 1946
"None of the near-name heavies wants any part of Ray, who in a New Orleans battle royal knocked out nine opponents with one hand tied behind his back."
"...in doing so he made of Elmer Ray a modern Sam Langford. You remember the Boston Tar Baby. He was a guy heavyweight champion Jack Johnson dodged and dodged during the six years he held the title some three decades ago. Langford tried desperately to get a bout with the champ, but Johnson never would have a part of him. Louis is that way with Ray. It’s silly to say that Louis, the man who has made so many valiant defenses of the crown, is afraid of Elmer. But it is a fact that he won’t fight the burley puncher from Hastings, Florida."
-Middlesboro Daily News, July 26, 1947
It seems that the white contenders ducked Ray like the plague; about the only one who got in with him was Savold, and he was knocked out cold as a doorknob in two rounds. Louis himself even refused to spar with Ray or fight him in an exhibition, claiming that Ray "didn't know how to fight an exhibition" and one of them was liable to get hurt, and in spite of Ray compiling a 50 fight winning streak that included a crushing blow-out over staple top 10 Savold and a decision over top-five Walcott that brought him to #1 contender, he never received a title shot. It is worth pointing out, though, that Ray was only #1 contender for about three months before he was knocked off his pedestal by Walcott, and then he was #2 again for about a year-and-a-half afterwards. Hence, I don't think comparing this with a Harry Wills or Sam Langford-type situation in terms of title chances is really merited.
