Because what I got, no one can take but one man. And that’s God. I don’t want people to feel sorry for me as long as I keep going.
—Beau Jack
Beau came into 1947 heralded as the “million-dollar kid.” Before Beau Jack, no boxer had ever drawn $1,000,000 at Madison Square Garden. Jack exceeded that amount with the $1,393,704 he had produced at the Garden to date. The year, however, did not start well for Beau. He suffered a devastating injury that led his Syndicate of support to terminate their backing and many commentators to predict that his boxing days were over.
Following a three-month layoff for his broken kneecap, Jack faced Tony Janiro (1927–1985) in his first fight of the year. Janiro was a 20-year-old baby-faced welterweight contender from Youngstown, Ohio. Tony earned the right to face Jack by defeating Tony Pellone. It was his 14th victory in a row and boosted his professional record to 55–3–0. Janiro possessed a respectable inside game and remarkable stamina. As a 16-year-old amateur, he was crowned the featherweight champion in the Chicago Golden Gloves tournament. Currently, he was ranked ninth in the welterweight division by The Ring magazine, six spots below Beau, who was ranked third.
The February 21, 1947, bout was crucial for both boxers. Anxiously, Beau wanted to silence the critics who rumored his productiveness as a fighter had declined at his post–Army weight of 147. For Janiro, it was his toughest test to date and a chance to become a serious contender for the welterweight crown.
Not only were Beau’s critics expressing discouraging opinions in the news, one of numerous headlines the day before the fight stated, “Beau Jack Ordered to Feed Children.” A court order had been issued against Beau’s upcoming purse to provide child support for his six-year-old twin boys, Donald and Ronald, and his four-year-old son, George, who lived with their grandmother in New Rochelle, New York. Appearing before the Westchester Children’s Court on Wednesday, February 19, Judge George Smyth ordered that $2,500 be withheld from Beau’s purse for child support.
At least Beau received a little bit of good news at his pre-fight physical. Eager to satisfy the New York State Athletic Commission’s doctors that his kneecap was mended, Beau humorously performed a little tap dance. Afterward, Dr. S. Sym Newman examined Beau’s knee and declared it to be in tip-top shape for the bout. Despite having not fought in four months, losing to a virtual unknown in his last contest, and having fractured his left kneecap several months earlier, Beau was a two-to-one favorite. The oddsmakers expected Jack’s “wild and persistent head-attack” to overwhelm the young Janiro.
At the weigh-in, Janiro weighed 147¾ pounds, almost seven pounds heavier than Beau at 141 pounds. He also had the advantage of height, standing two inches taller than Beau. Jack entered the Garden ring desperately seeking a victory over the curly haired youngster from Youngstown, Ohio. He left in an ambulance.
The weather on fight night was awful. New York was suffering through its worst snowstorm in six years. Snow blanketed the east coast from the Carolinas to Maine. LaGuardia airport was closed down, and most roadways were impassable. The official snowfall during the storm measured 11.6 inches, but freezing winds created snowdrifts up to six feet deep. Nearly 60 people died from the deadly storm. Irrespective of the snow and a high temperature of 25 degrees, a rugged, enthusiastic crowd of 18,062 fight fans braved a foot of snow to trudge down to the Garden to see the bout, producing a gate of $98,053.
As predicted, in the first round, Beau baffled Janiro with swift left jabs and hooks to the head. Standing toe to toe in the second round, the two gladiators brawled for nearly two minutes. Janiro emerged from the duel with the advantage. He scored with quick one-two punches to Beau’s cranium, driving Beau to the ropes, where he unleashed lefts and rights to Beau’s jaw and torso. Employing his vicious attack, Janiro knocked Beau halfway through the ropes as he hammered him with straight jabs and hooks. Jack retaliated in the third round, scoring equally with Tony, but Janiro’s confidence continued to grow.
In the fourth round, Janiro drove Beau into the corner. Beau attempted to counter with a left hook but missed, providing Janiro the opening he needed. Janiro seized the moment and floored Jack with a hard-left hook to the head. As Beau fell to the floor, he by some means succeeded in grabbing onto the bottom ring rope. Bouncing on the rope, Beau began to pull himself up after a seven-count as Referee Eddie Joseph reached down to help him. Everyone thought Joseph had counted Beau out, and the lights were even turned on in the Garden, but after Beau regained his footing, Joseph motioned for the fight to continue.
With his wounded prey in sight, Janiro rushed in with the smell of victory. As Beau endeavored to counter with a left hook, his foot caught something loose in the canvas, causing his left knee to crumble with a terrible, deafening pop, dropping him to the canvas. Sitting in the middle of the ring, Beau tried to shove his kneecap back into place. By some miraculous means, Beau braced himself on his right foot and managed to stand upright on one leg. Exasperated, he then tried to hop by the referee, as he begged with him to let him continue. In a pain-strangled voice, Beau pleaded, “please, please” as Frank Jacobs, Janiro’s manager, and Joseph tried to help Beau to his corner.1
Sitting ringside, sportswriter and future inductee to the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Jimmy Cannon (1909–1973) put into words Beau’s undying strength and spirit. “The referee stepped in front of him,” wrote Cannon. “But Beau Jack pushed at the gray shirt, trying to get at Janiro, maimed and sickened by pain, but still a fighter. The referee held him up, and Beau Jack wept, because he still had a leg to fight on, and that is all a prize fighter needs.”2 Following a quick examination, Dr. Vincent Nardiello, the NYSAC’s physician, proclaimed that Beau’s left kneecap was broken. Just three months after his initial injury, Jack broke his kneecap again.
For the very first time in his stellar career, Jack had been stopped. As he was carried out of the ring on a stretcher, the awestruck crowd, acknowledging Jack’s incredible courage, gave him one of the greatest ovations of his career. It was a heartbreaking scene. Grown men cried at the sight of Beau being carried out on a stretcher. Larry Kent, one of Jack’s trainers, was touched with admiration. “It was,” Kent said, “the greatest display of courage I ever saw.”3 Even Frank Sinatra cried while visiting Beau in his dressing room.
Beau Jack taken out of the ring on a stretcher after his fourth-round TKO loss to Tony Janiro, February 21, 1947 (International News).
As he lay in his dressing room waiting for the ambulance to take him to the hospital, Beau weakly grinned and held up a fist for reporters, wittily pronouncing, “The hands are good, but the knee’s bad.”4
Experts and commentators predicted that the Georgia shoeshine boy had fought his last fight. Newspaper headlines the day after the fight agreed.
“BEAU JACK BEATEN; RING CAREER ENDS”5
“Beau Jack Ends Fistic Career”6
“Beau Jack’s Career Seen Ended, Knee Gives Way, TKO Loser”7
A return to boxing appeared extremely unlikely. Even if Beau somehow mounted a comeback, it seemed highly doubtful that he would ever be the boxer he was before the repeated injuries.
The following day, Beau underwent knee surgery at St. Clare’s Hospital. Operating together, Dr. Vincent Nardiello and Dr. William Healy set the fractured kneecap in place and alleviated a ruptured muscle running near Beau’s knee. Following surgery, Dr. Nardiello predicted that Beau would be out of ring action for ten months to a year.
While in the hospital, a downhearted Beau received a special visitor. “Do you remember me?” the young man asked. “I’m afraid I don’t,” responded Jack. It just so happened that Beau had chatted with the young lad when he was visiting a military hospital during his service with the Army. The young veteran said, “Both my legs had been shot up—they were in casts, like one of yours is now—and I told you I’d never walk again. You just laughed and said that if I really wanted to walk, I would, and that you’d be giving me boxing lessons someday—well, I’m ready for those lessons now.”8 Beau chuckled as he responded, “Guess I can’t disappoint you. So, I’ll just have to get well!”9
Although scant words were spoken about it, it was subsequently learned that Jack entered the ring that night against doctor’s orders. Evidently, his management team thought he could do quick work of Janiro before further injuring his leg, but regrettably, it didn’t happen that way. A journalist for Time magazine critically wrote, “Had the promoters, anxious to cash in on a good thing, killed the golden goose? Oh, no, said one doctor; Beau could be patched up once more, in ‘ten months to a year, if no complications develop.’”10
Seemingly, even the Syndicate supporting Beau Jack dissolved after the fight on the belief that his career was over. Moreover, Beau’s longtime friend, manager, and former guardian, Bowman Milligan, left Beau and the boxing world behind. Bowman became a special sales promotion representative for Frankfort Distillers Corporation, handling their Four Roses, Hunter, and Paul Jones brands. Years later, Oscar Fraley, UPI sports writer, caught up with Bowman at the 1964 Masters Tournament. Bowman, however, was reluctant to talk about his time up north with Beau Jack. “I don’t know whether the club members would like it,” he said. “I don’t know if they figure boxing mixes with golf.”11
Beau needed rest and time to recuperate. After spending ten days in the hospital, he headed back to Georgia. While resting in Augusta, Beau had more misfortune to handle—a family tragedy. Beau’s younger brother John Henry Walker died on June 28, 1947. John Henry idolized Beau, fighting in battles royal with him and boxing under the name “JuJu” Jack. Regrettably, he was fatally shot in an exchange of gunfire with police. Police reports state that officers were answering a complaint that Walker was shooting at a woman. Officer Joe Reynolds arrived on the scene and found Walker inside a house. He shouted for him to come outside and surrender. Walker replied, “No sir, white folks,”12 and drew his pistol. Reynolds immediately pulled his own gun, and they both fired almost simultaneously. Walker was shot and tried to run, but he fell to the ground. He died later that day on the emergency room table.
1. Jimmy Cannon, “The Old Garden Was for Fights,” Asbury Park Press, March 6, 1968, 26.
2. Ibid.
3. Matt Schudel, “The Ballad of Beau Jack No Fighter Was Tougher Than the Man Who Went from Shoeshine Boy to Champion and Back Again,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, October 9, 1988, 6.
4. “Bouncing Beau About at the End of the Fight Game,” Index-Journal, February 22, 1947, 2.
5. “Beau Jack Beaten; Ring Career Ends,” Marshfield News-Herald, February 22, 1943, 8.
6. “Beau Jack Ends Fistic Career,” Daily Mail, February 22, 1947, 5.
7. “Beau Jack’s Career Seen Ended, Knee Gives Way, TKO Loser,” Miami News, February 22, 1943, 3.
8. Claude Hammerston, “Beau Jack Meets Young,” Ottawa Citizen, February 20, 1948, 25.
9. Ibid.
10. “Golden Goose,” Time, March 3, 1947, Vol. 49, Issue 9, 53.
11. Oscar Fraley, “Beau Jack in the Sport Parade,” Daily Register, April 8, 1964, 16.
12. “Beau Jack’s Brother Killed by Policeman,” Palm Beach Post, June 29, 1947, 19.