Jack Dempsey

Dempsey grew up poor, and left home at sixteen
His early fights were of the bar room variety
Where the purse came from passing the hat
And certainly created no national notoriety

But as his record of bar room victories grew
He became a professional fighter regarded as first rate
He was world champion from 1919 to1926
And one of his fights produced the first million dollar gate

And herein lies a strange paradox
Between the wealth of Dempsey
And the fact he almost bankrupted Shelby, Montana
As a result of his fight there in 1923

In 1923, Shelby was a growing oil town,
Where the population had grown fivefold in recent years, of which the town’s people were quite proud
The best way to bring some excitement thought the Chamber of Commerce
Was to host a Jack Dempsey fight, which they felt would draw a large crowd

Jack Kearns was Dempsey’s manager at that time
He was excellent at negotiating favorable terms
And Shelby guaranteed $300,000 would be paid to Dempsey in three installments before the fight began
Without regard to the actual gate, this commitment was firm

A stadium was constructed for the fight which would seat 40,000 people
However when Kearns said the fight would be cancelled because the third installment had not been made
Many would be attendees cancelled their rail reservations to Shelby
And thus only 7,000 patrons attended the fight who actually paid

At the last minute, Shelby raised the final $100,000 guarantee to Dempsey
And the fight took place on July 4, 1923, with Dempsey the winner
The small paid attendance put the fight’s promoters in a severe financial hole
It was insufficient to pay Dempsey’s purse, let alone the cost of the new arena

After the fight three Shelby banks closed, and another left town
For many citizens of Shelby it caused financial mayhem
There was no Federal Deposit Insurance at the time to protect customers’ accounts,
So many Shelby residents lost their entire savings

In the town of Manassa, Colorado, where he was born, there is a Jack Dempsey Museum
On Main Avenue, in Durango, there is a large representation of one of his fights on a building wall
But I venture to say that in Shelby, Montana you probably won’t findAny municipal tribute to Dempsey at all