Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946)

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Chester Gould created the Dick Tracy comic strip in 1931. Originally published through the Detroit Metro, the strip moved to the Chicago Tribune where it made the paper and Gould rich through syndication. It was only a matter of time before Dick Tracy made his debut on the silver screen. Ralph Byrd played Dick Tracy in four 15 chapter serials

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Sam Langford Fights the Dixie Kid

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As I have written in several posts, the best heavyweight boxers between 1900 and 1919 were the African-American boxers forced to fight each other for the “Colored Championship”.  Even after the great Jack Johnson finally broke the color line and won the World Heavyweight Championship, he would only defend the title against white contenders. As a result, the toughest challengers

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Alexander Baptiste Passes at 100

george-baptiste

On September 15, 1919, St. Louis citizens woke up to read about the death of one of their oldest citizens, Alexander Baptiste.  Just a few months before his 101st or 102nd birthday depending on which source you believed, Alexander Baptiste passed away from intestinal disease. For years, Alexander was known as one of the fittest St. Louisans.  An early advocate

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“Terrible” Terry Shows His Power

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“Terrible” Terry McGovern proved to be a rare fighter at the turn of the Twentieth Century.  While smaller boxers packed no power in their punches, McGovern, who scaled between 110 and 126 pounds, possessed tremendous knockout power.  “Terrible” Terry often finished his opponents in the first four rounds. On July 1, 1899, Brooklyn based McGovern met Chicago’s Johnny Richie at

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Evan Lewis Strangles Tom Cannon

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On August 26, 1886, Evan “Strangler” Lewis met the British Wrestling Champion Tom Cannon in Cincinnati, Ohio.  During the legitimate wrestling era, other wrestlers feared the powerful Lewis because of his stranglehold. Lewis employed a carotid arterial strangle known as the rear naked choke in Judo.  At least that was what I originally thought and most historians have quoted.  Modern

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