Fritz Holland
Name: Fritz Holland
Alias: Fred Creel
Hometown: Spokane, Washington, USA
Birthplace: Ripley, West Virginia, USA
Died: 1952-10-01 (Age:65)
Height: 179cm
Reach: 187cm
Referee: Record
Pro Boxer: Record
Managers: Cisco Bullivant [1][2]; Jimmy Powell [3]
Fritz Holland, the "Flying Dutchman," started his boxing career under his birth name of Fred Creel as a long-time and successful member, instructor, and eventual Asst. Director of the Spokane Amateur Athletic Club in Spokane, Washington, during the very early 1900s. [4]
He embarked on a professional boxing career around February 1910. [5] [6][7] [8][9]. He trained with Victor McLaglen, the future Oscar-winning actor. [10]. By later that year, Holland was headquartered in Rossland, British Columbia. [11][12]
Not only was he a talented boxer, but he had been a vaudeville entertainer and musician--playing every instrument in band and orchestra. He was also a boxing manager, for Joe Reager.
From the March 16, 1916 Tacoma Daily News (Tacoma, WA, USA), in the article "How Fritz Holland Started at Boxing":
- His mother was Irish, and her maiden name was Maria Ellord. His father's parents were both English.
- His name was Herbert Creel, a Methodist minister. Fritz Holland's true name was Fred Creel. He originally was going to become a minister, too. His father was transferred to Washington state when Fred was 12-years-old.
- His first bout was when he was 13-years-old. Reportedly this occurred Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 22?). He won a 15-rounder against Earl Phillips, but Holland did not consider this a professional bout. After graduating from high school, he was sent to Daly's Military Academy in California for three years. He continued boxing there, then returned to Spokane. He turned professional in 1910 and went to San Francisco. [BoxRec note: According to the Feb. 9, 1910 Spokane Press, Holland had just turned professional. [13]. His Jan. 20th KO win over Jim McPherson appears to have an exhibition, however. [14][15]]
- He chose the name Fritz Holland, due to his parents' objections to his boxing. Jimmy Cassell, the sporting editor for the Spokane Spokeman-Review, who was assisting in a boxing tournament that Creel was entering, suggested--as Clarence English and Frank Ireland were entered, and there were quite a number of Hollanders in the Spokane area--that Creel adopt the name of Fritz Holland. Holland ultimately won the tourney. His parents eventually withdrew their objections to his boxing. (BoxRec note: he adopted the name Jan. 2, 1910: [16].)
By 1921 he was living in Wellington, New Zealand, where he had opened a gym. [17]