Show r j. j CAIN D DT P CE T YEAR SEVEN j SEVEN YEAR OLD I pound rock hard-rock Jack Dempsey was putting in another busy day Now a lieutenant in the coast guard at Manhattan Beach the heavy ex weight champion Is directing the conditioning of several thousand men who need this conditioning badly I spent the day with Lieutenant Jack and Ive I've never seen a busier man at work From thirty seven In Inthe Inthe inthe the morning until nightfall he And his staff stall of instructors handle I 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 men here more than 2500 never boxed wrestled or played any game to speak of You'd be surprised how many couldn't even chin themselves once just once just once When they came here they didn't know how to hold their hands nor hands nor how to stand Look at em now The Dempsey Program It was put up to Dempsey to work workout workout workout out this program and hes he's done a great job We moved from group to group fighters here wrestling close by a jujitsu class a calisthenics class this I 1 asked Jack our kicking squad he said We teach em how to kick C rp 4 i to Y 4 F a a s a 2 E e ti 4 p LIEUTENANT N NT DEMPSEY the enemy and how to keep from being kicked Nothing fancy lancy here Its It's all rough-and-ready rough hard work toughening toughening tough 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 does for them in just a afew afew afew 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 a are different fellows fellows fel fel- lows heads up up come try come and take-me take fellows Jack moves around around Hey Hey keep punching keep punching keep those hands u up what's up-what's what's the trouble one 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 first- week classes and week 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 looks as fit as he did at Maumee Maumee Maumee Mau- Mau mee Bay 23 years ago As fast That's something else that belongs only to youth About Louis and Conn ConnI I asked Jack what he thought I about the heavyweight situation After another year in the army I Dempsey said neither Louis nor Conn can expect to be near the old fighting form Louis isn't a kid any longer A years year's layoff or a longer layoff Is sure to tell heavily on his bis speed his timing liming and his reflexes I laid off oil at times too long my my- self I 1 know what it means to see seea a punch coming but seeing it too toolate late late or or rather not being able to call on my reflexes in time time time-is is something something something some some- thing else If It Louis and Conn remain in the army anny two years it will be a miracle miracle miracle mira mira- cle U it 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 theres there's that thing they call cal co After a long layoff they Just dont don't gel any more more theres there's theres no team play between them Joe and Billy may be better than anything left after the war but they wont won't be the Louis and the Conn we saw In their big fight |