Sports Deaths and Disasters
Sports Deaths & Disasters 1913-2013 is a new two ebook series that will be released in the summer of 2013. There will be more than 100 stories of some of the worst disasters in sports.
Book One: 1913-1962 was released on July 7, 2013. It is available for Kindle at Amazon for $0.99. It is now also available through Smashwords. Check the links page for more information.
Former boxing champ Emile Griffith died yesterday (Tuesday July 23, 2013). There is a chapter on Emile which focuses on his fights with Benny Paret. It is the 1962 chapter and is the final one in the book. Here it is...
Chapter 50: 1962
A Black Day for Boxing: It was a perfect storm of bullying, homophobia, lack of action etc. etc. and it would explode on national television on March 24, 1962 but I am getting way ahead of myself. Let’s set the stage. We’ll start with Emile Griffith. As a teenager Emile worked in a hat factory. On one particularly hot day in the factory, Emile took off his shirt. His boss took one look at Emile’s physique and whisked him away to a gym owned and run by Gil Clancy in New York City. Before Emile knew what hit him (pun intended), he was boxing and Clancy was his manager. Emile turned pro in 1958 at the age of 20. There were whispers about his sexuality even back then. He had been seen at the gay bars around Time Square.
Emile won his first 13 fights before being stopped by Randy Sandy on October 26, 1959. He then won 9 of his next 10 fights before challenging Benny “Kid” Paret for the World Welterweight Title on April 1, 1961. The fight would take place in Miami Beach. Let’s look in on Kid Paret.
Benny Paret came to the United States from Cuba just before Fidel Castro took over the country. He was managed by Cuban nightclub owner Manuel Alfaro. Alfaro was strictly in it for himself…more on that later. Paret had already rang up a record of 23-3 while in Cuba. In 1960 he took part in an elimination tournament to determine a new World Welterweight champion. On May 27, 1960 in Las Vegas he defeated Don Jordan for the title. Kid Paret defended the title by outpointing Luis Vederico Thompson on December 10. The stage was set for the April 1, 1961 fight with Emile Griffith.
Emile won the title that night by knocking out Kid Paret in the 13th round. If Griffith thought he had seen the last of Paret, he was badly mistaken. Emile fought and won two more fights before a rematch was set with Paret. The second fight between the two would take place on September 30 at Madison Square Garden in New York. This time the fight went the distance with Paret getting revenge by winning a split decision. Then Benny made a crucial mistake. He moved up in weight class to fight Gene Fullmer for the middleweight crown. Manuel Alfaro knew that his fighter would be in tough against the bigger and stronger Fullmer…he just didn’t care. It was another payday for him and, to put it simply, that’s all he cared about. The welfare of his fighter came a distant second to the money. Paret hit the mat three times in the 10th round and was finally counted out. There is no doubt that this fight had to take a lot out of Paret. Three months later, he had to defend his title in a third fight with Emile Griffith.
Meanwhile Emile Griffith had fought three times and looked sharp in winning all three. He was looking forward to the third fight with Kid Paret and hoped to regain his title. The perfect storm that we spoke of earlier began building momentum. It was about to gain much more. Not long before the fight, a gay friend of Emile’s was shot and killed in New York City. Emile was still hiding the fact that he was gay and was now a tortured soul. He had no one to talk to and no one to confide in. In New York in 1962 gay athletes just did not come out of the closet. There was another problem that was about to contribute to that perfect storm. Kid Paret’s manager, Manuel Alfaro, had heard the whispers about Emile. He knew his fighter needed an edge and now he provided it to Paret. At the weigh-in for the fight, Paret whispered “maricon” in Emile’s ear. Translated into English, maricon means queer or fag. Fifty years later, it is still a nasty gay slur. Emile was predictably infuriated. Paret continued to taunt him before the fight. Now, the perfect storm was building serious momentum. There was still more to come.
Ruby Goldstein was picked to referee the fight. He had always erred on the side of caution when it came to a fighter’s safety. However, recently he had been heavily criticized for stopping fights too early. What would he do this time if a fighter’s safety was in question? The fight was ready to go. During the early rounds, it was clear that Paret didn’t have much gas in the tank. Griffith scored early and often and was far ahead on points when Paret made a bit of a comeback by knocking down Griffith in the 6th round. Even with that knockdown, it was clear that Griffith would win this fight on points if it went the distance. It wouldn’t get that far. Paret continued to taunt Griffith throughout the fight but it didn’t help. In the 12th round Emile hit Paret with a solid right that stunned him. Paret was trapped in the corner with nowhere to run and no way to simply fall down. With Paret pinned in the corner, Emile hit him again and again. Paret’s corner refused to throw in the towel even with their fighter clearly in trouble. The referee also did not stop the fight probably concerned about the criticism he had recently received about stopping fights too early. Blow after blow landed as Emile Griffith unleashed all of his fury on the man who had called him “maricon.” The fight was finally stopped but it was far too late.
Benny “Kid” Paret never regained consciousness. He fell into a coma and died 10 days later. Ruby Goldstein was haunted by the 12th round and never refereed another fight. Emile fought on but always appeared to hold back when it was time to finish off his opponent. Almost 30 years to the day of the tragic fight, Emile was attacked outside a gay bar in New York City. He received a vicious beating that he never quite got over. In 2008 he authored an autobiography in which he wrote about the fight and his bisexuality. He now lives in a nursing home and suffers from dementia.
Gene Fullmer had this to say: “I never in my whole career hit a man as often and as hard as I hit Paret. I gave him a terrible beating that night. I can’t believe he didn’t retire after that fight. I won the fight and I didn’t fight again for awhile.”
Author’s note: A manager with any kind of conscience would not have allowed Paret to fight again after the Fullmer fight. During the fight, he would have thrown in the towel earlier to try and save his fighter from a beating. As far as I’m concerned, Manuel Alfaro is as much responsible for Paret’s death as anyone.
Here are two stories that also appear in the book. They are both from Book One Chapter 8: 1920. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 8: 1920
Death in the Batter’s Box – Ray began his baseball career with the Cleveland Naps of the American League at the age of 20 in 1912. His best year was in 1918 which was the same year that the Cleveland Naps became the Cleveland Indians. He led the American League in walks and runs scored as the Indians finished in second place, two games behind Boston.
In 1920, Ray married Kathleen Daly. Ray had said before the season began that he intended to retire. Kathleen’s father was a very wealthy Cleveland businessman and Ray was going to join the family business after baseball. Things were looking up for Ray as the season progressed. The Indians were in a three way race for the American League pennant with the New York Yankees and the Chicago White Sox. Cleveland arrived in New York on August 15 for a critical series with the Yankees. The first game of the series was an afternoon game at the old Polo Grounds on August 16. A crowd of 21,000 packed the stadium to watch a game that had significant playoff implications. Unfortunately, this game would be remembered for something else entirely.
It was a muggy day with the temperature in the 80’s and a light rain falling. The Yankees were starting their ace, Carl Mays, who was gunning for his 100th career win. The right hander was a bit of an enigma. He was blessed with talent but was strongly disliked, even by his own teammates. He was known as a headhunter and had no problem throwing high and inside if he thought that the batter was crowding the plate. Meanwhile, Ray Chapman was enjoying a fine year. He was batting .303 and playing very well defensively at shortstop. In the first inning, Ray bunted safely to get on base but did not score. He attempted another bunt in the third inning but popped out. The stage was now set for the at bat that would go down in infamy. Ray came to the plate in the top of the fifth inning with his Cleveland Indians ahead 3-0. With Ray having bunted twice, it made sense that Mays would pitch him inside to prevent Ray from crowding the plate. That’s exactly what Carl Mays did.
It was the first pitch of the inning and the last pitch that Ray Chapman would ever see. The pitch sailed high and inside and striking Ray on his left temple. It appeared that the hitter didn’t even try to get out of the way. Mays, thinking that the ball had hit Ray’s bat, fielded the ball and threw to first. Ray was down and not moving as the home plate umpire hollered for a doctor. When he arrived, two players helped Ray to his feet and supported him as they left the field. At the time, no one suspected the severity of Ray’s condition. The game continued. The Indians tacked on another run in the same inning to take a 4-0 lead. After that, Mays held Cleveland scoreless and a Yankee rally in the ninth inning fell short with the Indians hanging on for a 4-3 win.
Ray was taken to the St. Lawrence Hospital in Manhattan where x-rays revealed a skull fracture. Doctors operated to remove a bone fragment. His condition appeared to improve but Ray passed away during the early morning hours of the next day. Major league baseball had just suffered its first on field casualty. Ray’s wife Kathleen, who was now pregnant with the couple’s first child, rushed from Cleveland to be at his side but did not arrive in time. Later in the year, Kathleen gave birth to a baby girl. She named her Rae. Kathleen later remarried and it looked like she might have a happy ending after all. Sadly, it was not to be. Ever since Ray died, Kathleen had suffered from bouts of severe depression. In 1926, she took her own life by drinking cleaning fluid. The Chapman tragedies did not end there. In 1929, the couple’s daughter who was now nine years old, passed away after a severe case of the measles.
The Cleveland Indians dedicated the rest of the 1920 season to Ray. They won the American League pennant by two games over Chicago and three games over the Yankees. Then they went on to beat the Brooklyn Robins five games to two in the best of nine World Series. The Indians would only win it once more (1948) in the next 93 years. Carl Mays was eventually traded by the Yankees to the Cincinnati Reds. He pitched in the majors for another decade. His career numbers are good enough to be in the hall of fame but he never got elected. Before his death in 1971, he claimed that it was the one pitch that he threw back on that muggy afternoon in New York in 1920 that kept him out of the hall. He had always insisted that he never meant to hit Ray with that pitch.
Ray Chapman is buried in Cleveland. Nearly 100 years later, fans still visit the grave to leave Cleveland baseball memorabilia. Bats, gloves, banners and even money have been left at the grave. Ray is still the only major league baseball player to die as the result of an injury on the field of play. He was just 29 years old.
Hell Hath No Fury – Claude Tolzer was one of those guys who seemed to succeed at everything he tried. He attended the University of Sydney in Australia and graduated with a Bachelor of Medicine in 1914. While studying to be a doctor, he played cricket and was on the university’s premiership winning team in 1913-14. Before World War I intervened, Claude had played in four first class matches for New South Wales.
In May of 1915 Claude joined the army and served in the Australian Army Medical Corps. He survived a bout of paratyphoid fever in Egypt in 1916. Later that year, he was wounded in the head and leg while serving on the western front. Once he had recovered from those injuries he was posted to France where he served in hospitals and field units. When the war finally ended in 1918 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for “distinguished and gallant service and devotion to duty in the field.”
Claude returned to Australia and began a practice as a general practitioner in Sydney. He also returned to cricket and quickly re-established himself as a force making 452 runs in three matches. He was made captain of New South Wales and was due to take part in a match vs. Queensland on New Year’s Day. However, fate still had a card or two left to play.
Dr. Tolzer had been making house calls to one of his patients throughout much of 1920. The patient, Dorothy Mort, was suffering from depression and anxiety. Anyone, see what’s coming? Well, it seems that the good doctor was treating Dorothy for a little more than your run of the mill anxiety. There was a problem with all of this as you might guess. You see, Dorothy was very much married and Claude was engaged himself. It appears that the war hero/ace cricket player wasn’t above a little hanky panky. We are guessing that no one ever told Claude the old saying. You know, the one that goes “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” He would soon find out what it meant and, when he did, it would be too late.
On December 21, 1920 Claude broke the news to Dorothy. “Terribly sorry my dear, but I’m engaged to marry another woman.” As you might imagine, Mrs. Mort was not too impressed. She responded by firing two bullets into the cranium of the good doctor. Tolzer was already dead when Dorothy put another one in his chest for good measure. At her trial, Dorothy was found not guilty by reason of insanity. She was sentenced to an indefinite stay at the State Reformatory for Women near Sydney. She resided there until her release in 1929. All was forgiven by her husband Harold. He took her back to live with him in the same old house where she had murdered Claude Tolzer. The pair remained together until Harold’s death in 1950. Just in case you are wondering, Harold died from natural causes. Dorothy outlived them all. She died in 1966 at the age of 81.
Book Two is in the works and includes more than sixty stories from the years 1963-2013. Included are chapters on the Wichita State and Marshall plane crashes in 1970 that decimated the football programs of both universities. The 1972 chapter includes Roberto Clemente and Terror at the Munich Olympics. Murder at Arrowhead is the story of Jovan Belcher and the murder/suicide in 2012 that rocked the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs.