Greb Harry - The fearless Harry Greb: biography of a tragic hero of boxing

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London

Several images appearing in the print edition of this book have been omitted because of copyright restrictions.

Photographs are from the collection of the author unless credited otherwise.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

e-ISBN: 978-1-4766-1383-3

2009 Bill Paxton. All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

On the cover: Harry Greb in an undated photograph (Bettmann/CORBIS).

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com

This book is dedicated to my loving wife Kristin Crotty Paxton, who let me take the time necessary to create it and supported me along the way. It is also dedicated to the boxing fans of Pittsburgh. Greb loved the fans who supported him and he loved his city.

I also dedicate it to Harry Greb and how he chose to live life to the fullest. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, We are confronted with the erce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Greb was very aware of time and chose to savor life and devour it.

And nally to my two sons Jake and Mason. Never give up no matter what the obstacles, follow your dreams, work hard at them and enjoy life.

I would like to thank the following people and organizations that have helped me in my research, and in making this book: Stanley Weston for inspiring me early on in my research, the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Mark Hooper from Angel Editing, Dr. Albert Ackerman, Dr. Scot A. Brower, Dr. Anthony Andrews, Library and Archives of the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, Christopher Greb, Tony and Kathleen Triem, Reverend James W. Garvey and the Epiphany Church, Harry Shaffer from Antiquities of the Prize Ring, David Bergin from Collection of Pugilistica.com, Craig Hamilton from josportsinc.com, Veteran Boxers Association Ring #1 in Philadelphia, Lou Manfra from Heavyweightcollectibles.com, Christopher Tarr from fistianaboxingmemorabilia.com, Stu Saks from Kappa Publishing and The Ring magazine, Heather Ryan from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sally Braden, Paul McWhorter from Son of the South, Laura Waayers from the Naval Historical Foundation, the University of South Carolina, Anne Preston, Kevin Smith, and finally Max Kellerman for continuing to spread the word.

I have been a boxing fan my whole life, and a boxing historian for over a decade. As a casual boxing fan who would watch current ghts, I would hear the announcers refer to past boxers, names like Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney and Mickey Walker. I started researching old-time boxers, and one name kept on popping up on boxers ght records. Other boxers during the twenty-year period from 1910 to 1930 would have impressive ght records showing they battled the best of their time, names I already knew. However, no matter what weight class a boxer was in, he always seemed to lose to one unknown individual, Harry Greb. This sparked my interest, so I attempted to learn more about this ghter who beat almost everyone he fought. The little I could nd out told me he fought more often than any ghter of his time. The heavyweight champion Gene Tunney, who lost only one ght in his entire career, suffered his sole loss at the hands of Greb. I asked myself, Who is this guy and why have I never heard of him before?

I searched for a video of him ghting. I had obtained ght videos of almost every important ghter of that era, and those ghters fought less often, so I assumed it would be easy enough to get a ght video of Harry Greb. When I talked to ght lm collectors I was met with chuckling; they told me that no ght lms exist for Greb. I found this impossible to believe because ght lms exist of his opponents, and he was a champion in two weight classes in addition to ghting 299 pro bouts.

When I searched for magazines or books on him, none could be found. The more I dug for information, the more mysterious he became. No one had anything or knew anything about him. Then someone told me an amazing thing. Not only did Greb beat all these Hall of Fame champions, ghting ferociously against all opponents, but he also won these battles while blind in one eye. This story seemed impossible. A boxer needs stereoscopic viewing to see punches coming from the left and the right sides. My interest was sparked further; who was this mysterious man?

At the time I started my research the Internet was in its infancy. It was no help in satisfying my curiosity and only contained two pictures of Greb and one paragraph stating key wins of his career. I heard a rumor of a book that had been written about him in 1946. Unfortunately, all the book collectors I talked to had never heard of it. When I talked to book collectors who focused on boxing, they told me of one collector who may have a copy. That collector told me that he did have one personal copy, and that he would contact me when another one surfaced. He told me to prepare myself because it was a very slim book. He found it disappointing with very little real information, mostly gossip. Most of the information surrounded the stories of Greb never training but always womanizing.

While waiting for the book to surface I was in contact with boxing collectors and discovered that each different collector had one item pertaining to Greb, and it was the rarest and most expensive item in their collection; they would not part with it for any reason. These items would be a photograph, a letter, a ght ticket stub or other similar memorabilia. When interviewed, each collector would seem to have a little nugget of information about Greb. The more I searched, the more it seemed that each collector had a small piece of a puzzle, but no one had put them all together.

After waiting close to two years, I was nally able to obtain a copy of the Greb biography by James Fair, Give Him to the Angels. Unfortunately, the book collector I talked with was right. The biography contained very little of his career, was obviously not researched, and contained mostly myths obtained from hearsay. It raised more questions than it gave answers.

I then had an idea to create a Web site that could be a central archive of all these different puzzle pieces. The Web site, www.harrygreb.com, was created in 1996. It was one of the rst boxing Web sites on the Internet focused strictly on one boxer, past or present. During the next decade people from around the world contributed copies of what little they had, be it photos, quotes, magazine articles, information or newspaper clippings. Whenever I did nd something I could purchase, I paid a large amount of money for it. If it were an item, I would display a photo online; if it were a newspaper or magazine article, I would retype it onto the Web site. Any boxing fan who was curious about this fascinating character could come to the one place where information was free and easily accessible. With each nugget of information I acquired, I slowly discovered the true story of the man