Jack Dempsey’s first trip to Nevada came as he clung to the underbelly of a train, a dangerous practice known as “riding the rods” and utilized by those too poor to purchase a ticket for one of the passenger cars.

In later years, Dempsey, 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 Dempsey 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.

A new book by writer Guy Clifton, “Dempsey In Nevada”, is an untold chapter in Nevada’s history and an untold story in the life of one of the great sports figures of the 20th Century.

Jack Dempsey was born in Colorado and raised in Utah, but he was hardened in the rough-and-tumble mining camps of Nevada where he literally fought to eat. After winning the world heavyweight championship in 1919 – a title he held until 1926 – he became the greatest drawing card in sports, attracting tens of thousands of spectators to each of his bouts. He fought in the first $1 million gate in 1921 against French war hero Georges Carpentier and the first $2 million gate in 1927 against Gene Tunney in the famous “long-count” fight.

Dempsey helped usher in the era referred to 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. Among his lifelong Nevada adventures:

• He took an unceremonious wheelbarrow ride in Goldfield after Johnny Sudenberg knocked him silly in a 1915 bout.
• He was held up by gunmen in a Tonopah saloon.
• His first wife was a prostitute in a Wells brothel. He divorced his second wife in Reno, married his third in Elko and waited nervously in Reno for his fourth wife to get divorced from her first husband.
• He was spied upon in Reno by an FBI informant.
• He trained and worked the mines in Midas, where the town honored him with a dance.
• He had three bouts in Ely on his way to the heavyweight championship.
• He picked potatoes near Dayton.
• He owned a home in Reno.
• He met with Nevada legislators prior to their vote to legalize gambling.
• One of his mining partners was later imprisoned for harboring gangster “Baby Face” Nelson.

Author Guy Clifton spent more than two years researching and writing “Dempsey In Nevada.” That research included hundreds of hours pouring over newspaper microfilm and oral histories of Nevada residents. He also conducted interviews with Nevada old-timers who knew Dempsey personally.

“Guy Clifton’s meticulously researched and wonderfully illustrated volume captures virtually everything you wanted to know about boxing great Jack Dempsey in Nevada,” said Nevada State Archivist Guy Rocha.

Dempsey in Nevada is Clifton’s fourth book. He has also written Reno Rodeo: A History and two volumes of You Know You’re a Nevadan, if … Clifton is a third-generation Nevadan. He grew up in the central Nevada mining community of Gabbs and majored in journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno. He is a senior reporter for the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Dempsey in Nevada, available November 24, is a joint production of Baobab Books and Jack Bacon & Co. It is available at Sundance Bookstore, www.sundancebookstore.com, www.jackbacon.com or via mail order by calling Sundance Bookstore at (775) 786-1188.

Note: Guy Clifton can be reached for interviews at (775) 788-6337 or via e-mail at gclifton@rgj.com.

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