Having climbed to the top of the lightweight division, Beau now had to defend his title. Since beginning his boxing career at Valley Arena, Beau had averaged over nineteen fights a year. In 1943, with the title in hand, he scaled back his incredible fight volume to eight bouts.
Notwithstanding Beau’s demolition of the top lightweight, the NBA was still reluctant to acknowledge Beau’s title. To clear up the dispute between the NBA and the NYSAC, the NBA proposed another tournament to crown an undisputed champion. Although the NYSAC and the New Jersey Athletic Commission had already crowned Beau the lightweight champion (collectively referred to as the “New York championship”), to appease the NBA, the NYSAC sanctioned a tournament to establish Beau’s next contender with the victor being crowned the undisputed lightweight king.
Little did anyone know, but the following week would be yet another tumultuous week for the lightweight division. On January 8, 1943, Sammy Angott declared that his hands had healed, and he was coming out of retirement. So much for his job in the defense industry. The announcement threw the NBA’s elimination tournament into chaos. In response, the NBA chunked the tournament idea and set forth a new proposal to clear up the muddled lightweight championship—a title bout between Sammy Angott and Beau Jack. With dollar signs in his head, promoter Mike Jacobs jumped on the opportunity to sign the battle for the undisputed 135-pound champion.
Angott was also eager to take the fight, volunteering to fight the Georgia shoeshine boy “anytime and anywhere.” The only catch was how the purse would be divided. Chick Wergeles was adamant that his man should get the champion’s percentage. The money had to be right. The two warring camps, however, could not come to terms. The title match between Jack and Angott would have to wait.
With the Angott bout on hold, Mike Jacobs arranged Henry Armstrong to be Beau’s next foe. The matchup between teacher and pupil was bound to be a big-ticket seller. Armstrong had won three different titles and was boxing well, and Beau had just won the lightweight title in spectacular fashion. The highly anticipated bout was scheduled for January 29, 1943, at the Garden. Unfortunately, Armstrong began having trouble with his tonsils. In the first week of January, Henry’s manager, Eddie Mead, announced that all of Armstrong’s upcoming bouts were being postponed so he could undergo a tonsillectomy.
Beau Jack Battles Fritzie Zivic
Mike Jacobs quickly found a new opponent for Jack, former welterweight champion Fritzie Zivic. Jacobs scheduled the two men for a 10-round non-title bout at Madison Square Garden on February 5. Fritzie Zivic (1913–1984), a 29-year-old Pittsburg resident, was a seasoned fighter with a record of 126–33–6. The pug-nosed boxer was relished among boxing enthusiasts. Zivic’s style in closing rounds, by throwing blistering flurries during the last 20 to 30 seconds, was always electrifying to witness.
Born to an immigrant family, Zivic’s father was Croatian and his mother Slovinian. A ring veteran, Fritzie learned to box at an early age to avoid becoming a punching bag for his older brothers, as three of his older brothers had already blazed a trail in boxing. His brothers Pete (1901–1987) and Jack (1903–1973) fought on the 1920 U.S. Olympic team competing in Antwerp, Belgium. After the Olympics, both brothers turned professional. Pete fought in the featherweight division earning a 40–35–11 record over ten years. Jack competed in the welterweight division between 1921 and 1930, ending his career with a record of 40–28–4. Fritzie’s older brother Eddie (1910–1996), on the other hand, fought nine years in the lightweight division, retiring with a record of 39–40–6.
Tragically, Fritzie’s own career almost ended at Conneaut Lake in 1937. While training for a bout with Vince Dundee, he developed potentially deadly pneumonia. Fritzie was hospitalized and underwent numerous blood transfusions. He eventually improved several weeks later but was told his fighting days were over. They were far from over.
On October 4, 1940, in his 116th professional bout, Zivic defeated Henry Armstrong to claim the welterweight title, a title he held until July 21, 1941. Recently, he had beaten five world champion boxers: Sammy Angott, Henry Armstrong, Lew Jenkins, Maxie Berger, and Freddie Cochrane. It was certain to be a tough match for Beau, who was stepping up into the welterweight division (140 lbs.–147 lbs.) to meet his adversary.
Chick did his job well in publicizing his fighter’s prowess and the aftermath experienced by his foes. “Look at Tippy Larkin,” said Wergeles. “He hasn’t even had a fight since Beau knocked him out. How about Chester Rico? He’s no longer in the lightweight picture. After Beau knocked out Cosby Linson, he hasn’t been heard from again. Terry Young? He hasn’t even won a fight since Beau took him to task.”1
Promoter Mike Jacobs was exuberant as the year’s record crowd of 21,240 crammed the Garden to capacity, producing a gate of $70,291. It was the third largest crowd in Garden history and the warmest day of the year so far, as temperatures reached 50 degrees. In addition to the huge assembly on hand, the 10 p.m. fight was broadcast on radio from coast to coast and in Beau’s hometown of Augusta, Georgia on WGAC. It was Jack’s first match as the lightweight champion.
At twenty-one years of age, Beau had the advantage of youth, but Zivic had an eight-pound weight advantage, weighing 145¼ pounds to Beau’s 137¼ pounds and towered over Beau by four and a half inches. Moreover, Fritzie had a tremendous edge in experience against top-notch opponents. Nevertheless, the oddsmakers favored youth, with the odds set at 11–5 in favor of Beau.
The odds didn’t faze Zivic. Zivic beamed with confidence and determination as he entered the ring. He boasted to his acquaintances, “I’ll win,” Zivic arrogantly bragged. “I’ll lick Beau Jack like he was nothing,”2 Beau, on the other hand, was eager to extend his 13-fight win streak, the streak that took him from virtual anonymity to the top of the lightweight division.
As the fight got underway, Jack rushed Zivic but lost his footing and slipped to the canvas. He immediately hopped back up and went right back on the pursuit. Trying to chop his foe into pieces, the younger “bull-shouldered” Beau threw wild punches from long range and bombarded Zivic with inside uppercuts at close quarters. Jack took the first round, violently landing uppercuts to Zivic’s head each time Zivic tied him up in clinches.
Zivic picked up the pace in the second round but still didn’t look like he had landed enough punches to win the round, until seconds before the bell rang when Fritzie, in his customary style, opened up on Beau with furious rights and lefts to the head. Beau didn’t take it sitting down, instead answering back with a wrath of his own. Thrilled, the crowd was on its feet and yelling with deafening applause. The noise was so thunderous that no one heard the closing bell. Oblivious to the bell, the two warriors continued to fight at a blistering pace, trading hammering punches as they stood toe to toe for almost 30 seconds after the round ended. Finally, Referee Young Otto realized the stanza was over and separated the two men.
Jack seized the third round and started the fourth fiercely rocking Fritzie again and again with inside uppercuts. Zivic, however, countered with right uppercuts to the chin, damaging body punches, and at least three flagrant low blows that Referee Young Otto failed to see. For his part, Beau also got away with a couple of hard shots to Fritzie’s left kidney. All said, Zivic did enough to win the round. Fritzie also took the fifth round, but then his tank ran out of gas in the sixth. Resting during the first part of the seventh to regain some needed energy, Zivic came alive in the last minute. Once again, the two boxers stood toe to toe banging away at each other. Before the round was over, Fritzie slammed a vicious right to Beau’s jaw, knocking his mouthpiece out.
Beau Jack (right) and Fritzie Zivic tangle it up, 1943 (courtesy ACME and Bruce Kielty).
The eighth round was intensely fierce. Zivic belligerently pushed Beau into the ropes and readied himself to throw a stinging left uppercut. Reacting quickly, Beau recoiled off the ropes as Zivic started his punch. Instead of landing an uppercut, Fritzie’s glove caught Beau below the belt for a heavily disputed low blow. Sitting ringside, Joe Williams of the Pittsburgh Press declared the punch Zivic’s best of the fight, “[a] belly-whopping, back-bending, breath-taking wallop to the midriff that was as fair as fair could be.”3 Regardless, Referee Young Otto immediately cautioned Zivic to keep his punches up. At the round’s conclusion, Otto instructed the judges to deduct a point from Fritzie, penalizing him for the low blow.
Zivic fans boisterously disputed Otto’s deduction. Boos came down from the top of the Garden for more than five minutes. So enraged were the fans that it appeared a riot was inevitable. In a drastic move, promoter Mike Jacobs quickly had the lights, which were kept low due to the ongoing war dim-out in effect, turned on throughout the arena and police swiftly positioned themselves around the ring to prevent any impending rampage.
Once the tension subsided, the fight continued. Fritzie staggered Beau with a powerful right hook near the end of the ninth, but his pace slowed considerably in the tenth. At the end of ten rounds, the decision went to the scorecards. The two judges, Sam Robinson, and Artie Monroe, scored the bout six rounds for Beau to four for Zivic. Referee Otto gave Beau six rounds, Zivic three rounds, and scored one round even. Beau earned a unanimous decision against the former welterweight king, extending his winning streak to 14. For their efforts, Zivic earned nearly $28,000 (65 percent), while Beau received 35 percent or $15,000.
Although Fritzie subsequently admitted that he had landed several low blows that the referee missed, his fans persisted in their frustration throughout the next week. They flung accusations of connections between the press and Beau Jack and Chick Wergeles. Zivic’s supporters asserted that Jack had been made a champion and granted many favors because numerous sportswriters owned a piece of Jack’s ring career. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle defended Wergeles and the press. “Wergeles is a popular fellow in every newspaper office in town, and it may be that Jack has gained a [lot] of yardage in newspaper columns that other fellows never got. But the connection goes no further, and the most a reporter ever got out of boosting the Beau was a few Georgia pecans, or maybe a smoked ham.”4
Several days after the bout, sportswriter Harold Parrott met with Mike Jacobs, who had become the focal point of aggravated fans. Jacobs showed Harold a few of the letters he had received from angry fans. “‘Phooey on you,’ one fight bug wrote Mike, ‘If Beau Jack licked Zivic then I can lick Louis, and I weigh 137. Why don’t you get wise to yourself and see that the right decisions are made at the Garden? You sure can louse up boxing….’”5 Jacobs didn’t mind. The turmoil set the stage for a rematch. On February 11, after Wergeles insisted that his fighter receive an equal split of the purse, Jacobs announced that the rematch had been scheduled for March 5.
Years later, Beau recalled how much he learned from Fritzie Zivic. In an interview with Joe Falls, Beau explained, “He taught me more than any other fighter. He was a great fighter, Fritzie Zivic. A smart fighter.”6 Fritzie was a great boxer, but a dirty fighter in the ring. Known for head-butting his opponents, he likewise had a reputation for using his elbows and thumbing his foes in the eye when he could get away with it. Beau, himself, had been victimized by Zivic’s dirty tactics. “See this,” he said, pointing to his left eye which looked off in a crazy direction, “Fritzie Zivic did that to me. He took me inside and landed two left uppercuts,” he said. “I held on because I didn’t know what to do. He put his right hand like this….” Cupping his right hand behind his head, Beau exclaimed, “…and pulled me down and brought his thumb up into my eye.”7
The lessons you acquire from an unclean fighter can be invaluable. Beau was not the only fighter to hold Fritzie in high regard. Sugar Ray Robinson also touted the examples he learned in two contests with Zivic, declaring that he learned more in his two fights with Zivic than in all his other fights put together.
Zivic conveyed contempt for Beau. “Just like I said before the fight, he’s an imitation Armstrong,” boasted Fritzie. “He couldn’t carry Armstrong’s trunks into the ring. There’s no comparison. The guy is just a wild swinger and nothing else. He throws them from all angles and some are bound to land.”8 Zivic admitted that his strategy was to pace himself through the fight and throw flurries during the last 30 seconds of each round. Conversely, Jack’s continued aggressiveness offset Zivic’s plan.
After his victory over Zivic, Beau and Bowman Milligan departed for Augusta to rest before the rematch. While in town, Beau made an appearance on behalf of his friend and former supporter, Jack Ross, at the Augusta Municipal Auditorium for a middleweight contest between Augusta boxer Baxley Hardy and Leroy Huffstickler on Monday night, February 15. Three days later, Beau and Milligan boarded the train to head back north to prepare for his return engagement with Fritzie Zivic.
Back in New York, Chick arranged a press conference for Beau at Stillman’s Gym, Beau’s home away from home. Beau displayed a new sense of confidence and an exuberant spirit. Wearing a blue bathrobe over his ring togs, he danced around gleefully. When asked if he felt more self-confident, Jack modestly responded:
“No, I don’t see no difference. I wuz always confident of my strength becuz I always trained so hard. But I never go cocky becuz I licked anybody. Zivic gave me my hardest fight, but I expected that.” He grinned and added, “but I’ll have to admit I felt pretty good after I licked him. I hope it’ll be easier this time.”9
It was an incredible feeling. Beau had defeated the former world welterweight champion. The exuberant Beau was now carrying himself as a titleholder.
Going into the rematch, Beau was again the press favorite. He was eager to defend his disputed victory over Zivic. Pugilists were also ready. Although the temperature never made it out of the twenties, fans upward of 18,818 flocked to see the March 5 rematch at Madison Square Garden, producing the largest gate of the year, $71,346. The fans got their money’s worth.
At the opening bell, Fritzie, this time sporting a 10½-pound weight advantage, stormed out banging away at Beau to keep his pre-fight promise of a knockout. By the end of the first stanza, he had Beau bleeding from the mouth and nose, but moments before the bell, Beau stunned him with a round-house right to his chin. Turning the tide, Beau became the aggressor. With his hooking attack to Fritzie’s head and body, coupled with a plethora of thunderous uppercuts, Beau coasted through the next four rounds. Fritzie came back to life in the sixth round, bombarding Beau with powerful head shots. The momentum changed again in the next stanza. Not to be deterred, Beau came out strong in the seventh, knocking Zivic groggy, but Zivic finished with a flurry, as both boxers stood punching toe to toe as the bell sounded, ending the round.
In a seesaw battle, Jack came back in the eighth, knocking Fritzie across the ring, but lost the round due to a foul called for a low blow. The ninth round was a complete opposite. Fritzie pummeled Beau, but this time he lost the stanza on a low blow. Connecting with a hard right to Beau’s face right before the end of the round, Fritzie stole the tenth. By the end of the brutal battle, both men were physically exhausted. With wobbly legs, the fatigued warriors stumbled to their corners.
It was a menacing brawl. Although there were no knockdowns, Beau’s face was evidence of the mauling combat. He had mouses under his eyes and was bleeding from the nose and mouth. Zivic didn’t look quite as bad but suffered a gash above his left eyebrow. It was an excellent match, however, the winner was not disputed. Beau pounded out a unanimous decision over the future Boxing Hall of Famer. As agreed to by the opponents before the match, a portion of the gate was set aside for the National Infantile Paralysis Fund to help those afflicted by the poliovirus and to continue research in search of a cure.
The National Infantile Paralysis Fund and Jonas Salk
Feared polio outbreaks were raging in the United States. A potentially fatal infectious disease, polio is caused by the poliovirus. The virus spreads from person to person and often attacks an infected person’s brain and spinal cord resulting in paralysis. If it affects the muscles used for breathing, it can lead to death. In fact, there were more than 1,000 polio-related deaths in the U.S. in 1940.
Suffering from polio himself, President Franklin D. Roosevelt formed the National Infantile Paralysis Fund, now known as the March of Dimes, on the eve of World War II. Its purpose was to help those afflicted by the poliovirus and to research a cure. The grassroots movement was instrumental during the polio outbreak in 1949.
In the early 1950s, the average number of people affected by polio was over 45,000, with more than 15,000 cases of paralysis each year. Jonas E. Salk (1914–1995), a Russian-Jewish immigrant, would change that. After receiving his medical degree from the New York University School of Medicine in 1939, Salk ended up at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Medicine. Through research funded by the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, he developed a vaccine composed of “killed” poliovirus. When administered, the vaccine would immunize the patient without the risk of infection.
National testing began in 1954 on one million children, who became known as the Polio Pioneers. On April 12, 1955, it was announced that the vaccine was safe and effective. Within seven years, the number of people contracting polio had dropped to 910. Affably, Jonas Salk wanted the vaccine to be distributed quickly, and as widely as possible, so he never patented the vaccine or benefited financially from it. Thanks to widespread vaccination, polio has not been a viable threat in the U.S. since 1979.10
Years later in an interview with Bob Drum of the Pittsburgh Press, Fritzie Zivic humorously told his story of meeting Beau Jack for the first time.
“I didn’t even know who he was,” Fritzie reports. “But I got hanging around Stillman’s gym and got someone to point him out to me. The first thing I noticed about him was that he had one of those great big turkey necks. I walked up to him and introduced myself and then asked him if his neck always stood that far away from the rest of his body. He looked at me kinda funny, then told me not to get any ideas. Well, in the first round of the fight, I grabbed his neck—one of those long skinny ones—just to check it for size. He leaped about six feet off the ground and made a noise like a hurt chicken. I couldn’t get close to him after that but still wound up with the decision.”11
Who knows the truth of Fritzie’s story, because he never beat Beau.
Jack Faces His Idol—Henry Armstrong
Less than a month after his second victory over Zivic, Jack returned to the Garden ring to meet his mentor, the legendary Henry “Homicide Hank” Armstrong (1912–1988). The non-title affair, initially scheduled for January 29, had been rescheduled for April 2, 1943, due to Armstrong’s tonsillectomy. It was a curious matchup. Beau and Henry were more than mere acquaintances. They were friends. Beau lived with Henry in late 1940, while Armstrong prepared for his upcoming fight against Fritzie Zivic. Henry trained and helped Beau develop some of his early boxing skills, while Jack served as his sparring partner. They both had kept in touch ever since.
At first, Beau was reluctant to fight Armstrong. “Henry is my friend,”12 expressed Beau. Chick Wergeles was not keen on the idea either. He worried that Armstrong might get hurt because he was getting older and his eyes were not as sharp as they once were. Speaking on behalf of Beau and himself, Chick said, “Well you’ve seen Beau fight and they don’t come much tougher. And I don’t know who it would affect more—me or my fighter—if anything happened to Armstrong.”13 Only after Armstrong received a thorough physical exam by the NYSAC, did Wergeles agree to the fight. Henry, himself, convinced Beau to commit to the match. “When Henry learned I was against the fight,” Beau explained, “he sent me a long telegram stating that fighting was a business. As such we were two businessmen trying to make the most money from the best possible matches … it was our duty to give the fans what they want.”14
Henry Armstrong was already a legend, holding simultaneous titles in three different weight classes. In 1937, he won the world featherweight championship when he knocked out Petey Sarron. Then in 1938, Armstrong defeated Barney Ross for the world welterweight title and Lou Ambers for the world lightweight championship. He was also The Ring’s Fighter of the Year in 1937. In January 1941, having fought for 10 years and losing two consecutive bouts to Fritzie Zivic, he retired his gloves for a little over a year. In his last loss to Zivic, he suffered an embarrassing beating before 22,190 fans at Madison Square Garden.
On June 1, 1942, Henry reentered boxing on the comeback trail, defeating Johnny Taylor. Jack was the 19th fight of his comeback tour. Thriving since his return, Armstrong had won 16 of his 18 comeback bouts, including impressive victories over the future lightweight champion, Juan Zurita; former welterweight champion, Fritzie Zivic; and former lightweight champion, Lew Jenkins. He also had 11 knockouts. In his last fight, he whipped a tough Al Tribuani before a wailing crowd of 12,633, throwing a fantastic average of 100 punches in each round of the 10-round bout.
Sportswriter Harold Parrott of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle asked Chick Wergeles before the Armstrong bout, “Does the Beau mind fighting other Negros, like Armstrong?” Did Jack feel timid about clobbering a member of his own race? “It ain’t that,” Chick scoffed. “It’s because he said there wasn’t enough glory in it. The guys he wanted to beat were the white guys with the reputations: Angott, Stolz, Zivic, Pep--.”15
To prepare for their upcoming bout, Beau, as well as Henry, checked into Stillman’s Gym before a capacity gathering of viewers to begin final training. Armstrong recalled, “I can’t forget the look of … adoration in his eyes when he [first] saw me…. Just like my little daughter….”16 Meanwhile, a transition was made in Beau’s team. Bill “Pop” Miller, who had served as Sid Bell’s assistant for several years, moved on to other opportunities. With Pop’s departure, George Gainsford was hired as Beau’s new assistant trainer. Gainsford, a future hall of fame trainer, was best known as the manager of the welterweight champ and five-time middleweight champion, Sugar Ray Robinson.
It was an incredible pairing of two exceedingly well-liked fighters, as proved by the sellout crowd of 19,986 paying spectators that jammed into the Garden to witness the battle. If there had been more seats in the Garden, they would have been filled. In fact, over 5,000 fans had to be turned away in the frigid rain. Fans revered Armstrong for his aggressive punching and swarming style and similarly appreciated Jack’s windmill style of throwing leather, which was often paralleled to Armstrong by the press. Coming into the contest, the oddsmakers had Jack an 11–5 favorite.
The air was bursting with energy and excitement as the opening bell sounded. Jack, who celebrated his 22nd birthday the day before, started strong. In the first two rounds, Beau appeared the more formidable man. Using darting left jabs and long-range uppercuts, Beau punished Henry. Landing punches to Beau’s body, Armstrong made a better showing in the third round. Beau responded in the fourth, starting quickly. Like a machine gun, Jack rapidly landed about 24 short jabs. Nonetheless, just before the bell in the fifth round, however, Armstrong connected with a thunderous right hurling Beau into the ropes. Beau’s best round was the sixth, as he showered Henry with a series of at least 12 bolo uppercuts to his chin.
Beau Jack and Henry Armstrong, 1943, autographed by Jack (courtesy Bruce Kielty).
Even though Armstrong was 10 years Beau’s elder, he pushed the action in the later rounds with his bobbing and weaving attack, as Jack furiously back-peddled to stay out of his reach. When the opportunity arose, Armstrong pounded Beau’s body to decelerate his backward retreat. At first, Jack seemed unfazed by Armstrong’s body attack, plummeting Henry with a plethora of punches. In the ninth round, however, Armstrong’s strategy seemed to be functioning as he landed powerful blows to the rapidly tiring champion and had Jack wobbly on his feet. Armstrong finished the tenth round with another strong performance, earning a thunderous ovation from the crowd.
After 10 rounds, the decision went to the scorecards. Both judges and the referee gave Beau the victory over the “Hammer.” Referee Billy Cavanaugh gave five rounds to Jack, three to Armstrong, and two even. Judge Bill Healy awarded Jack eight rounds and Armstrong two. Judge George Le Cron gave Beau seven rounds, Armstrong two, and scored one round even. Beau won a unanimous decision before a disillusioned crowd. The United Press called the fight even. Jack Cuddy explained, “If we had to make a decision we would have thrown the fight to Armstrong because of his aggressiveness.”17
The fans decried the decision, engaging in prolonged booing for their sentimental favorite. They booed so loudly that Harry Balogh could not be heard when he announced the next fight. Subsequently, the crowd gave Armstrong a thunderous ovation. Armstrong may have lost the battle, but he re-captured the affection of the Garden fans.
Following the match, Armstrong made light of the pre-fight hype and disputed the loss. “I know in my heart that I gave Beau Jack everything I had, and I feel sure he was all out to flatten me, if he could. And I want to tell my friends in St. Louis that if I ever won a fight in my life it was that one with Beau Jack.”18 As only friends can do, Armstrong complimented Beau, while at the same time discrediting his punching power. “He’s a good boy, tremendously improved since I last saw him, before my retirement, and he’s strictly a topnotcher,” said Henry. “Frankly, I expected him to be a harder puncher. He didn’t hurt me one bit.”19 If anyone was concerned about Beau hurting the older Henry, it was dismissed once they entered the ring.
The sellout crowd provided a purse of $104,976, the largest indoor gate for non-heavyweights in over a decade. A portion of the proceeds from the gate, 10 percent of net receipts or $8,947.47, went to help the Red Cross. For their efforts, each fighter received $24,158.17. As usual, after a close contest, there was the talk of a rematch. Henry wanted a chance to redeem himself against Jack, but Beau didn’t seem disposed to fighting Armstrong again.
Next week there was a repeated attempt to match Beau with the former lightweight champ, Sammy Angott. After coming out of retirement, Angott’s hands appeared healed as he whipped Willie Pep on March 19, ending Pep’s undefeated streak of sixty-two fights. Sammy’s manager, Charley Jones, called Beau out. “Sammy Angott is the lightweight champion of the world,” declared Jones, “and is willing to meet to meet Beau Jack in any state in the union and any time and is entitled to the champion’s percentage.”20 He even offered to donate $7,500 of Angott’s purse to charity, if Beau took the fight. Chick Wergeles would have none of the match, unless Beau was promised 40 percent of the gate. His fighter was the lightweight champion now, and he needed to be compensated accordingly.
Orphaned Beau Visits Mother
Beau Jack took a much-needed break before his first title defense. For the first time in years, he did not work the Masters Tournament, as it was suspended due to World War II. Instead, in early April, Beau and his wife Josephine traveled to St. Petersburg, Florida to visit family. On Monday, April 9, while in St. Petersburg, a shocking headline in the Tampa Bay Times revealed his reason, “‘Orphaned’ Beau Jack Here to Visit Mother.”21 Until now, everybody, including the media, thought Beau’s parents had deserted him and that he had no knowledge that his mother was alive or that his father had passed away years ago. Remarkably, even Beau himself never disputed such accounts.
Sandy Stiles of the Tampa Bay Times exposed that Beau had been writing his mother and sending her money for over a year. In fact, the April 12, 1943, Tampa Bay Times featured a photograph of Beau with his arm around his mother, Lillian Walker. The same photo was published in the Pittsburgh Courier on May 1. The associated article featured Stiles’ interview with mother and son. The two revealed that Beau had been born near Waynesboro on a cotton plantation owned by E. E. Chance. According to the interview, when Beau was about five years old, his parents split up after arranging for Beau to live with his grandmother.
Beau’s mother stated, “I didn’t even know he was fighting ’til he wrote me two, three years ago,” she said. “But he has written me often since then.”22 As an anxious mother, Mrs. Walker divulged that she never listened to Beau’s fights on the radio. “I tried to listen when he fought Mistuh Tippy Larkin, but my heart wouldn’t stand it,” she confided. “Then when he fought Henry Armstrong I went as far away from the radio as I could get.”23
Stiles’ article was mind-blowing but was not picked up by other newspapers other than the Pittsburgh Courier. Beau would continue to be referred to as “orphaned,” and he did not refute those accounts. Stiles concluded, “Sidney Walker, better known as Beau Jack, world lightweight champion, killed a perfectly good sports yarn during the weekend when he came here to visit his mother, Lillian Walker at 326 Tenth Street North.”24 Evidently, Beau had also visited his mother in 1941.
Beau was proud of his new role as an American champion and used his championship status to constructively influence others and support his country. While in the St. Petersburg area, Beau visited several schools to endorse the Second War Loan efforts and talk with the students. He enjoyed talking with children and promoting his country.
World War II was still raging. Although the tide had turned in favor of the Allies after the Battle of Midway, it was far from over. On April 12, 1943, the Treasury and War Finance Committee launched the Second War Bond Drive that lasted twenty days, ending on May 1, 1943. The First War Loan campaign between November 30, 1942, and December 23, 1942, had surpassed its goal of $9 billion, totaling almost $13 billion. The Second War Loan drive sought to raise $13 billion for the war efforts. It would end up raising $18.5 billion.
American citizens and corporations were eager to contribute as it was a way that they could show their willingness to sacrifice for the war effort and patriotic fervor. The Second War Bond Drive was enthusiastically discussed all over the states, including school classrooms. Pep talks were given by principals and teachers, as well as celebrities.
On Wednesday morning, April 14, Jack, along with his wife Josephine and sister Fannie Mae, also living in St. Petersburg, visited Gibbs High School, an African American high school in St. Petersburg. Before a school assembly, he told students, “if anyone wanted to become a great fighter one would have to get plenty of rest, sleep and refrain from smoking and partaking of strong drinks.”25 When asked, he acknowledged that his toughest opponent was Henry Armstrong.
The following day he visited Jordan Elementary School, another African American school, located about four miles north of Gibbs High School. As always, he was a big hit among the students and faculty. “All questions so eagerly asked by them were graciously answered by this national character,” stated J. K. Neal, social science instructor at the school. “His unassuming attitude and fine manner won the hearts of pupils and teachers. This of course is a sign of true greatness.”26 That evening, Mr. and Mrs. George Ford and Mr. and Mrs. James Ford hosted a reception honoring Beau Jack and his wife. Of course, Beau’s mother and sister were present as well.
Beau soon left for New York to begin training for his first title defense. But before he began training, he lent his support as a guest of honor at “Harlem on Parade” dance to benefit the Riverdale Orphan Asylum.
1. “Beau Jack Favored Over Fritzie Zivic in Garden Rematch,” New York Age, February 6, 1943, 11.
2. Sid Feder, “Zivic Confident of Trimming Beau Jack,” Times Herald, February 1, 1943, 16.
3. Joe Williams, “Joe Williams Says: Mr. Otto Did Not Do Good Ring Job,” Pittsburgh Press, February 6, 1943, 10.
4. “Zivic Likely to Suffer as Beau Sizzles,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 4, 1943, 13.
5. Harold Parrott, “Both Sides,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 4, 1943, 13.
6. Joe Falls, “Beau Jack Shines Shoes …and Dreams,” Detroit Free Press, December 5, 1965, 44.
7. Ibid.
8. John P. McFarlane, “The Sports Front,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, February 8, 1943, 18.
9. Jack Cuddy, “Beau Jack Prepares for Rematch with Former Champ,” Ogden Standard-Examiner, March 2, 1943, 6.
10. See https://www.salk.edu/; https://www.cdc.gov/polio/us/for more information.
11. “Armstong, Beau Jack Booked for Jan. 29 Bout,” Democrat and Columbia, January 5, 1943, 14.
12. Ibid.
13. “The Sports Patrol,” Press Democrat, January 6, 1943, 14.
14. Beau Jack, “Fighting Provides Jack His Thrills,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 29, 1943, 19
15. Harold Parrott, “Both Sides,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, March 31, 1943, 17.
16. “The Gaudy Touch,” Time, Vol. 41, Issue 15, 76.
17. Jack Cuddy, “Cuddy Says…,” Dunkirk Evening Observer, April 3, 1943, 10.
18. “Armstrong’s Ring Comeback Due to Need for Ready Cash,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 12, 1943, 14.
19. Ibid.
20. “Angott Champ, Manager Says,” News Journal, May 7, 1943, 23.
21. Sandy Stiles, “‘Orphaned’ Beau Jack Here to Visit Mother,” Tampa Bay Times, April 12, 1943, 9.
22. Ibid.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. “Champion ‘Beau Jack’ Visits and Talks with Students,” Tampa Bay Times, April 18, 1943, 27.
26. “Jordan Elementary Stresses War Loan,” Tampa Bay Times, April 18, 1943, 27.