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By Root 706 0

Bratton. And although Tony Zale is one of the cleanest-living fighters I have ever known, I’ll have to class him as luckless too. Through no fault of his own, Tony never managed to capitalize on his championship. Military service kept him from the ring in his fighting prime. Because he didn’t think it would be fair to other servicemen, he turned down at least one offer to make upward of $25,000 in a hastily arranged exhibition match. Because Graziano was more articulate than Zale, it was Rocky who cashed in on the fame that resulted from the Zale-Graziano fights. And then Zale’s wife, from whom he now is divorced, took a huge bite out of what remained of his bankroll. And a Rush Street restaurant which he operated lasted only a short time. When last heard of, Tony was selling insurance for a living, and coaching boxing in his spare time at a Catholic Youth Organization gym in Chicago. The last time I saw him, he was still the “Man of Steel” who thrilled the nation as a boxer, and brought nothing but credit to his sport.

So much for the credit side.

The role of the International Boxing Club, often referred to as “Octopus, Inc.,” is less definitely defined in the minds of many fight enthusiasts. None can deny that the IBC, created by multi-millionaire Jim Norris and a brilliant Negro attorney, Truman Gibson, Jr., and headquartered in Chicago, brought boxing to new heights of popularity. For a number of years, the IBC was responsible for two network TV boxing shows every week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Countless millions were glued to their “watching machines” during this period. Millions of dollars also were involved in the staging of 104 fights each year.

With such stakes, there is little wonder that the underworld muscled into the boxing game. Frankie Carbo, the notorious hoodlum, reportedly had a hand in the affairs of many fighters and managers. Whether Norris, with his personal fortune and power, could have forced Carbo out of the game; or whether Norris, with his 104 matches per year to make for TV, needed Carbo’s cooperation to assure fighters, is a moot question that may never be resolved.

Uncle Sam finally entered the fight game and ordered the IBC dissolved in an antitrust suit. The IBC was charged with controlling (1) arenas, (2) fighters, and (3) television contracts. Except for television, then not a factor, both Tex Rickard and Mike Jacobs operated in much the same way. And with the government-ordered dissolution of the IBC, boxing fell on evil days, with more evil characters moving to the fore.

There can be no doubt about Norris’ role in building the Chicago Black Hawks into a championship club. He and his partner, Arthur Wirtz, doled out a tidy fortune to rebuild a team that had sunk to the depths and lost its box-office appeal. Now the Hawks are riding high again and their reign, either as challenger or champion, appears secure for years to come because of the “farm system” that assures promising young players.

I covered hockey for the old Times for five years, but it took at least two seasons for me to get the feel of the game. I didn’t “dig” a sport whose players moved so fast that there seemed to be no coordinated effort, no “set” plays, such as in football. But under the guidance of one of the most beloved figures in hockey, Joe (“Chesterfield”) Farrell, I gradually learned to appreciate the game. Joe was publicity director for the Hawks and every morning during the season, en route to my office, I’d stop for coffee with Joe, whose offices at that time were in the McLaughlin Manor House Coffee plant. Major Frederic McLaughlin was the first owner of the team and the Black Hawk headquarters were in his North LaSalle Street building. (Our morning coffee was always piping hot and on the house.)

When Norris eventually purchased control of the Hawks, then at low ebb, he was not content to let his team’s reputation stand on the memories of past stars, such as Chuck Gardiner, Mush March, Bill Mosienko, and Doug and Max Bentley.

Instead, he has financed a ten-team farm system that provides General Manager