Eye of the Storm

At 3:36 on the afternoon of July 4, 1923, Jack Dempsey entered the ring in Shelby, Montana. At that Dempsey was more than a half an hour late. As the argument raged,by the gate, between the referee Jimmy Doughtery and the promoters, Doughtery refusing to go on without payment in advance, Dempsey had already spent several uneasy minutes in the concession area, buffeted by bodyguards from a increasingly drunken and surley crowd. Finally, Dempsey made the unprecedent move of entering the ring first.

At 3:45 Tommy Gibbons entered the ring, to great crowd approval. Gibbons had trained in Shelby and become a "local" favorite. Another fifteen minutes would pass before referee Doughtery had entered the ring and the bout could get underway.

Dempsey seated with Trainer Jerry 'The Greek" Luvadis to his right.

Size: 4 3/4 X 6 3/4 in.