Walcott Jersey Joe - Jersey Joe Walcott: a boxing biography

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs are from the authors collection.

Ill Lick Joe Louis Again article SEPS licensed by Curtis Licensing, Indianapolis, Indiana. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Curl, James, 1969
Jersey Joe Walcott : a boxing biography / James Curl ; foreword by Vincent Cream II.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-7864-6822-5

1. Walcott, Jersey Joe, 19141994. 2. Boxers (Sports)United StatesBiography. 3. African American boxersBiography. I. Title.
GV1132.W235C87 2012
796.83092dc23
[B] 2012009422

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING DATA ARE AVAILABLE

2012 James Curl. 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.

Front cover image: World heavyweight boxing champion Jersey Joe Walcott (photograph courtesy Harry Shaffer, Antiquities of the Prize Ring); cover design by David K. Landis (Shake It Loose Graphics)

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

This book is for all the great ghters
who have not received their due

My thanks go to Mike Jones, Dante Fichera, Christopher La force, Henry Hasscup, Herb Goldman, Bob Collins, Maureen McLoone (President of the Merchantville Historical Society) Austin Killeen, Mike De Lisa, Mike Silver, John DiSanto, Don Cogswell, John Oaks, Tracy Callis, Jerry Fitch, Michael Foy (for his research services), Walter Sikorski, Jr. (for his information on Walcotts early years), Robert Yalen, Ken Poppen (for repairing my computer and keeping me up and running), Colleen Aycock, Phil Cohen, Harry Shaffer, Tony Triem, the New Jersey State Historical Society, and my wife Carol.

The following people deserve special thanks for their help with this project. Without their help this book would not have been completed: Vincent Cream (for the great information on his grandfathers early life and taking me on a tour of New Jersey and Philadelphia during my research trip), Dan Cuoco (who helped in so many ways I would need a paragraph to explain), Clay Moyle (for his great editing and suggestions), Ernie Aglugub (for his friendship, editing, suggestions and proofreading), Chuck Hasson (for all the great newspaper articles covering Walcotts early fights), and Mike Valentino (for his editing, corrections and suggestions).

I thank each and every one of you. If I have forgotten to mention anyone, I am sorry.

Of all that I am, and all that I ever hope to be, I am, and always will be a chip off the great big rock that is my dad. My father Big Vince would always say that about Grandpop.

Approximately three years ago, I received a call from Jim Curl and after our initial conversation we were immediately bonded by our mutual belief that the story of Jersey Joe Walcott was a story that had to be written. I consider myself a fan and promoter of the life and times of the legendary Jersey Joe Walcott. As one of his grandchildren, I have been forever inspired by his incredible career as one of the true originals in the sport of boxing.

I was very young when Grandpop told me that his father was his first fan/promoter. Joseph Alexander Cream would tell anyone who was within earshot, If this boy (8- to 10-year-old Arnold) gets the right manager and handler, he WILL be a champion! The power of those words coming from his father inspired him to persevere through lifes challenges to reach his ultimate goal and become a world champion.

Now, sixty years after his last fight, the story of triumph over poverty and adversity has finally been written. Jim has done a wonderful job of gathering the information necessary to make this a must-read for the friends and fans of Jersey Joe Walcott.

In the early seventies, towards the end of the summer before the first Ali vs. Frazier fight, Grandpop gathered up my brother Bill, my cousins Pete and Keith, and me. He told us he was going to take us to meet Ali. At that time, he refereed professional boxing and wrestling. Over the next two weeks, we went on an incredible odyssey as he refereed wrestling matches all the way from North Carolina to Miami. Imagine the famous Jersey Joe Walcott and his first four grandsons traveling in a low-key station wagon, hanging out and going to meet Muhammad Ali. Priceless! It was an unbelievable life experience.

He reminded us stay awake and observe things and places we had never seen. Grandpop inspired us to dream, and as you read his story, he will inspire you as well. Enjoy!

I first discovered Jersey Joe Walcott when I was about sixteen. I bought a videotape of the first heavyweight title fight between Jersey Joe and Rocky Marciano. Although the fight ended badly for Walcott, I was an instant fan. I loved the way he fought: he was so good ... he could box ... he could slug ... he was fast and slick. Even though I was just really beginning to understand boxing at that early stage in my obsession with the sweet science, I knew Walcott was a great fighter, but I didnt know how truly great he was.

I would spent the next twenty-plus years reading, watching and learning about the great fighters of the past before I came to a point in my life where I felt that I wanted to do something more than just be a student of boxing history. I wanted to contribute something to the fighters that I idolize and the sport that I love. My opportunity to do more came when I joined the International Boxing Research Organization in 2008. Since becoming a member of the IBRO, I had purchased several biographies from other members and was lucky enough to speak with the authors of these books. I began asking questions about writing a biography and what was involved in the process. My interest grew with each e-mail. Authors Clay Moyle (Sam Langford: Boxings Greatest Uncrowned Champion) Bill Paxton (The Fearless Harry Greb) and Mike Silver (The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science) were very helpful in answering my questions regarding the steps involved in putting a book together. After much talk, many e-mails and a lot of thought, I felt that a biography written about a fighter who truly deserved one would be a great way to give something back to my favorite sport. Writing a book was something I was confident I could accomplish (even though I am not a writer by profession) with a little help.

My next task was to choose a fighter that I felt deserved to be written about and had no biography. Jersey Joe Walcott was the first fighter that sprang to mind. There were two others that I gave some thought to, Ezzard Charles and Jerry Quarry, but Walcott just felt right. I was almost certain that there had not been a biography done on Jersey Joe, because if there had been I would have most likely read it. After some inquires to Dan Cuoco, the director of the IBRO, and a few other members I had met on-line, I confirmed that no biography had been done on Walcott. What a shame, I remember thinking, such a great fighter and nobody has written a book about old Jersey Joe Walcott.

I began the processes of research for the book and soon realized that Jersey Joes life and boxing career is an incredible tale. The more I uncovered the more I realized how great Walcott really was and just how hard of a time he had before he made it. In fact Joes life is a true rags-to-riches tale, perhaps more so than any other, and if you can bear to hear it again, a Cinderella story. I also realized through my investigation of Walcotts career that he had embarked on one of the greatest, yet least remembered, comebacks in boxing history.