Life was hard, and Beau needed to find additional ways to support himself. It was common at the time for teenage boys, regardless of race, to fight on the streets or in fight clubs with the winner earning at least some pocket change. Moreover, it provided bystanders a chance to possibly make money wagering on the winner. For instance, the legendary “Bronx Bull,” Jake LaMotta, learned to fight on the street.
Child in boxing stance, c. 1888 (Jefferson R. Burdick Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art).
The Experience
Despite racial overtones, battles royal provided an additional opportunity for teenage boys to make extra cash. A gory tradition from years past, battles royal were common in 17th and 18th century England. Following the American Civil War and the post-war Reconstruction, they gained popularity in the United States. Usually featuring six or more black boys or men in a room or ring, the combatants were blindfolded and then obliged to battle against each other until only one victorious person was left standing. Spectators would then throw coins into the ring as a reward for the participants’ efforts. In addition to blindfolds, gloves were often used and, in some cases, the combatants had one of their arms tied behind their back. Although white boys also participated in battles royal, participants were predominantly black.
Battles royal were extremely popular and customary as preliminaries to boxing and wrestling matches. They took place at both black and white venues. Ironically, battles royal furnished opportunities for black fighters to enter the realm of professional boxing. Early boxing greats Joe Gans and Jack Johnson participated in battles royal when they were teenagers. Gans became the first black man to hold the world lightweight title, whereas Johnson became the first black man to earn the world heavyweight championship.
Even the legendary soul singer James Brown (1933–2006) fought in battles royal. In his 1997 autobiography, The Godfather of Soul,1 Brown states how he was used to recruit black boys for battles royal for the entertainment of white men. As he describes the battle royal, the boys were blindfolded, one hand tied behind their back, and a boxing glove tied on the other hand. Then they were pushed into a ring with five other kids. When the battle begins, you swing at anything that moves. The winner is the last one standing. Coincidently, Brown revered Beau Jack as someone to model himself after.
Battles royal were brutal. Ralph Ellison provides a vivid insight into the viciousness of battles royal in his critically acclaimed book, The Invisible Man.
And I heard the bell clang and the sound of feet scuffling forward. A glove smacked against my head. I pivoted, striking out stiffly as someone went past, and felt the jar ripple along the length of my arm to my shoulder. Then it seemed as though all nine of the boys had turned upon me at once. Blows pounded me from all sides while I struck out as best I could. So many blows landed upon me that I wondered if I were not the only blindfolded fighter in the ring.2
Most of the time participation was voluntary, but not always.
After the death of his grandmother, Jack began fighting in battles royal, where he developed into a warrior. Jack recollected the typical battle royal he participated in as a youth: “Five young fighters would be blindfolded and put in a ring or roped off area,” said Beau. “They began swinging and trying to knock the other fighters down. When there were only two left, the two would fight a regular four-round match to determine a winner. Then all the participants would line up along the ropes as spectators tossed money into the ring. At the sound of the bell, they all fought for the coins littering the ring.”3
Jack excelled at the brutal battles. Despite his small frame and weight, legend has it that he never lost a battle royal. Beau explained that he “would stay in the corner, real low.” “People would miss me and hit the post, or just hit me in the stomach,” he said. “Those other bigger fighters were busy trying to knock each other out. Whenever one of them backed up near me I slammed him good and knocked him out.”4 Beau was keen on strategy. Whatever his tactic was it worked for Beau. He even knocked out a 200-pound giant in one of his fights. Admittedly, Jack said he would sometimes peek through a sagging blindfold. Near the end of one battle, the only one standing between Beau and victory was his younger brother, John Henry. In the fierce competition for triumph, Beau knew what he had to do. Without hesitation, he knocked his brother out with a left hook to the stomach.
Around town, Beau became a repeatedly summoned participant in battles royal. When he was fifteen years old, Jack appeared at the Epicurean Hall at 1212 Ninth Street. The African American entertainment venue hosted dances, musical entertainment, and boxing. On December 10, 1936, Beau appeared on the Thursday night fight card, which billed Beau Jack as “Bo Jack, the king of the battle royals.” That night the battle royal was sponsored by the Home Boys’ Charity Club, an organization of prominent black citizens who banded themselves together for charity work to help the city’s less fortunate. Tickets cost 25¢ for general admission and 35¢ for ringside. There was also a reserved section for white people.
When Beau was up in years, he looked back on his battle royal days with pride, discounting the savagery of the contests and racial overtones.
You know, those Battle Royal days were fun. They were better than when I had the title. Everything was simple.
Some folks now say they were bad, but for me it was that or pickin’ cotton. Back then the money from Battle Royals bought me clothes, shoes and food. So if that’s what you call bad, well keep it comin’. … I wanted to give the people a good show and I did…. I was a champion.5
With a twinkle in his eye, he recalled the time legendary golfer Bobby Jones gave him a $100 bill. “I remember the great Mr. Bobby Jones, called me over one time and said, ‘Here kid.’ He stuck a $100 bill in my hand. I said, ‘I ain’t got no change,’ but he said, ‘Keep it!’ But just then this boy snatched it outta my hand. I run after him, hit him a shot on the chin and knocked him out to get that money back. After that everybody at the golf club wanted to see me fight.”6
Opportunity Knocks Through Bowman Milligan and the Augusta National Golf Club
Beau’s victorious style and reputation in battles royal landed him into some of the most prominent battles royal in town and ultimately a boxing world title. Jack often fought at the prestigious Bon Air Vanderbilt Hotel, entertaining members and guests of the Augusta National Golf Club.
One of the finest hotels in the South, the Bon Air was renowned for its gourmet food, golf, tennis, and horseback riding. After the original hotel burned down, it was rebuilt as the Bon Air-Vanderbilt Hotel at the cost of over $1,000,000. Opened on January 8, 1921, the Italian Spanish renaissance hotel was equipped with more than 300 guest rooms. Some of America’s most elite dignitaries visited the esteemed hotel, including American novelist and author of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940); industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of the Standard Oil Company, John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937); U.S. president and subsequent Supreme Court chief justice William H. Taft (1857–1930); U.S. President Warren G. Harding (1865–1923); British prime minister Sir Winston Churchill (1874–1965); Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866–1944), the first commissioner of Major League baseball; Canadian prime minister Robert Borden (1854–1937); Nobel Prize winner Nicholas Murray Butler (1862–1947); and Harvey Samuel Firestone (1868–1938), the founder of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Co.
The Bon Air also served as the spawning ground for the world-famous Augusta National Golf Club which traces its roots to the Bon Air’s lawyer, Bobby Tyre Jones, Jr. (1902–1971). Bobby Jones, a lawyer by profession, was one of the world’s most influential amateur golfers, having won the four major golf tournaments known as the Grand Slam in the same year. Remarkably, he never turned professional. His entire career in competitive golf was as an amateur.
In 1931, Jones announced the development of the Augusta National Golf Club. Other notable and wealthy people participating in the venture included: Clifford Roberts, New York investment banker; Fielding Wallace, president of the Augusta Country Club; Alfred Bourne, winter resident of Augusta and millionaire sportsman; Tom Barrett, Jr., mayor of Augusta; Kent Cooper, famous journalist and executive director of the Associated Press; President M. H. Aylesworth, of the National Broadcasting Company; Grantland Rice, the world’s premier newspaper golf authority; William C. Breed, president of the New York State Bar Association; and Eugene G. Grace, president of the Bethlehem Steel Company.
Formal opening ceremonies for the golf course were held on December 24, 1932. A couple of days later, the first official rounds took place with Bobby Jones and well-known sportswriter Grantland Rice greeting players at the first tee. More than 18,000 prominent governors, golf stars, USGA members, newspapermen, bankers, and others were invited for the occasion. Clifford Roberts, chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club from 1931 until 1976, and Grantland Rice went so far as to charter a train from New York to Augusta to recruit members for the Augusta National.
The first Masters Tournament, at that time known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament, was held in March 1934. Five years later, the tournament officially became known as the Masters. Today, the Masters Tournament is one of the most renowned and famous tournaments in professional golf.
Oddly, it was the Augusta National’s first clubhouse employee, Bowman Milligan (1899–1984), who is credited with discovering Beau Jack. Bowman was a large, attractive black man, articulate and well-versed. He also was reportedly a great southern cook. Years later, President Eisenhower’s wife Mamie raved about the crisp southern-style fried chicken Bowman prepared for her.
Bowman made his living serving the elite. At age twenty, he was a bellboy at the esteemed Bon Air-Vanderbilt Hotel. Through connections he made at the Bon Air, Bowman obtained employment as the porter at the prestigious Flint County Country Club in Flint, Michigan.
It just so happens, he left his service there quite abruptly to come back to Augusta. It was during the summer of 1926 and the height of Prohibition. As part of his duties, Milligan was tasked with acquiring liquor for the club during its summer invitational tournament. After receiving tips about the prohibition violations, federal revenuers raided the club, discovering more than 100 bottles of bonded liquor. As club rules prohibited the presence of alcohol, everyone pointed the finger at Milligan. A warrant was subsequently issued for his arrest, but he was long gone. Years later, Clifford Roberts recalled the story as he was told. Apparently, to escape jail, Bowman tricked the officials when they arrived at the club to arrest him.
“May I help you?” Bowman politely asked.
“We’re looking for Bowman Milligan,” the magistrate demanded. “Do you know which one he is?”
“Yes, sir!” said Bowman. “I know right where he is and I’ll go get him for you.” With that, Bowman left by the back door and has never been seen since in the state of Michigan.7
Bowman got out of “Dodge” as quick as he could. Subsequently, a federal grand jury indicted Frank D. Buckingham, club president, and Lucien Eck, the general manager, on violations of the Prohibition Act.
Back in Augusta, the Augusta National Golf Club hired Bowman to serve as the club steward. As such, Bowman was responsible for organizing entertainment for the club members and guests. Frequently, Bowman arranged boxing matches and battles royal at the Bon Air Hotel where many of the members and guests stayed. After roping off a section of the dining room, five or six black boys wearing boxing gloves would enter the ring, where they would duke it out until only one remained standing. Then the spectators would shower the ring with coins.
Given his reputation, one of the boys that Bowman summoned to participate in the battles royal was Beau Jack. Recalling those days, Beau said his most significant battle came during one of the first Masters Tournaments. “All those rich people who’d come to Augusta to see the tournament had to be entertained at night,” Jack explained. “So the club put on this big battle royal in the dining room of the Bon-Air Hotel.”8 One evening, the brawl came down to Jack and a “big feller.” Without hesitation, Jack knocked him out with a long, looping bolo punch. In appreciation, the men around the ring threw $10, $20, and $50 bills into the ring. Beau took home $1,000 that night.
Impressed by Beau’s tenacity, Bowman hired Jack as a bootblack and locker room attendant at the Augusta National. Learning that he was orphaned and couldn’t read or write, Milligan took him in as a fatherly figure and became his guardian. They would have a uniquely special relationship for years. At the club, Beau shined shoes and even caddied on occasion, but Beau was undeniably a fighter.
1. James Brown, James Brown: The Godfather of Soul. (New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1997)
2. Ralph Ellison, The Invisible Man (New York: Vintage International, 1952), 25–26.
3. Bob Bloodworth, “A Beau for Clay, Frazier,” Palm-Beach Post, February 6, 1970, 34.
4. Bill Plaschke, “After the Punch Is Gone,” Fort Lauderdale News, June 28, 1982, 59.
5. Tom Archdeacon, “Battle Royal: A ‘Fit of Blind Terror.’” Miami News, May 10, 1988, 15, 19.
6. Ibid.
7. Larry Guest, “Roberts Missing the Boat,” Orlando Sentinel, June 30, 1976, 47.
8. Clifford Roberts, The Story of the Augusta National Golf Club (New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1976), 68.