Pat McCafferty

Name: Pat McCafferty
Alias: Winnett Dean McCaffery
Birth Name: Winnett Dean McCafferty
Hometown: Saint Louis, Missouri, USA
Birthplace: Topeka, Kansas, USA
Died: 1977-02-00 (Age:51)
Pro Boxer: Record

Pat McCafferty was a southpaw who earned his reputation while serving four years in the Navy during World War II. He served on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, which engaged in 12 major sea battles of the war, and was light-heavyweight champion of the U.S. Navy and undefeated as an amateur. He returned to Topeka after he was discharged in 1946 and asked Max Yeargain, a local boxing promoter, if he could have a spot on his next card, according to Capital-Journal news stories.

McCafferty inaugurated his professional career as a light-heavyweight on May 7, 1946, knocking out Joe Feathers in the first round on a card in Los Angeles. He followed with five more victories in Memphis and Tulsa. "He fought often and well and was a big drawing card in his many Topeka appearances," the newspaper said. McCafferty was ranked as high as third nationally in his class in 1948 when he was only 22. [1]

On March 11, 1950, McCafferty was suspended for one year by the National Boxing Association for "refusal to honor signed contracts with the Disabled American Veterans of Wichita, Kas., for a ten-round exhibition; for refusal to honor the contract after having reported to the auditorium after offering himself for physical examination, and after his opponent had appeared in the ring for the contest." McCafferty told sportswriters he asked for payment in advance but was refused. [2]

"During the layoff, he was arrested and sent to the Federal Reformatory at Terre Haute, Ind., and served 19 months after being convicted of passing counterfeit money," newspaper accounts reported. "Upon his discharge in 1952, he returned to Topeka and asserted he had turned a new leaf, but within 12 hours he was arrested for assaulting an Air Force sergeant from Forbes Air Force Base at a Topeka night spot and never again donned the gloves."

In 1956, Watson Jones testified that he "took a dive" against McCafferty in their 1949 bout at the request of his manager Babe McCoy. [3]

In March of 1962, McCafferty was shot twice while in a fight with a Missouri state highway patrolman, who was arresting the boxer on a charge of forcibly raping a 16-year-old girl. According to the report, Trooper Lee Stephens, 29, ordered McCafferty and L.D. Morris, 30, out of their car at gunpoint and made them lean against the car, spreadeagled, while he waited for other officers to arrive.

Roger Jones, 16, and Donald Day, 17, drove up and Day offered to handcuff McCafferty. While Day was applying the cuffs, McCafferty knocked him against Stephens and grabbed the officer from behind and went for his gun. Jones jumped on McCafferty's back, and as the three struggled, Stephens shot McCafferty in the abdomen and leg. For his actions, young Jones was awarded the bronze Carnegie Medal for heroism and given $500 from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. McCafferty later had to have his right leg amputated.

One report indicated McCafferty, apparently after prison, moved to Texas where he died in the early 1980s. [4] [5]