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DEMPSEY IN NEVADA

By Guy Clifton

Jack Dempsey first rode into Nevada clinging to the underbelly of a train, too poor to purchase a ticket for one of the passenger cars. In later years, Demspey, the heavyweight boxing champion from 1919 to 1926, returned to a hero’s welcome with newspapermen, children and divorcees following his every move.

Many people are surprised to learn that Demspey once called Nevada home. Little remains to commemorate that time other than the yellowed archives of Nevada newspapers and the memories of a handful of old-timers. The fact is Dempsey left footprints all over the Silver State that affected the entire sporting arena.

Dempsey helped usher in the era known as “The Golden Age of Sport.” Along with baseball’s Babe Ruth, football’s Red Grange, golf’s Bobby Jones and tennis’ Bill Tilden, Dempsey was a giant of the era and made more money in a single fight than all the others combined. Babe Ruth’s largest salary with the Yankees was $85,000. Dempsey made $717,000 for his first fight with Gene Tunney.

He lost his fortune in the stock market crash of 1929 and set about reclaiming it with Reno as his base in the early 1930s, first as a fight promoter and then, once again, as a fighter as he set out to reclaim the heavyweight championship.

This rags to riches story of sports legend Jack Dempsey as played out against the background of the Silver State’s early 20th century exemplifies the American spirit of man and place.

REVIEWS

Just when you thought you knew everything there was to know about Jack Dempsey, along comes Guy Clifton with his “Dempsey in Nevada” book giving you a rare look at the man who was the most famous sports personality of the early 20th century—in an extremely interesting and never-before-seen read. It is a new way of looking at an old legend.

You really find out how little you know about boxing history. My God, that’s when men were men. They had to fight for nothing. I really like the book. It’s interesting. It flows. It is good reading.

Guy Clifton’s meticulously-researched and wonderfully-illustrated volume captures virtually everything you wanted to know about boxing great Jack Dempsey in Nevada. Much of Dempsey’s early life was tied to Nevada: his fights in Reno, Tonopah, Goldfield and Ely, the women he loved and divorced, and the association with the overlords of Reno’s underworld. Clifton’s work is a labor of love that ensures future generations will know what Dempsey meant to Nevada and what Nevada meant to Dempsey.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Guy Clifton, a third-generation Nevadan, has been a sportswriter since 1982, receiving state, regional and national awards for his writing. He has worked for the North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, Gardnerville Record-Courier, Fishing and Hunting News, and the Tahoe World. He is currently a senior reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal. “Dempsey in Nevada” is his fourth book. He has also written “Reno Rodeo: A History,” and two volumes of “You Know You’re a Nevadan If…”

Best ‘Nevada’ book of the year

“It’s a technical knockout for any boxing aficionado who seeks to understand one of the fight game’s historical giants… For Clifton, an award-winning reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal, working Dempsey’s corner was as natural as a hook off a jab. Clifton goes a long way to returning the legend to life and cutting through the hyperbole that followed his career. Clifton’s work tops my list of favorites by local authors in 2007.”

– John L. Smith, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Book Details

Title: Dempsey In Nevada

Author: Guy Clifton

Publication Date: November 24, 2007

Size: 9.1″ x 6.1″, 167 pp.

ISBN: 9780930083335

$24.95

Available from Baobab Press affiliate  Sundance Books and Music