Extraordinary life of Gene Tunney
BULA readers! This week I wanted to write about a man named Gene Tunney who was the former heavyweight boxing champion of the world and lived a quite extraordinary life, both in the ring and out of it. He was one of the greatest boxers in American history and was an excellent “scientific” boxer who studied his opponents and developed his skills according to medical journals and medical books that he read earnestly.
In almost 70 career bouts, he lost only once and unlike other boxers, Tunney enjoyed to read Shakespeare and poetry and spoke in an educated manner foreign to most boxing fans. He was also a lecturer on Shakespeare at Yale University after he retired.
Tunney was born on May 25, 1898 in New York City. He was the son of an Irish immigrant who worked as a longshoreman. At age 15, Tunney took a job with the Ocean Steamship Company and eventually became an accounting clerk. He attended Catholic school and graduated from LaSalle Academy in 1915, during this time he had ambitions one day of possibly joining the church and becoming a priest.
While growing up, Tunney was interested in all sports, including swimming, handball, and basketball, but his favourite sport was boxing.
He joined the Village Athletic Club and sparred with professional boxers. In July 1916 he fought professionally for the first time and then boxed occasionally in New York City and northern New Jersey. When World War I began, Tunney tried to enlist in the US Marine Corps. He was first rejected because of an arm injury, but was accepted in 1918. He was sent to France, but did not see combat. While in training camp, Tunney was persuaded to box while in the service.
Tunney fought in the light heavyweight division and eventually won the light heavyweight championship of the American Expeditionary Force. Because of his success, he decided to box professionally when he returned to civilian life. On November 14, 1919, Tunney began his professional boxing career. He won 24 consecutive fights over two years.
The most important victory to date for Tunney was a 15-round knockout of French champion Georges Carpentier in the Polo Grounds in New York on July 24. In front of a huge crowd, Tunney knocked Carpentier down four times in the 10th round and soundly beat him.
In 1925, Tunney moved up to the heavyweight division. He weighed 185 pounds (83kgs), 45 pounds (20kgs) more than his original fighting weight. Tunney soon proved that he could defeat the heavyweights and was considered the major challenger to heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey.
A match between Tunney and Dempsey was finally arranged in Philadelphia on September 23, 1926, and Tunney beat him decisively in front of a crowd of 120,000, yes 120,000 people a record attendance at a sporting event. Tunney became the new heavyweight champion and received a purse of $US1 million ($F2.1 million) which in 1926 was an absolutely astronomical amount.
The next year a rematch between Tunney and Dempsey was arranged. They met in Chicago on September 22, 1927 in one of the most famous fights in history. The fight brought in more than 100,000 spectators, and admission grossed more than $2.6 million,($F5,500,000) a longstanding record for gate receipts. Tunney pounded Dempsey for six rounds. Then, in the seventh round, Dempsey landed a series of punches that knocked Tunney
Smart, stylish and wealthy heavyweight boxing champion Gene Tunney.
down for the first time in his career. Instead of going to a neutral corner, however, Dempsey stood over Tunney for several seconds, delaying the referee’s count. When the referee got to nine, Tunney got back to his feet. Tunney knocked Dempsey down in the eighth round and won the fight on points to retain the championship.
While training for the Dempsey fight, Tunney bumped heads with a sparring partner and suffered partial amnesia for several days afterwards. Realising the danger of continuing to box, Tunney arranged one final title fight.
He fought Tom Heeney of New Zealand on July 26, 1928 at Yankee Stadium. Tunney easily defeated Heeney and retired as the undefeated heavyweight champion and a multi millionaire.
Tunney was not a popular champion, partially because unlike many other fighters, he was a scientific boxer. After retiring, Tunney married a billionaire heiress of the Andrew Carnegie Steel fortune, who was the equivalent of Bill Gates during his time.
They had four children, including one who served in the U.S. Senate. Tunney served as a successful business executive for many years. He was on the board of several corporations, including American
Distilling Corporation, Technicolor, and Schick.
Tunney also wrote many articles on physical fitness and clean living, plus he authored a series of books on various subjects.
Gene Tunney had a dream to live in three centuries. He was born in 1898 and hoped to live until the year 2000, which would have let him live in three centuries and his age would have been 102 years old.
Unfortunately, that dream wasn’t to come true, but he did become heavyweight boxing champion of the World. He did retire as undefeated champion, he became a multi-millionaire, he sat on numerous boards in business, he married a billionaire heiress to the colossal Andrew Carnegie Steel empire. He had four children, one of them becoming a Senator, so all in all he lived a very successful life indeed.
■ AJAY BHAI AMRIT is a founding member of The People’s Alliance party and is also a freelance writer. The views expressed in this article are his and do not necessarily reflect the views of this
newspaper.