Nonpareil Jack Dempsey
Name: Jack Dempsey
Alias: The Nonpareil
Birth Name: John Edward Kelly
Hometown: Williamsburg, New York, USA
Birthplace: Curran, Ireland
Died: 1895-11-02 (Age:32)
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 173cm
Referee: Record
Pro Boxer: Record
Division: Middleweight
From the May 20, 1909 Seattle Daily Times (Seattle, WA, USA):
- JACK DEMPSEY'S RIGHT NAME
- It was Charley Kelly, States Charley White in Fanning Bee
- Charley White, famous as a referee, sprung one on the New York "fans" recently that was a surprise. He was telling about some of old Jack Dempsey's fights. "Great fighter, that fellow," White went on, "as great a ring general and as heady a fighter as ever lived. He won more than one contest when he was whipped, simply because he used brains and outgeneraled the other fellow. Did you know that his name was Kelly, and not Dempsey, at all? Well, it was. I know a lot of people will be surprised at that, but I know what I am talking about."
- And that will surprise a lot of people. The name Dempsey will live as long as they make boxing gloves, but to think that wasn't really his name--yes, Charley, that is a surprise. He switched one Irish name for another, but he certainly made "Dempsey" stand up.
(End of Seattle Daily Times article)
BoxRec Note: The Jack Dempsey name would be adopted by countless boxers to come afterward.
Dempsey was buried in Portland, Oregon, USA, in an unmarked grave. According to the March 13, 1909 Tacoma Daily Times (Tacoma, WA, USA), M. J. Brady, Dempsey's father-in-law, refused to permit former World Champion John L. Sullivan and John S. Barnes to raise funds to erect a monument over Dempsey's grave. The family believed that the four-foot marble shaft was a sufficient memorial. The matter was thus dropped.
Professional record
- 1 opponent (1 by KO) beaten for the World Middleweight Title.