Sports Memorabilia
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Just browsing eBay and came across this unused ticket from the Willard-Dempsey world heavyweight championship fight of July 4th, 1919 in Toledo; wherein the hulking heavily favoured 6/5 champ Jess Willard got savaged by the much smaller challenger Jack Dempsey. You can see right on the stub what each fighter was making: $100K for Willard and a comparatively paltry $27.5K for Dempsey.
What is most eye-popping for me is the cost of the ticket. $60 dollars in 1919 was more than a month salary for the average worker, and these aren’t for front row ringside, this is for the section!
BoxRec informs me that, “There was a crowd of 19,500, which was less than a quarter of the arena's seating capacity. Promoter Tex Rickard said all the $60 ringside seats were sold and most of the $50 seats were sold, but the disappointment came from the sell of the cheapest tickets, which sold for $10. Provisions had been made to seat between 35,000 and 40,000 in the $10 seat section, but only about 5,000 seats were sold.”
https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jess_Willard_vs._Jack_Dempsey
And check out the highlights from the three rounds before the towel is thrown in. No going to your corner or standing 8-counts back in those days. Dempsey smashes Willard in the face each time he tries to gets off the canvas onto his feet.
Brutal!
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@Kid-Chocolate said in Sports Memorabilia:
Just browsing eBay and came across this unused ticket from the Willard-Dempsey world heavyweight championship fight of July 4th, 1919 in Toledo; wherein the hulking heavily favoured 6/5 champ Jess Willard got savaged by the much smaller challenger Jack Dempsey. You can see right on the stub what each fighter was making: $100K for Willard and a comparatively paltry $27.5K for Dempsey.
What is most eye-popping for me is the cost of the ticket. $60 dollars in 1919 was more than a month salary for the average worker, and these aren’t for front row ringside, this is for the section!
BoxRec informs me that, “There was a crowd of 19,500, which was less than a quarter of the arena's seating capacity. Promoter Tex Rickard said all the $60 ringside seats were sold and most of the $50 seats were sold, but the disappointment came from the sell of the cheapest tickets, which sold for $10. Provisions had been made to seat between 35,000 and 40,000 in the $10 seat section, but only about 5,000 seats were sold.”
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https://boxrec.com/media/index.php/Jess_Willard_vs._Jack_DempseyAnd check out the highlights from the three rounds before the towel is thrown in. No going to your corner or standing 8-counts back in those days. Dempsey smashes Willard in the face each time he tries to gets off the canvas onto his feet.
Brutal!
Willard wasn’t a great champ but he was absolutely tough as fuck. Both these guys lived well into their 80s as well.
Different sport back then, the way Dempsey stands over him and pummels him is absolutely ruthless and obviously the three knockdown rule didn’t exist then either.
I’ve heard conflicting reports on how injured Willard was from a few bruises to burst eardrums, broken teeth etc. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle.
Mike Tyson modelled his whole career on Dempsey and it’s quite evident. His book on fighting is a fascinating read, I’ve had a look and it’s good fun using some of the techniques on the heavy bag in the garage.
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Game-worn tribute jerseys available on TradeMe - Counties Sports Hub
Fans are being offered a chance to buy their own piece of Counties Manukau Rugby history with game-worn, one-off throwback jerseys available for purchase on TradeMe. On Sunday, October 2, 2022, the PIC Steelers wore a one-off heritage jersey against Wellington in the Bunnings Warehouse NPC in...
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Heartland Jerseys up for Auction.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/search?member_listing=5508821&bof=ZdLhKzfr
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Cool display
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Right - so, me grandfather passed away last year, and we're currently clearing out his house.
He played a couple of seasons for Taranaki, back in the day.
Along with some team photos - one thing we came across - was a menu card for a "Complimentary Dinner - South Africa v Taranaki, 1956"
...with quite a few signatures on it
On the inside - 9 signatures, including my grandfathers - presumably Taranaki players.
On the back, however - 20 signatures, with some very South-African sounding names.So... anybody know whether this would be of interest to anybody? Should we be looking to sell it? Donate it?
(the game was a draw by the way - 3-3... and my grandfather's biggest regret was that he was in the reserves, in the days when they were truly reserves, and never made it onto the field to tackle a Springbok)
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@Kruse If you are going to donate it maybe the TRFU might be interested. The same would apply to the NZ Rugby Museum. But if it isn't something they would display a private rugby memorabilia collector would be the best option to get some money.
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Fund Raising for the family of a Counties Ref that has passed away.
https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/search?member_listing=8354982&bof=bk0S17bx
