“Terrible” Terry Dies in Charity Hospital
On February 22, 1918, former World Bantamweight and Featherweight Boxing Champion “Terrible” Terry McGovern died in New York City’s Kings County Hospital. McGovern checked in a few days earlier with what McGovern thought was a severe upper respiratory infection.
However, doctors diagnosed pneumonia. McGovern went from walking and talking to unresponsive in just one or two days. McGovern never recovered. His mother and wife saw McGovern only a few hours before he died. McGovern was only 37 years old and left a wife and 19-year-old son, Joe.
“Terrible” Terry McGovern in His Boxing Prime
McGovern burst onto the boxing scene in the late 1890s with his unusual punching power for a small fighter. McGovern never weighed more than 128 pounds in his boxing career but knocked out 45 of his opponents on McGovern’s way to 65 victories.
McGovern won his first world title, World Bantamweight Boxing Championship, from Pedlar Palmer on September 12, 1899. McGovern added the World Featherweight Boxing Championship, when McGovern defeated George Dixon on January 9, 1900.
On July 16, 1900, McGovern fought World Lightweight Boxing Champion Frank Erne in a non-title match in Madison Square Garden. The men fought at 128 pounds. McGovern knocked Erne out in the third round.
McGovern carried out all these victories by the time McGovern was 20 years old. McGovern looked like an unbeatable machine. However, Young Corbett knocked McGovern out at the end of 1901. Lighter fighters tend to have shorter careers which end in their 20s.
McGovern fought for five more years but McGovern never won another world title. McGovern divided his time between professional boxing and vaudeville. Newspapers claimed McGovern earned over $200,000 during his career.
McGovern suffered a nervous breakdown in the 1910s, which may have contributed to McGovern’s early death. McGovern would be mentally healthy for a while. McGovern would suffer a setback and need to return to the hospital.
McGovern spent most of his money. If not for his former manager, Sam Harris, McGovern would have died penniless.
Harris started producing Broadway plays after boxing. Harris managed McGovern’s remaining money. Harris gave McGovern’s widow a check for $10,000, the rest of McGovern’s fortune.
Harris also paid for the funeral to preserve McGovern’s remaining money for McGovern’s widow. An early death for a great champion.
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Sources: New York Tribune (New York, New York) February 23, 1918, p. 12
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