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Show FORTY-SEVEN -YEAR -OLD, 210-pound 210-pound hard-rock Jack Dempscy was putting In another busy day. Now a lieutenant In the coast guard at Manhattan Beach, the ex-heavyweight champion is directing the conditioning of several thousand men, who need this conditioning badly. , I spent the day with Lieutenant Jack, and I've never seen a busier man at work. From seven-thirty In the morning until nightfall he and his staff of Instructors handle 3,000 recruits every day. The wind was whipping In from the ocean as Jack moved from group to group, speeding up their work, giving out encouragement, helping his assistants on the Job. "They are great fellows," Jack said, "but they need this badly. More than anyone might believe. Do you know that out of 3,000 men here more than 2,500 never boxed, wrestled, or played any game to speak of? You'd be surprised how many couldn't even chin themselves once Just once. When they came here they didn't know how to hold their hands nor how to stand. Look at 'em now." The Dempscy Program It was put up to Dempsey to work out this program and he's done a great Job. We moved from group . to group 100 fighters here, 100 wrestling close by, a Jujltsu class, a calisthenics class. "What'a this?" I asked Jack. "That's our kicking squad," he said. "We teach 'em how to kick y t tt '"t Mf ww " LIEUTENANT DEMPSEY the enemy and how to keep from being kicked. "Nothing fancy here. It's all rough-and-ready, hard work, toughening tough-ening up. No frills. And they eat it up. These kids are great. They average around 22 years and most of them never had a chance for any form of athletics before. They find out what it docs for them In just a few weeks. Building Confidence ' "What we are working on beyond fitness," Jack said, "is speed and poise. But more than all, confidence In themselves. "When they first come here they have no confidence at all. In about three weeks they are different fel- lnw hpiiria-iirv rnmp-nnri.trv-tn. take-me fellows." Jack moves around "Hey, keep punching keep punching keep those hands up what's the trouble one In the stomach? Well, take a little rest Then go and get him." You would be more than surprised to see the difference between first-week first-week classes and fourth-week classes. The improvement In speed, skill, poise, . toughness and stamina is amazing. Each group gets two hours a day of this in addition to coast guard duties, and that leaves little time for any resting spots. Putting in eight or nine hours a day, Dempsey at 210 looks as fit as he did at Mau-. Mau-. mee Bay 23 years ago. As fast? That's something else that belongs only to youth. About Louis and Conn I asked Jack what he thought about the heavyweight situation. "After another year in the army," Dempsey said, "neither Louis nor Conn can expect to be near the old fighting form. Louis isn't a kid any longer. A year's layoff, or a longer layoff, is sure to tell heavily on his speed, his timing and his reflexes. "I laid off at times too long myself. my-self. I know what it means to see a punch coming, but seeing it too late or rather, not being able to call on my reflexes in time is something some-thing else. "If Louis and Conn remain in the army two years, it will be a miracle mira-cle if either ever can come back to championship form. Both are great fighters and great fellows. But army training is entirely different from the speed and the sharpness you need in the ring. , "And there's that thing they call co-ordination. After a long layoff they just don't gel any more there' no team play between them. "Joe.and Billy may be better than anything left after the war, but they won't be the Louis and the Conn we taw in their big fight." |