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Trivia Quiz # Whatever

Posted: 06 Oct 2003, 03:28
by Ric
What 23-year-old boxer died sky-diving?

Posted: 09 Oct 2003, 14:23
by steve689
Go on then Ric what's the answer?

Posted: 09 Oct 2003, 15:36
by Tyson KTFO 3 Times
steve689 wrote:Go on then Ric what's the answer?
WOW is this a first.

Living legend Steve689 on BOTP?

Posted: 09 Oct 2003, 22:19
by Ric
Hint: He was a 23-year-old deaf-mute.

Posted: 09 Oct 2003, 23:04
by Broncano
Eugene Hairston?

Posted: 10 Oct 2003, 01:11
by Jaclem
D'Agata was a deaf mute...but he didn't die that young...i'm not certain he's dead even now. hairston was never a champion. liston was not a deaf mute...and was older than 23 ...oops...missed the word "sky."

Posted: 10 Oct 2003, 09:52
by Broncano
Jaclem wrote:. liston was not a deaf mute...and was older than 23 ...oops...missed the word "sky."
:lol: :lol:

The question didn't say champ but 23 year old boxer. Thats why my guess was Hairston but now I remember reading somewhere that he was a ref after retirement so maybe its not him.

A deaf mute ref makes as much sense to me as a boxer sky diving, but what do I know...right?

Posted: 10 Oct 2003, 11:46
by Ric
Hint #2: Remember a common politically incorrect nickname for mutes in the old days, and place the correct answer upon the table, amigos. (Also, please do not be misled by the official definition of sky-diving: performing acrobatics in free fall before pulling the ripcord of a parachute. This boxer was actually parachuting: descending by means of a parachute, although I understand that he wanted to drop quite a ways before pulling the ripcord.)

Posted: 10 Oct 2003, 14:41
by Jaclem
still don't know who this is....but guessing his problem may hve been he couildn't yell "GERONIMOOOOOOOooooooooo....."

Posted: 10 Oct 2003, 22:59
by Ric
Hint # 3: He fought in a world title bout in the late 1920s.

Posted: 12 Oct 2003, 13:01
by Ric
Hint #4: When this boxer fought Fidel LaBarba's former Olympic Games team-mate, Jack Dempsey was the referee.

Posted: 13 Oct 2003, 09:51
by steve689
COME ON!! Tell us the answer Ric :evil: :D

Posted: 13 Oct 2003, 09:59
by Broncano
One more hint, Ric. If we don't get it then you can put us all out of our misery.

Posted: 13 Oct 2003, 10:41
by Ric
Ta dah!

"Per many day-after newspapers, on Feb. 24, 1930, Mahan went parachuting once again -- in the hope that he could "cure" his deafness.
(After previous parachuting falls, he had regained his hearing for a few hours at a time, papers had reported.)
At Mills Field near San Francisco, Mahan boarded a plane piloted by Colonel Harry Abbott, inventor of the so-called "fool proof" parachute.
At 3,200 feet Mahan jumped from the plane.
But both the pilot and the main parachutes failed to fully open.
He fell into some mudflats below and was killed.
It was soon after determined that the shroud lines of the parachute had become entwined about one of his heels soon after he jumped."

Nice going, Terap! :wink:

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=050742

Posted: 13 Oct 2003, 10:44
by Broncano
Yeah, Yeah..nice going.
:evil:

Posted: 13 Oct 2003, 11:08
by Ric
I first found mention of Mahan's death in the Tacoma News Tribune.
Then I went to the San Francisco Chronicle for the details. The SFC had a photo of Fred, his manager, and the airplane pilot.
I wonder of this photo, in Mahan's BoxRec bio, was also taken on the day of his death:
http://www.sports.nd.edu/exhibits/winke ... -22-88.jpg

BTW: Can you name another deaf-mute of that era who successfully gained speech and hearing, and then went on to become a World Champion?

What Former Deaf-Mute Became a Boxing World Champion?

Posted: 17 Oct 2003, 09:28
by Ric
OK, Terap. Some time has now passed. Can you, or anyone, name the former deaf-mute who went on to become a boxing world champion?

Posted: 17 Oct 2003, 10:26
by Ric
He was from New York. :wink:

Posted: 17 Oct 2003, 18:45
by Ric
Then choose one :wink:

Posted: 17 Oct 2003, 19:53
by wsbuf
I was going to say Mushy before last hint. So thats my guess. I had read about this before. Darn if I can't remember who. :cry:

Posted: 18 Oct 2003, 00:25
by Jaclem
the question refers to a "former deaf mute". does that mean he wasn'ty a deaf mute any more? I have no idea who this is, but I'm more interested in his cure than his name.


ezzard charles knocked out two fighters who if not totally deaf and mute were hearing impaired.....fitzie Fitzpatrick,a california light heavyweight and heavyweight walter hafer. he had to get off the floor to kayo the first one.

(0nce again demonstrating that I can get a mention of ezzard charles into a thread that is seemingly unrelated in any way.)

Was marciano deaf? He seemed to have a great difficulty in hearing the bell ending the round.

(ditto for marciano.)

Posted: 18 Oct 2003, 10:45
by Ric
You are correct, sir.
According to one newspaper account during his fighting days, he was born a deaf-mute to French and German parents, but the scarlet fever story is probably more accurate.
From his BoxRec bio, which is based upon that contemporary newspaper account, when he was 18, while working as an instructor at a Westchester County institution for deaf-mutes, Berlenbach went to the aid of a boy whose kite had become entangled in an electric wire 12 feet above the ground.
Climbing a pole, he released the kite, but came in contact with the wire, received a shock, and fell to the ground.
Those who came to his rescue feared him dead.
First aid revived him.
When he came to, he immediately found that he had normal hearing.
Subsequent treatment developed his speech.
He became a wrestler and won the Middleweight Gold at the 1920 Antwerp Olympic Games. Then he took to boxing.