You have to love people to do this, to fight harder and harder and harder. I love every human being God put on this earth. I fight this way, and prepare this way, for love.
—Beau Jack
It was a mild winter day with scattered showers. The ocean was choppy with swells ranging from three to five feet. Miami was celebrating Black History Month and the centennial anniversary of the black anthem Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing, with a four-part historical and musical revue telling the story of black history in the United States. The day was February 9, 2000. It was the same day that Beau Jack quietly passed away in a Miami nursing home.
Sidney “Beau Jack” Walker departed for the heavenly stars on February 9, 2000. His health had been declining for several years. In the end, however, it was the damage he suffered while following his dream that led to his death. During his 121-professional bout career, Beau suffered countless punches and trauma to his head. Regrettably, the constant blows absorbed by his head resulted in the development of “Pugilistic Parkinson’s Syndrome,” also known as “Boxer’s Dementia.”
The condition is directly related to recurring cerebral concussions sustained while boxing. Symptoms include memory loss, reduced thought processes, and movement disorders, such as weakness in the legs and wobbliness of movement. The nature of boxing unfortunately leaves fighters at increased risk of Parkinson’s disease. Other notable people in the boxing world have suffered from Parkinson’s disease such as Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, and trainer Freddie Roach.
Jack died happily without remorse. Boxing had been his life. The money he made was not that imperative to him. He fought to hear the applause from the fans. “I was a whirlwind in every way,” he admits. “I never looked at the money. I lived for the cheers and the clapping of the fans.”1 Throughout his career, he constantly encountered new people and made friends. Beau was content and would have done it all over again if he had the chance. “I would do it again—everything,” Beau proclaimed. “I never thought about the money. I never cared for it. The crowd. That’s what I cared for, the crowd. I wanted to give them excitement. I wanted them to come back and see me… The screaming and the yelling … the crowd. That’s what I did it for.”2 Beau was champion of the world. “Fighting was a vacation for him from all that was bad in the world.”3
Acclaimed as “one of the most exciting and popular figures Madison Square Garden has ever known,”4 Beau Jack was one of the Garden’s most admired and prolific fighters. During his 15-year professional career, Beau Jack fought in a record 27 main events at the Garden with gates grossing nearly $2 million. He won his first of two lightweight championship titles at the young age of 21. In 1943, he was the only boxer to yield a $100,000 gate at boxing’s mecca, Madison Square Garden. In March 1944, he became the only boxer to fight in three main events at the Garden in one month, producing a combined gate of $332,579. Five months later, he set the record for the highest priced sports ticket—$100,000 for a ringside seat when he fought Bob Montgomery in the famous “War Bonds Fight” of 1944. Beau was a box office sensation. Even though Beau “fought long before the age of millionaire athletes and multimillion-dollar TV revenues, no fight anywhere has ever matched his best in ticket-sale revenue.”5 Later that year, he was named “Fighter of the Year” by The Ring magazine.
Beau Jack is not only a boxing legend, he is an American hero. Along with Bob Montgomery, they raised an incredible $35,864,900 in war bonds for U.S. efforts in World War II. He even bought $1,000 worth of war bonds himself and gave the respective tickets away to wounded veterans. Taking great dignity in fighting for his country, Beau donated his services for the bout. He always helped those less fortunate than himself and gave back to his fans and sport. Jack had exceptional charisma. “What they call charisma today is 1/100th of what he had,” recalls Larry Kent, Beau’s assistant trainer. “This guy, no matter where he went, he was loved and admired. He would stop anywhere to sign autographs.”6
He valiantly earned the numerous honors bestowed upon him. In addition to the awards previously mentioned, Beau was inducted into The Ring magazine’s Boxing Hall of Fame (1972), Georgia Sports Hall of Fame (1979), Madison Square Garden’s Hall of Fame (1982), and International Boxing Hall of Fame (1991).
Beau began life with all odds against him. He was a poor black boy in a dark racial South. Beau lived with his grandmother because his parents abandoned him. He joyfully did everything he could to help his grandmother with chores around the farm. She instilled values in Beau Jack that he would carry for life—honesty, integrity, gritty determination, and a heart that received joy from helping those less fortunate.
It was only when he became a teenager that Sidney found a route out of poverty. With the help of golf legend Bobby Jones and other founders of the Augusta National Golf Club, the Georgia bootblack embarked on a tremendous record-setting boxing career. Cast from the grounds of the world’s most prestigious golf club and racism into the prime time of New York, he boxed his way to two world titles. His success came through sheer heart and gritty determination.
Ever respectful and polite, Jack was a heartwarming ray of light and innocence in a sport infiltrated by the mob. His honor and soul could not be sold. Earl Ruby, Sports Editor for the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, penned, “In the fight racket there was never a classier guy than Beau Jack, who was never great at his mean game. His was a blending of innocence and ignorance and yet it was the purest of all.”7
Even when Beau lost a controversial bout, he accepted it with class and genuine character. He may have been upset and frustrated in his dressing room after the fight, but that didn’t last long. Resting on his strong religious beliefs, Beau would say, “The man say I win, … I win. He say I lose, I lose.”8
A black American hero, Beau Jack was esteemed by millions, both black and white. His fights were broadcast throughout the States and overseas, as families and soldiers gathered around the radio. He inspired others through his actions. Even with a broken knee, he refused to quit. Whether he won or lost, the bull-shouldered battler was never accused of not always giving his best. He knew how to please the crowds, fighting in an unorthodox swarming “all out” style. “He was a great fighter,” proclaimed boxing historian Hank Kaplan. “He had fantastic stamina. You couldn’t find anybody more courageous than Beau Jack. He threw punches in bunches. He had a chin made of iron.”9 Richard Goldstein, a journalist for the New York Times, appreciated Beau’s appeal. “In the years when the old Garden at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street was boxing’s mecca, crowds of 18,000 and more roared for a young man from Augusta, Ga., who wasn’t especially powerful or superbly skillful,” wrote Goldstein. “What enthralled the fight fans was his sheer energy, the flurries of punches he threw from the opening bell to the final round.”10
Beau rose from poverty to a boxing champion and hero in a white man’s world. Following his improbable career, he went back to shining shoes on his knees once again. Jack’s journey took him from rags to riches and ultimately back to rags. Through it all, he remained humble and proud. He did not want pity. “Don’t be having no pity for me. I’ve been to the top of the mountain. I was champion of the world. I’ve worked hard all my life, and I’m happy doing what I’m doing. It’s an honest job and a good living—and I met a lot of nice people.”11 Beau “considered it a privilege to be allowed to entertain people by suffering in public. It touched him, and the money didn’t matter.”12 Pleasing the people was Beau Jack’s greatest joy.
1. Oscar Fraley, “Back to the Shine’ Box for Ex-Champ,” Muncie Evening Press, July 10, 1957, 19.
2. Joe Falls, “Beau Jack Shines Shoes …and Dreams,” Detroit Free Press, December 5, 1965, 44.
3. “Beau Jack Victim of Sport He Loves,” New York Post, May 27, 2001, 79. Opposing Viewpoints in context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A75117006/OVIC?u=egc1&xid=f27f452e. Accessed 14, Oct. 2017.
4. Bob Hill, “Beau Jack: Legend Back Where He Belongs,” Fort Lauderdale News, July 7, 1985, 38. The Ring magazine established its Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954, which operated until 1988. Out of the 168 members inducted, 154 have been subsequently inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
5. Michael Hirsley, “Beau Jack: Heroic, Dignified,” Chicago Tribune, April 20, 2000, 58.
6. 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.
7. Earl Ruby, “Ruby’s Report,” Courier-Journal, December 28, 1963, 14.
8. Ibid.
9. 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.
10. Richard Goldstein, “Beau Jack, 78, Lightweight Boxing Champion in the 1940s,” New York Times, February 12, 2000, 24.
11. Ibid.
12. “Beau Jack Victim of Sport He Loves,” New York Post, May 27, 2001, 79; Opposing Viewpoints in context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A75117006/OVIC?u=egc1&xid =f27f452e. Accessed 14, October 2017.