Shelby's "fight that won't stay dead" celebrated July 4
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Plans for Shelby's Champions Park were drawn more than 20 years ago and fundraising to complete the project soon followed. This July 4, on the 100th anniversary of the Dempsey-Gibbons fight, the outdoor interpretive memorial was dedicated. A grandson of Tommy Gibbons (who fought Jack Dempsey for the world heavyweight title in 1923) was the keynote speaker. Nearly 100 of Gibbons' descendants were on hand for the dedication and the boxing bouts held later at the Shelby fairgrounds.
The ill-fated Dempsey-Gibbons World's Heavyweight Championship boxing match held a century ago was celebrated last weekend in Shelby. The event is likely Montana's most illustrious sporting event because it was such a massive failure and bankrupt several of its backers, including four banks that had to close. It all started as a publicity stunt by some realtors in Shelby hoping to draw attention to the burgeoning prairie town and sell real estate.
The stunt ended up in an iron clad $300,000 contract with Jack Dempsey, through his infamous manager Jack 'Doc' Kearns. When the promoters from Shelby waffled on the money guarantee, Kearns declared the fight would not happen. Then a promise of "all the take from the gate" to Dempsey put the match on again. But by then many fans had lost interest. The 40,000-plus seat wooden stadium was completed but less than 20,000 fans showed up and many of them "crashed" the event rather than pay. The outcome was a declared win for Dempsey, both in the match and financially, but the backers in Shelby got hit hard.
Fast forward 80 years and two sons of a Michigan boxing fan, who talked often of the event in Shelby though he didn't attend the match, visited Shelby and were shocked to see no memorials to nor little mention of the great boxing event. One of the sons, a designer, drew up and donated a set of plans for what eventually became Champions Park. Twenty plus years after the original plans and a lot of fundraising the park was dedicated during the recent July 4 centennial celebration of the "fight that won't stay dead." My wife and I visited Shelby on July 4 and the town put on a fabulous celebration.
Champions Park, now completed, was officially dedicated
Champions Park is more than a tribute to the boxers, it recognizes many groups that helped grow and maintain Shelby. The memorial is located off US Hwy 2 just behind the Pizza Hut on the west side of Shelby. It's a part of the Carousel Rest Stop (another interesting story) that was completed a few years ago. Champions Park features steel cutouts of two boxers and a referee, more than life-sized, in a bosing ring.
The location of the memorial's boxing ring is just a few yards east and north of where the ring in the original 40,000-plus seat, octagon shaped wooden stadium was located. Around the ring, on separate permanent markers, are tributes to other champions of the area from the original natives who peopled the area to the oil workers, ranchers and farmers and railroaders who were the champions of the area's development.
Interestingly, the featured speaker for the dedication was the grandson of boxer Tommy Gibbons. Dr. Gerard Gibbons, an optometrist from California, recently completed a book about his famous grandfather and the younger Gibbons shared many insights about Tommy Gibbons, the man, and the famous fight of July 4, 1923.
Young Gibbons told how his grandfather and his entourage took to Shelby and the town took to the underdog fighter. Tommy Gibbons, who was a rising star in the boxing world, set up his training camp in Shelby while Dempsey's camp was in the more cosmopolitan Great Falls. Locals took to the Gibbons family and Gerard Gibbons told how Tommy Gibbons mother, who had never seen her son box, sat on the porch of their gabled rented house on a hill overlooking the newly finished fight stadium and watched the 15-round boxing match.
As Dr. Gibbons shared the story of the fight he told how his grandfather became the darling of the upcoming match. It was predicted Dempsey would finish Tommy Gibbons off early in the 15-round match. Very few boxers could last against Jack Dempsey's punishing blows. Gibbons lasted all 15 rounds and later described his strategy as "trying not to get hit." He made it but lost the decision. Kearns grabbed the gate money and hopped a train out of town.
Dr. Gibbons had a different take on the outcome noting, "Shelby, like my grandfather, kept standing to the end." He then shared a story of a quote attributed to Body Johnson, Shelby's first mayor and one of the fight's promoters. Johnson said, "It Shelby Done!" about the fight. Young Gibbons then pointed out the phrase could also be said "It Shall Be Done!" Tommy Gibbons grandson concluded, "That's really the spirit that makes Shelby so great and that my grandfather recognized about the town. Today we celebrate not only the centennial of that world's heavyweight championship boxing match but also celebrate Shelby and its people."
Gibbons then looked at the crowd of about 200 people and said, "I want all the Gibbons family to come up for a family photograph here at Champions Park." Shane Adams, the executive director of the local chamber of commerce said there were between 75-100 family members who came for the dedication and celebration. Once arrayed in front of the steel cut outs of boxers the family began to chant, "It Shelby Done! It Shelby Done!" it was quite a sight.
The rest of the story
The dedication of Champions Park was a big deal but there were a lot of other things going on during the centennial celebration. There was an early morning breakfast hosted by a local church, then the firemen served a barbeque lunch. There was a car show down town on Main Street and vendors and more food booths as well. The Marias Museum had special exhibits related to the fight's history and even served ice cream and cookies. Later there was a street dance followed by a fireworks show.
Dr. Gerard Gibbons, a grandson of heavyweight contender Tommy Gibbons, gave the keynote speech at the July 4 dedication of Champions Park in Shelby. Gibbons (circled in this photo) was joined with almost 100 family members who were on hand for the dedication-many traveling from Minnesota, Tommy Gibbons home state. Two members of the Gibbons family fought in the boxing bouts held later in the day at the Shelby fairgrounds.
But the centennial organizing committee did not neglect the reason there was even a centennial going on. The committee put together 10 boxing matches starting at 3pm at the fairgrounds on the east side of town. The main event and last fight on the boxing card was between Ryan Gibbons, a relative of Tommy's and also from St. Paul, Minnesota, and Tristan Gregory, a fighter from Great Falls. The ring was set up on the dirt track in front of the grandstand with a few special 'ringside' tables and chairs. It was said 2000 tickets were available and it appeared, from the crowd in the grandstand that most of the tickets were sold. A slight sprinkle of rain caused a few anxious moments but the random rain showers soon moved on.
The ring was set up on the dirt track in front of the grandstand with a few special 'ringside' tables and chairs. It was said 2000 tickets were available and it appeared, from the crowd in the grandstand that most of the tickets were sold. A slight sprinkle of rain caused a few anxious moments but the random rain showers soon moved on.
There were two Gibbons fighters on the card and that likely explained the large number of family members in town, many from Minnesota. Ryan Gibbons won the main event. Some say Tommy Gibbons also won his bout 100 years ago because he lasted 15 rounds against Jack "The Manassa Mauler" Dempsey.
No matter how the boxing championship turned out a hundred years ago its centennial celebration was a big success. And several commentators during the dedication of the Champions Park said they believed that the spirit that helped the town survive the failed boxing event actually helped the town learn to" buck up and move on" and continue to thrive.
