Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Brad Belk: Dempsey made his rounds At the Children’s Home, Dempsey was questioned by the head matron, Etta Carlin.
“There are some boys in the hospital who would love to see you — but they have scarlet fever, and if you’re afraid ...” Before she could finish, Dempsey’s press agent C. H. (Uncle Charlie) Baldzell retorted: “Jack’s not afraid of anything.” Baldzell and Dempsey then promptly strolled into their rooms. Following the visit Dempsey shared with the Globe that his stop at the Children’s Home was his most enjoyable experience in Joplin. He returned to the Connor and was once again mobbed in the lobby, this time by a throng of boys and girls from Joplin High School. Dempsey was then interviewed for a half hour on radio station WMBH. His evening concluded as he refereed the main boxing event at Memorial Hall. He refereed the lightweight fight between Nick Broglio “The Fast Stepping Speedster” from Herrin, Ill., and Joe “Kid” Peck of Little Rock, Ark. The boxing icon returned to Joplin on Jan. 31, 1934, to referee a wrestling match at Memorial Hall. The main event pitted arch rivals Red Berry and Cliff Maupin. Not without his flaws, Dempsey was married four times. He was accused — but a jury “exonerated” him — of being a World War I draft dodger. The son of a former fight manager, “Doc” Kerns, claimed Dempsey used loaded gloves with hand shaped plaster casts. And while African-American boxers were excelling in the sport, it was Dempsey who desperately promoted from his New York restaurant a campaign to find a “white hope” savior. Recognized for his achievements in the ring, he was elected into the prestigious Boxing Hall of Fame in 1954. Even The Associated Press in 1950 ordained the “Manassa Mauler” as the greatest fighter of the first half-century. He retired from professional boxing in 1940. When he passed away in 1983, The New York Times referred to a Dempsey recollection. The story captured what happens when a fighter wears out his welcome. “Some night,” he told a young boxer, “you’ll see three guys in the ring against you. Pick out the one in the middle and hit him, because he’s the one who hit you.” He tried his luck at acting, starring in a Broadway play called “The Big Fight” and appeared in numerous motion pictures. In Joplin, he was quizzed on air by Joe Becker during a WMBH interview about his movie career. He quipped, “You can’t make a race horse out of a mule.” 
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