Jack Carroll

[Rise Above]

Im writing a biography of sorts on Jack Carroll and would love to hear from anyone who may have known him or who might be able to share some first hand accounts or stories etc.

[Tinnie]

Thats great to hear Rise Above! Good Luck!

Did you end up finding much footage mate?

Carroll had his own boxing gym in Melbourne for a time from memory.... so maybe there are some old pugs still floating about who knew Jack personally....

.....i read some articles online some time back.... unfortunately cant help with anything first hand....

Kepp up the good work... keep us updated

[Rise Above]

Havent found much footage unfortunately but still on the search. Only seen whats on the Thats Boxing dvd and some footage of his fight against Wes Ramey plus footage of one other unknown fight.

Ive already spent countless hours searching through old newspapers for accounts of his fights and have a few thousand words down but Im thinking this will be something that takes me quite sometime to put together.

[Beltane]

If you could find out if there were archives of the late Ray Mitchell, a renowned boxing historian, there could be some good information there about Jack.

[Rise Above]

Thanks Beltane. I'll be sure to look into that.

[Tinnie]

Havent found much footage unfortunately but still on the search. Only seen whats on the Thats Boxing dvd and some footage of his fight against Wes Ramey plus footage of one other unknown fight.

Ive already spent countless hours searching through old newspapers for accounts of his fights and have a few thousand words down but Im thinking this will be something that takes me quite sometime to put together.

Take your time mate.

Its a helluva lot of work because in essence your researching dozens of fighters.... not just one. I've thought a coupla times about trying something similar. Trying to contact some historians could be very beneficial, not only for information but also pointing you in the right direction for your research... Arnold Thomas and Michael Clarke are both Victorian based.... they may be worth contacting....

....Those ancestry sites can be very good too... i've come across info of other boxers due to relatives reseaching their ancestry....

If you could find out if there were archives of the late Ray Mitchell, a renowned boxing historian, there could be some good information there about Jack.

He apparently wrote a bio on Freddie Dawson which was never released.... would love to have that see the light of day!

[Beltane]

The Australian Biography series entry on Jack Carroll: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hardwic ... rnest-6560 does have a small and limited bibliography listed, which may be of some value, if the items can be found:

- J. Pollard, The Ampol Book of Australian Sporting Records (Syd, 1968)
- P. Corris, Lords of the Ring (Syd, 1980)
- People (Sydney), 22 Apr 1953
- Sporting Globe, 11 Apr 1928

[Rise Above]

Havent found much footage unfortunately but still on the search. Only seen whats on the Thats Boxing dvd and some footage of his fight against Wes Ramey plus footage of one other unknown fight.

Ive already spent countless hours searching through old newspapers for accounts of his fights and have a few thousand words down but Im thinking this will be something that takes me quite sometime to put together.

Take your time mate.

Its a helluva lot of work because in essence your researching dozens of fighters.... not just one. I've thought a coupla times about trying something similar. Trying to contact some historians could be very beneficial, not only for information but also pointing you in the right direction for your research... Arnold Thomas and Michael Clarke are both Victorian based.... they may be worth contacting....

....Those ancestry sites can be very good too... i've come across info of other boxers due to relatives reseaching their ancestry....

If you could find out if there were archives of the late Ray Mitchell, a renowned boxing historian, there could be some good information there about Jack.

He apparently wrote a bio on Freddie Dawson which was never released.... would love to have that see the light of day!

I work my 40 hours a week and have two little ones so its definitely a part time project and its time consuming but learning a lot about the man and his career so far and really enjoying the research funnily enough.

Would love to get my hands on that Dawson bio myself!

[Rise Above]

The Australian Biography series entry on Jack Carroll: http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/hardwic ... rnest-6560 does have a small and limited bibliography listed, which may be of some value, if the items can be found:

- J. Pollard, The Ampol Book of Australian Sporting Records (Syd, 1968)
- P. Corris, Lords of the Ring (Syd, 1980)
- People (Sydney), 22 Apr 1953
- Sporting Globe, 11 Apr 1928

Ive chased up a copy of the Ampol Sporting Records book as I'd seen that bibliography myself when researching. Will look into the other sources too. Thanks for the input mate!

[bollox]

It may be worth asking here.... https://www.facebook.com/groups/486572128101198/

Bit of a longshot but it can't hurt

[Rise Above]

Just got off the phone with Jack Carroll's daughter. She has a heap of information that she is happy to share with me and I'll be talking to her again in Monday.

[Grant]

"Ampol book of Australian sporting records" bought back so many memories :)

[Rise Above]

An update for anyone thats interested. Have completed three chapters, about 15 odd pages. Boxing historian John Hogg has been an absolute trove of info for me and thanks to his research Carroll's Boxrec record has been updated.

At present doing a heap of research into the Australian welterweight title and its origins, lineage etc. for a chapter on the title and Jack's winning of it. Fun fact, Otto Cribb, one of the earliest known Aussie welterweight champs fought in San Francisco as the main event where a young hall of famer Abe Attell had his pro debut on the same card. Great what you can find in old newspapers!

Have been in contact with Jack's daughter several times and shes been great to talk to regarding Carroll's personal life post boxing but it seems he was a very unassuming and humble man who rarely spoke of his boxing exploits. Ive even managed to tell her things she didnt know about his days in the ring! Its a real insight into what kind of man he was. A family man, a grounded man despite the praise that was heaped on him while fighting. Also shows how he was happy to fall into obscurity as he got older, which is why he is relatively unknown these days. He still holds the record for biggest crowd involving an Aussie boxer in this country some 80 odd years after the fact!

Its amazing to read how much of a big deal Carroll was in the mid to late 1930's. He was the biggest thing in Aussie sports, bigger than Don Bradman and I read somewhere that Don requested to meet Jack, there's even a photo floating around of the two together online.

Only just scratching the surface but really enjoying what Im discovering so far.

Hope there isnt too many typos, Ive had a few cans tonight haha.

[grevan]

Fantastic subject, one of Australia's greatest and very, very underrated.

In 1936 he was ranked the no. 1 contender for Barney Ross's welterweight title by Ring Magazine.

Good luck with it, would love to read it some day.

[Rise Above]

Fantastic subject, one of Australia's greatest and very, very underrated.

In 1936 he was ranked the no. 1 contender for Barney Ross's welterweight title by Ring Magazine.

Good luck with it, would love to read it some day.

Thanks for the reply grevan. Ive found plenty of big names from that time who were of the opinion that Carroll would have beaten Ross too.

[Rise Above]

Also, if anyone has any Carroll memorabilia at all, Im very interested in buying it from you!