Show PEAKING of EM vm 4 by GEORGE A BARC L AY ex heavyweight champions now ten in number F THE alumni chapter of ex IF heavyweight champions of the world were assembled under one top ten members would answer here to the roll call one or two of them would be grizzly and doddering several would be well off financially and perhaps a couple might be called wealthy one would be down and out three of them would tell you they were still active in this fighting game never before in history probably have there been so many living ex heavyweight champions can you name these fighters figl aiters well never mind here they are james J jeffries jack johnson jess willard jack dempsey gene tunney max jack sharkey primo carnera camera max baer and jim braddock jeff lives in comfort jeffries who won the championship by beating the great bob fitzsimmons at coney island in 1899 lives in modest circumstances out on the pacific coast he made the mistake of trying to come back against jac jack k johnson in 1910 after officially 4 retiring for t want of competition in 1905 L jack johnson regarded by many as jack one of the greatest dempsey fighters of the lot is just about getting by financially jess willard first of the crop to make size a championship qualification is like jeff living in comfortable for table circumstances on the west coast besides his size willard had a good right hand to recommend him but it good enough the day he met young jack dempsey jack dempsey who inaugurated the golden days of million dollar doliar purses abetted by the late tex rickard and his manager jack kearns is keeping himself active and prosperous as the proprietor of a new york restaurant constantly patronized by sports celebrities and tourists ile he occasionally goes into the ring as a referee his conqueror gene tunney last of the great heavyweights heavy weights and the only one who ever stayed retired after he had scaled the heights is wealthy second raters rule when tunney retired a crowd of second raters scrambled for the crown one of them jack sharkey was unpredictable at times he looked great at other times he looked awful but he collected benough r enough of the worlds goods in his ring career to be financially independent he was beaten by max in a bout in 1930 which was generally considered to have resulted in the election of a successor to gene tunney and in turn licked in 1932 now at the age of thirty two primo carnera camera the clodhopper who was imported from italy and given a first class exploitation by experts is the most pathetic case among all the ex heavyweight champions shattered in health he fie is back in his native 1 land practically 14 without funds carnera like willard went in tor for size in a big way but he had nothing at all but primo size and a fair carnera camera amount of speed to recommend h i m carnera camera w was as awarded the championship pion ship in a fight with ta in 1933 max baer who has been described as uie the ex champion who could fight but has been active in the ring within the last year the last member to join the ex heavyweight champions society was and Is the quietest of the lot iles hes jim braddock who came back from the ranks of dock gallopers to grab the ie championship lie he was almost forgotten or gotten when he met baer ile he was as almost forgotten during the time lime lie he held the championship and nad had little opportunity to capitalize on it before he went down under loe louis punching in june 1937 connie mack Is 75 C CONNIE ONNIE MACK seems to go on forever in baseball he celebrated his seventy fifth birthday recently and announced that he is goi going ng to continue managing the philadelphia athletics until he has passed his eightieth bi birthday r mr air mack black as his players have always called him is known outside of baseball as cornelius he is the oldest big league manager in point of years old enouf enough 01 to be the father of practically all the other managers ag gers in the american and national leagues lie ile likewise holds the record for continuous service as a manager ile he connie mack alack became pilot of the athletics when the american league first organized clubs in th the e east in 1901 and hes been bossing it ever since looking ahead and not backward as men do at seventy five mack is anticipating a better year for his athletics and when he climbs aboard the train next spring for the training camp in louisiana hell be starting his fifty fifth year in baseball if by some necromancy the athletics should win the pennant it would be macks tenth flag in the american league his teams have won five worlds series his contribution to baseball is represented by something far more significant ant than years of service like old man alan stagg when he coached championship teams at Chi cagos Ali midway dway mack has left his mark on the men who have worked under him lie ile has been a gentleman and has insisted on that code from his players his career is a monument to the value of cleanness in sports the bare fisted days the recent death of jake kilrain at the age of seventy eight stirred almost forgotten memories among those who are ancient enough to have followed boxing in the bare fisted days during sixteen years in the ring kilrain his real name was joseph killion faced battlers but his bout with john L sullivan under a blazing july sun at richburg Kich burg miss aliss forty nine years ago was easily the peak moment of his life kilrain and sullivan fought seventy five rounds before the boston strong boy won the old boxer in an interview a year ago said 1 I have outlived all the others and feel as frisky now as I 1 ever did I 1 eat and smoke what I 1 please and I 1 sleep like a baby Med wicks records joseph michael ducky medwick of the st louis cardinals who was recently installed as the most valuable player in the national league for the 1937 season is revealed as the holder of seven other distinguished records joe led the national league in hitting with an average of the highest in either major league he led the national league outfielders with defensive average of the highest major league out fielding mark of the year he led the league in scoring runs with in total hits with in total bases with in two ba base e hits with 56 and shared the lead in in home runs with 31 master melvin ott of the new york giants tied king joe with 31 homers for the season but it must be noted that on june 6 at philadelphia med medwick wick hit a home run that was tossed out of the records when the phillies conduct caused the game to be forfeited to the cardinals by way of ornamenting his collection of crowns with smaller knick knacks the new emperor added these minor domains to his holdings lie he played in the most games 15 went to bat the most times hit four two base hits in one game to tie a league record that 11 other men share and he hit five lion home ie runs in three consecutive games in august to tie still another league mark that leave much for the rest of the league to divide as b batting at honors for 1937 here and there clark jr so son of the university of chicago o coach recently threw the javelin ra feet in practice at IJ C L A stub allison says perry schwartz california end is one of the greatest offensive players lie he ever has coached memorial high school of evansville ind ind which concluded its season by whipping pa 21 to 0 1933 in defeated since has not been that span the Ilo Hoosic osil rs have piled 1111 points to opponents 46 up un p union newspaper c western |