Gans Honored By US Congress!

As a followup to the post about Joe Gans, I received a copy of the latest Congressional Record that features a resolution by the Democratic Senator from Maryland, Ben Cardin honoring Gans on the 100th anniversary of his passing. I do want to thank Bailey Fine of Senator Cardin's office for passing this along.


Remembering Joe “The Old Master” Gans



Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I encourage my colleagues to join me in marking the 100th anniversary of the passing of Joe ``The Old Master'' Gans, a great American who inspired millions with his feats in the boxing ring. At a time of pervasive racial discrimination and inequality, Gans provided the country with a glimpse of the true potential of African Americans by rising to the top of what was then the most popular sport in America.

   Gans had the humblest of beginnings. He was born in Baltimore, MD, in 1874, and orphaned 4 years later. Then, he was raised by a foster mother in a segregated world in which the future seemed to hold no more for him than the same menial labor he performed at the Baltimore harbor in his teenage years. In an ironic twist of fate, the racist conditions that hemmed in his world eventually lifted him out of it. His incredible talent for boxing was first discovered when he emerged victorious in a Battle Royale, a cruel sporting event in which white gamblers bet on which of 10 black youths thrown together in a ring would be the last standing.

   In the years that followed, Gans honed his skills and accumulated success after success as a lightweight boxer, becoming famous for his perceptive, impregnable defensive tactics and devastating counterpunch. With an easy one-punch knockout victory in 1902, Gans first earned the world lightweight title, at the time the greatest athletic achievement made by an African American. Four years later, he solidified his hold on the title, which he would keep until 1908, with his victory over Matthew ``Battling'' Nelson on Labor Day, 1906, in Goldfield, NV.

   The Goldfield fight, held outdoors under a blazing Sun, drew an audience of 8,000 people. The purse was $30,000. Gans's foster mother, Maria Grant, sent him a telegram urging him to ``bring home the bacon,'' a phrase that caught on in the media accounts when Gans won what was dubbed ``the fight of the century'' after 42 grueling rounds. It was the longest gloved championship match recorded under Marquis of Queensbury rules.

   Despite winning the fight, Gans received much less prize money than his white opponent who lost. But the winnings were enough for Gans to found the Goldfield Hotel, a leading incubator of Black culture where, among others, the great jazz pianist Eubie Blake first attracted notice. Gans' achievements became a beacon of hope for the African-American community. The prominent preacher and civil rights leader Francis J. Grimke once remarked that the great Booker T. Washington had done much for African Americans, but he ``never did one-tenth to place the black man in the front rank as a gentleman as has been done by Joe Gans.''

   Gans was one of the first practitioners of scientific gloved boxing, following the era of bare-knuckles fights. Nat Fleischer described his footwork as ``beautiful side-stepping, and legwork'' in ``Black Dynamite.'' The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Gans ``was in and away or inside as it suited him best, with will-o-the-wisp elusiveness.'' Jack Johnson said, ``Joe moved around like he was on wheels.'' All in all, he fought in three divisions--featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight--for 18 years, compiling over 150 career wins and over 100 knockouts.

   The remarkable life of Joe Gans was cut short at age 34 when he succumbed to tuberculosis. I ask my colleagues to join me, a century after his death, in recognizing the inspiring accomplishments of an American hero whom the great Baltimore writer H.L. Mencken called ``probably the greatest boxer who ever lived.''