Harry Wills, Shot for Glory Denied
(This is another excerpt from my upcoming book, "Boxing in the Shadow." Harry Wills was a leading heavyweight contender in the 1920s but never received his shot at a title. Read and find out why.
Between 1915 and 1927, Harry Wills was one of the best fighters, if not the best, in the heavyweight division. Yet, he never got his chance to fight for the heavyweight championship. Like other black fighters in the early part of the past century, Harry Wills was nothing but a footnote in boxing history. What denied Wills his place in history was the color of his skin. At a time in which the heavyweight championship was considered the purview of the Caucasian race, Harry Wills tilled in the heavyweight division hinterland. After Jack Johnson’s reign as champion ended, white promoters were determined not to allow blacks a whiff at the championship belt.
Jack Johnson’s personal conduct outside the ring scandalized White America, as modesty and humility were not part of his make up. Jack Johnson essentially gave White America the middle finger as he violated every taboo of his time. Jack Johnson found white women more to his liking as he said, “Every colored lady I ever went with two-timed me, white girls didn’t.” And when he was not bedding white women, he was beating white heavyweights. He did not just beat his opponent; he taunted and tortured them before beating them. Sports writer Ring Ladner described Jack Johnson as that “grinning Negro whose delight was in whipping purpose.” Johnson spent the last years of his championship reign outside the country and eventually lost his title to Jess Willard under the scorching Havana sun.
Harry Wills came into his own as a fighter after Johnson relinquished his title in 1915. A strong fighter and big for his era, Harry Wills used his size to an advantage. Black boxing historian Kevin Smith told me in an EMAIL interview that Harry Wills' skills, “would be considered good for his day. His strength was his asset. He could move other men around the ring as he pleased. He couldn’t understand why he never did receive a title shot. He was considered the top contender for almost seven years. No number one contender could be ignored for that long today — but the racial tones of that time simply would not allow such a bout.”
Kevin Smith added that Wills was at his best during the late teens and the early 20s. If Dempsey had fought Wills then, it would have been a great fight. Luis Firpo, a similar fighter to Wills, nearly ended Dempsey’s reign as champion when he knocked the Manassa Mauler out of the ring. Firpo’s eventual loss did not diminish the fact that a Wills-Dempsey bout in 1920 or 1921 would have been a splendid event. Dempsey was not invincible, as Tunney would later show. Wills developed his boxing skills by fighting several quality opponents, including the great Sam Langford, Sam McVey, and Joe Jeannette.
Article comments
1 - Floyd Thomas, Jr.
Thank you for this interesting and informative article on Harry Wills. His is another story of what might have been. Wills was victorious against most of his opponents in the ring but he could not defeat the powerful forces that denied him the opportunity to fight for the heavyweight championship. A number one contender and the Colored champion of 1922, Wills should not be forgotten. Harry Wills will be included in the exhibition "A Presence With Impact: The History of American Blacks in Sports" at the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio, which opens in Oct. 2006. Museum staff are seeking materials to represent Wills and other great African American athletes in the exhibition.
Thank you for your interest in Harry Wills and for the article that will bring him to the attention of all who have the good fortune to read it.
Floyd Thomas, Jr.
Curator
937-376-4944 ext 133
2 - Jon Mirsky
Roger Kahn, once one of our great sportswriters, has sadly become a doddering old fool.
I will debate him
1)anytime
2)any place
3)in any type of forum
about the Wills-Dempsey controversy. His lack of knowledge about Harry Wills is disgraceful and clearly revealed by his treatment of the subject in Pure Flame. I guarantee you that Kahn does not know 1/100th and probably doesn't know 1/1000th of what I know about Wills. I guarantee you that his knowledge of Wills' career before he slowed down in 1923 is *extremely* limited.
Kahn's Dempsey worship makes his book an embarrassing hagiography. I might expect the same from a Gene Fowler, but Kahn was not only a modern sportswriter, but one of the best. Predictably, Kahn has listened to the people he *wants* to listen to about Dempsey-Wills.
Fact: Dempsey, over the course of SEVEN years, defended his title FIVE times before losing to Tunney. Of the five fighters he met, only two of them were legitimate heavyweights, and one of those two was so crude and unskilled that a past his prime Wills whipped the bum like an amateur.
Fact: Over seven years as the Heavyweight Champion, Dempsey did not once fight against the top rated challenger (it was always the same guy).
Fact: Dempsey's handlers destroyed his legacy (or at least they should have, but for old men drowning in their beer cups like Kahn).
3 - gerri cathcart
I am the neice of Sarah Wills, Harry Will's wife. I would certainly like to talk to someone who is obviously so knowledgeable about my Uncle Harry.
4 - Jon Mirsky
Oh my God. Gerri, my heart just stopped when I read your posting.
I haven't been back to this page in months- God willing, you're still out there...
I have been searching for YEARS for anyone related to Harry or Sarah, and have run into nothing but dead ends.
I have tried virtually every way I could think of to track someone down, with not even the slightest hint of success.
To say I would be honored to meet you and discuss Harry and Sarah with you would very much understate the case- I can hardly believe this opportunity exists.
Please contact me at the email address above!
Terrifically excited,
Jon
5 - Clay Moyle
Gerri,
I would be very interested to hear from you as well. I recently completed a manuscript about Sam Langford's life and boxing career and would like to talk with you about your uncle.
Regards,
Clay Moyle
6 - Tommy K
Is it really necessary to attempt to demean the great Jack Dempsey?
Harry Wills, despite not being given the chance in his day to grab a share of the heavyweight championship, is still recognized, today, as a great fighter.
7 - Joe Alvin
Yeah no offense Jon but theres no need to attack Dempsey like that. He did want the fight with Wills, I've never heard anyone dispute that but the forces from above stopped the fight happening. Dempsey wasnt really a 'legitimate' heavyweight himself, he was a blown up middleweight with ferocious knockout power. Also you forget about all the tough heavyweights Dempsey blew away when he didnt have the title.
Having said that I am sorry Wills never got the fight he deserved. Personally I think Dempsey would have won but you never really know these things for sure. It would have been a hell of a fight, its just a shame that Wills and the fans missed out.