Frank Thomas

Tunney Notable Sports Figures
Awards and Accomplishments
1919 American Expeditionary Force light heavyweight champion
1922 Light heavyweight champion of North America
1923 Light heavyweight champion of North America (regains title)
1926-28 Heavyweight champion of the world
1990 Inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame
Tunney was defeated only once in is professional boxing career, retiring
with a record of seventy-six wins to his one loss. He was the first heavyweight
champion to retire without losing his title.
Greb off balance with as many punches to the body as
he could manage. The strategy paid off, and Tunney
took back his North American light heavyweight title.
Tunney now had his ultimate goal in sight: the title of
heavyweight boxing champion of the world. This title
was held by Jack Dempsey, and the two squared off on
September 23, 1926. The match was held at Philadelphia’s
Sesquicentennial Stadium. This site had been
chosen because Dempsey had been banned from fighting
in New York because he had refused to accept a
challenge from African-American boxer Harry Wills.
Tunney had trained hard for his fight against
Dempsey, watching films of the champion in action over
and over again, probing for weaknesses. He also enlisted
the aid of boxers who had fought Dempsey, both opponents
and former sparring partners. Brought to Tunney’s
training camp, these fighters gave Tunney access to a
pool of expert knowledge on Dempsey’s fighting
strengths and weaknesses from which to draw in the formation
of his own strategies. He also drew on his own
experience gained during his then-seventy-seven professional
bouts, only one of which he had lost.
On the day of the fight, the stadium was jammed with
more than 120,000 spectators who shelled out a combined
two million dollars to see the championship bout.
Tunney’s meticulous study of his adversary paid off. He
came on strong in the first round, rocking Dempsey with
a hard right to the face and then keeping him off balance
for the remainder of the bout, until the fight was called
in Tunney’s favor after ten rounds. It was the first time
that anyone had won a heavyweight championship in a
decision rather than a knockout.
The “Battle of the Long Count”
A year later, almost to the day, on September 22, 1927,
Tunney and Dempsey met in a rematch. This time the
venue was Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. Once again,
more than 100,000 fans mobbed the grounds, paying a
record $2.6 million to see the match (some sources say the
box office take was more than $4.6 million). This fight
was also the first to be covered by a professional radio announcer.
Tunney and Dempsey slugged it out for the first
six rounds, with neither boxer gaining a serious advantage,
although Tunney managed to stay ahead in points.
1648
Two Flaws in Tunney’s Public Life; Gene Tunney: A Man
in Search of Oblivion
Gene Tunney should have been the living portrait of the certified
American hero. He was the young handsome stalwart fighting Marine of
World War I, square-jawed and fearless....
But complete admiration escaped Tunney. The flaws were two. He
was the man who beat a popular idol when he twice destroyed Dempsey.
And ... he lacked the common touch, choosing to hang out with scholars.
Source: Povich, Shirley. Washington Post. (November 10, 1978): C1
Then, in the seventh round, Dempsey dealt Tunney a
staggering right to the temple and quickly pressed the
attack with a fury of blows. Tunney went down.
Dempsey, caught up in the heat of the moment, failed to
promptly retire to his corner of the ring so that the count
could start. The referee pleaded with Dempsey to stop
hovering over Tunney so that he could start the count,
and finally Dempsey yielded.
Getting Dempsey to move took all of four or five seconds,
but those extra few moments were all Tunney
needed to recover. As one of the spectators, sports writer
Shirley Povich wrote fifty-one years later in the Washington
Post, “I was positive then, as now, that Tunney
would not have been up at a proper count of ten, but
those precious seconds were heaven-sent for him, and at
nine he made a gutsy rise to his feet.” The fight was allowed
to continue. Tunney managed to avoid Dempsey
for the remainder of the round, buying himself even
more time to recover. Maintaining his point lead for the
remainder of the bout, Tunney won the match by decision
in the 10th round.
Many fans felt that an injustice had been done, that
Dempsey should have won the fight in that fateful seventh
round. Povich recalled that there were “more cheers
for Dempsey in that one round than for Tunney in the
eight he won in the 10-round fight.” The fight came to be
known in boxing lore as the “battle of the long count.”
Undefeated to the End
Tunney defended his title once more before hanging
up his gloves for good. This was in a match with Tom
Heeney in New York City on July 26, 1928. Tunney won
that match after ten rounds in a technical knockout, allowing
him to retire undefeated, the first heavyweight
champion to do so.
Tunney led a full and active life following his retirement
from boxing. He married Mary Josephine (“Polly”)
Lauder, niece of a steel baron Andrew Carnegie on October
3, 1928, and then started what was to be a lucrative
career in business. After the United States entered World
War II in 1942, Tunney served in the U. S. Navy. On his
return from the war, he returned to his business career,
seeking to remain out of the public eye for much of the