January 2002 - July 2006 - The Jerry Quarry Foundation

not pissed like Steve says. Forest, did you get your photograph taken
with Dempsey, or get his photograph ? If you didn't, I bet in hindsight you wish
you did. If you did, I envy you. |
|3/9/05 10:32:07 AM|Forest Ward|New York
City||raymccormack2003@yahoo.com||||10|Interesting comments on Jack Dempsey. He
is one of my favorites. Both for actions in and out of the ring.I agree with
Angelo, the reason why Dempsey did not take many punches is becaue his opponents
were to busy covering up. As the saying goes, "a good offense is the best
defense." Dempsey, was well regarded by almost everyone, once he
retired. When he died I was told that he left $250,000 to his estate. Whether it
was $100,000 or $250,000 that was still relatively modest for a man who had a
good steady income after boxing; and lived as long as Jack. But, who knows how
much money he gave away to relatives, friends, hid from the tax people re:
estate taxes.I have scrapbooks going back to when Dempsey was a
contender right up until the 1960's. Also, I was a close friend of Bob Sheperd,
who doed last July. Bob, had an extensive Jack Dempsey collection. Which I now
have.Jack Dempsey's personal life was shakey. He was always on the road
after retiring from boxing, he could not stand still. Obviously, that makes for
difficult relationships. I know one of his daughter's has been dead for some
time, and she had a drinking problem. Don't know about the other daughter, the
same may be true. I got the impression from his last book and from Bob Sheperd
that his relationship with both daughers was rocky in the later years.I
don't have time here to go into details about the 2 times I met Jack in his
restaurant, but, yes, I did get pictures taken of him and I; the night his
restaurant closed. One of my big regrets was that I did not go to his wake or
funeral. John Condon of MSG Boxing, remarked to me sometime later, that few
people attended. His reason, Jack outlived most of his friends and
associatesAmong the many things I find remarkable about Jack Dempsey, is
the good mental health he had late into his 70's, and maybe beyond. I find this
remarkable for a few reasons. He had those no hold no rules barroom brawls when
he was coming up. And he fought a lot of "exhibitions" after he retired from
boxing during the great depression, .I am going to take a guess here and
give my reasons why Dempsey had good mental health late into life. Most of his
fights did end early, even his "exhibitions" during the great depression (he
knocked as many as 3 people out each night). He probably had good genes
(excluding Tunney). And, probably most important of all he was not a drinker.
Many fighters, after they retire take up drinking full time, and this has a
terrible effect on their brains late into life. Joe Frazier and Emile Griffith
did not drink during their boxing days, but, boy they more than made up for it
after they retired. And, I will be presumptuous and guess that is partly the
cause of their problems today.|
|3/9/05 10:56:42 AM|Massimo|Roma||4||||10|How many fights have youse seen ? I
have only seen the Willard fight and sintesis from both the Tunney fights, the
Sharkey fight and the final punch in the second Brennan fight. From this fights
I got the feeling that he was a big puncher with poor boxing skills. I think
Ali' would have played with him. I mean no disrespect by saying that, it's just
my sincere opinion. But probably I haven't seen enough of him in the ring. |
|3/9/05 02:15:50 PM|Kent|La Habra, Ca||Kentallenent@aol.com||||10|Luck of the
draw, heredity, apparently has a lot to do with how a fighter holds up mentally
after retirement.I remember Mr. Jimmy saying that there was a gene that
predisposes a person to either Altzeimer's Disease or Parkinson's Disease and
that a fighter who has this in his family history is more likely to develop the
punch drunk sympthoms that are the same as either of those two afflictions, but
earlier in life than usual. Alchoholic drinks in large numbers no doubt help
bring on the affliction. It would be interesting to see if Altzeimer's or
Parkinson's are more likely to be brought on by excessive alchohol comsumption
in non boxers with the heredity towards those diseases. My guess is it probably