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THE BROWN BOMBER OF OLD?

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Is Joe Louis on his way back? Lee Savold, for one, thinks he is

By LESTER RODNEY 5 ¥ *

NEW YORK ovation was the thing, It began with the ending of the frst round as a roar of surprised delight poured down from the top Teaches of jam-packed Madison Square Gardén. As each round fnded the noise grew louder, Seeming to bringing in new voices Which had been withheld in dis-

belief, . \ =

When the old pulverizing left hook sent Lee Savold reeling and Crashing to the fight’s obvious finish, and Joe Louis turned his back and walked to the neutral

Corner, the place was a shouting:

bedlam. And the final routine ®nnouncement, “The winner by a Nockout ... Joe Louis,” brought & deep, long ovation the like of Which had not been heard for Years in the midtown sports arena,

It was what they had come to

See... the unfounded long shot ~

hope of seeing a flash, just a flash, of the Louis of old. They saw it 8nd then went out bubbling, feel- Ng uniquely privileged in having “en inside while the many out- Side neither heard nor saw.

Once again, Louis by a KO. °

hat more thrilling words in the

relatively short history of U.S. Sports... .

What a pity that this of all

fights had to be held off TV,.

that the millions to whom Louis Was the Louis ‘of the Charles,

Tion, Agramonte fights could Not have seen this and gotten at least this thrilling glimpse into

€ Louis that once was. The thought, it turned out, was on the mind of many of the spectators. But not, of course, on the pro- ae They had taken over

© airways and had lightly tap- Ped a huge potential money-mak-

.

ing scheme in’closed TV circuits to out-of-town movie theatres. There'll be a lot more theatres lined up for the Louis-Charles re- turn in September, you can be sure. ‘

_ How much of the Louis of pre- war days did the fans see? Just a good suggestion of it. This was

not the Louis who knocked out

‘Baer, Braddock, Schmeling, Gal- ento. The excitement of fulfilled nostalgia should not be allowed to overwhelm the facts of fistic life. It’s true Louis looked, and was, better than in any fights since he knocked out Billy Conn again right after the war. But Savold is no Ezzard Charles, nor anything like him.

In fact, when you think about it this fight really points up the underestimation of Charles as a champion. When you see how destructive and skilled a fighting man Louis can still be at 37, when you recall that Savold, though no worldbeater, was rated ‘a good solid heavyweight above the likes of the Laynes, LaStarzas, Mar- cianos et al, you can get a fuller appreciation of the way Charles shifted, moved, boxed on top of still-smoldering dynamite and finally almost knocked out the ex-champ in the 14th.

That's why there'll be a big crowd for Louis’ second attempt to become the first heavyweight champion ever to regain a crown once lost or given up. —

Tn his tumultuous dressing room later, Louis was sort of quietly jubilant, if you can imagine that combination. It was hard to fight through the crowd and the noise for questions, We asked him how much better he thought he was

than against Charles, and he smilingly. gave up trying to do it exactly and said:

“Oh, a whole lot better, I really felt much better all around this time ... I'll say without question I’m in better shape now than since the second Conn fight... . no question ... I’d have liked it to be ,Charles in there.”

It was easy to understand his feelings. Here is a man who was the best in the world, the best ever, at what he started out to do and they’ve been saying he can’t do it any more.

Savold had already showered and the place was almost desert- ed. His face was well lumped up: and he was depressed looking as. you’d imagine he would be. “He didn’t let me get going,”

‘he said with quiet candor. “His.

left kept me from starting any- thing ... and he was very sharp. I was working with fast men for this fight. and Louis was very sharp and quick punching... .”

Having been around during Louis’ prime, how much like the old Louis did he think the Louis of tonight was?

The Minnesota. born ex-bar- keeper- hesitated on that one, then— ;

‘It seems to me he must. have been just about as good as he ever was.”

Do you think this Louis could have beaten Charles? Do you think he will beat Charles next time?

“Yes,” he said, “I do.”

Outside Louis’ dressing room in the corridor the cops were vainly trying to disperse a stub- born group. “Hey,” someone said breathlessly, “Joe Louis is going to come out of that room, isn’t he?” 5

%

~ SPORTLIGHT |

THE

-in between meetings, canvassing

-——7-—By BERT WHYTE

FTER all the hoopla in the daily press, maybe you thought that

* everyone in Vancouver hotfooted it to Lansdowne for the big opening Saturday. But a look at the beaches would soon convince you that the majority of local folk couldn’t have been less interested. Discounting the beach, Tarzans—those peculiar, tanned young men who never seem to work from June to October, and spend 10 hours a day religiously flexing their biceps, doing handstands and whatnot for the edification of the public—the beach Was well populated with normal folk. These ranged all the way from gorgeous dolls of the type shown in the accompany- ing pix (I just HAD to work in some cheesecake in this column now the hot weather’s here) to the pale, spindle-shanked office slaves, quickly turning a painful pink under the sun’s hot rays.

In Vancouver it’s ‘a case of water, water, everywhere. No wonder thousands of Canadians from the prairies come here to spend their holidays. Where else can one find such an ideal vacation land? Such fine beaches’ to lie on, and such handy moun- tains to climb (or, if you don’t feel like climbing, just ride up’ on a ski lift). If this sounds like a Chamber of Commerce spiel, forgive me. It is just that

and whatnot, I managed to es- cape for a whole day and sprawl on the beach digging my toes into the sand and thinking of nothing for hours on end. Now I can hardly wait until my holi-

days begin. Soe ak * *

If you don’t think the Nazis are swiftly reviving under the rule of the Americans and British in West Germany, take a gander’ at what happened to Sugar Ray Robinson in West Berlin last Sunday. The Negro champ was fighting a non-titJé bout with German middleweight Gerhard Hecht. Ray dropped his opponent in the first round, and immediately Hecht went into his act, clutching his side and hollering “Kidney punch!” Robinson grabbed referee Otto Mistel and yelled angrily, “That was a fair punch and you know it!” Oto started to count, stopped when the crowd began chanting, “Foul.”

A voice in German said over: the loudspeaker system, “There will be an interruption for a minute or two.” Robinson turned to Mistel and said, “Count him out.” But Mistel made no move te do go.

After a couple of minutes Mistel suddenly cleared the ring, ordered the fight to continue. ‘Sugar Ray sprang in savagely and ripped a few_more punches to the body, well above the belt- line, and the German boxer went down for keeps.

The crowd shoved close to ringside, began to pelt the Negro with bottles and programs. Police closed in go protect him. The loudspeaker blared that Robinson had been disqualified, and the cops managed to get the champ out of the arena. ;

Lew Burston, European manager of Madison Square Garden, protested to the German Boxing Federation over the disqualifi- cation, demanded that Sugar Ray be credited with a one-round kayo. After deliberating more than eight hours, the Federation

solemnly announced it had decided to declare the match “no decision.” P

* * hte i

Lots of baseball fans were saying “It can’t last!” a few weeks ago when the Capilanos took an early lead in the WIL race. But

here it is the end of June, and the Caps still holding a comfortable margin over Spokane.

Much of the credit must go to catcher John Ritchey, the 25-year- old Negro who broke into organized ball in 1948 with the San Diego Padres. He hit 330 that year, and in 1949 led the Coast League catchers in fielding. Ritchey is still on his way up and will prob- ably make the Big- Leagues soon. :

It's just four years ago that Sam Maltin, then sports editor of the Daily Tribune, walked into that paper's office in Toronto with a rising young Negro catcher named Roy Campanella. Campy was backstopping for Montreal Royals in 1947, but he knew and we knew that he was slated for the Dodgers. He made it-the next year, and is now rated as the world’s best catcher, nothing less, :

I only watched. Campy in action once, but he was a_ beaut. Caught low, and had a honey of a throwing arm. Not only picks ‘em off at second, but gets many who take a lead-off at the third sack. In the 1949 World Series he surprised Phil (The *Scooter) Rizzuto to hellangone by throwing him out at third. “Nobody ever did that before,” said the crestfallen Yankee star. _

Roy has an explanation. “When they take a long lead-off,” he says, “I whip the ball to third, but straight at their heads. Not many guys can duck and make tracks back at the same time.”

Maybe Ritchey isn’t another Campanella, but there’s no telling, He has style behind the plate, and is no lily when it comes to ‘bash- ing the ball. I don’t think he’s slated to stay in the WIL too long.

* * : *

- Why do National League ‘umpires (and WIL umps) wear their

_ chest protectors inside their coats and the American League officials

outside? The latter gives better protection, so why not standardize

things?

PT Clippers, with Sid Sheard on the mound and Len Pye behind «the plate, downed Western Bridge, 7-2, on Tuesday night this week to hang onto fifth place in the Industrial Union Baseball League. In two previous games Clippers lost to Cliffords Grill

and Boilermakers. Coming games are against Boilermakers on June 80 and Longshoremen on July 5.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — JUNE 29, 1951 — PAGE li

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