Red Applegate

Name: Willis Applegate
Alias: Red Applegate
Birth Name: Willis Applegate
Hometown: Montclair, New Jersey, USA
Died: 1965-08-01 (Age:43)
Pro Boxer: Record

Obituary

Willis "Red" Applegate died in 1965.

THE GRIM PARADE - The Ring, December, 1965 - by Jersey Jones

"The news reached us too late for last month's issue of The Ring, but with the passing of Willis (Red) Applegate of Montclair, NJ, boxing lost one of the most accomplished all-around athletes it has known.

We wouldn't know Applegate's age when he died, but it couldn't have been much more than 44 or so.

At Montclair High School, Red starred in football and baseball, and after graduation he became a member of the Newark Eagles, one of the top teams then campaigning in the major Negro baseball leagues. When he tried his hands at professional boxing, he did very well for a while, but his ring career was comparatively brief and he was still a young man when he called it quits.

One of Applegate's best performances was to go the ten-round route with Rocky Marciano in Providence a year before the Brockton Blockbuster became world heavyweight champion.

Red figured in an unusual development at the old outdoor Queensboro Arena in 1948. He and Big Bill Weinberg were listed for ten rounds, but by the third stanza it was raining so heavily the bout was halted and the remaining seven sessions fought the following evening. The more experienced Weinberg received the decision.

Aside from Marciano and Weinberg, the best fighters Applegate tangled with were Lee Oma, Bill Gilliam, Gus Dorazio, Blackjack Billy Fox, and Gene Jones".