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Regardless of differing public viewpoints, the Ultimate Fighting Championship site nearing completion on the White House lawn, beneath a giant U.S. flag-bedecked 90-foot arch, is a real head-turner.
Construction on the 120-square-foot site with the octagon – where combatants will punch, kick and wrestle beneath looming bleachers that will hold much of the invited crowd of 4,300 expected to attend – began May 25 and must be completed by June 13, the eve of the nationally televised event. Event planners also foresee up to 80,000 people watching the competition on giant screens on the adjacent Ellipse.
That is an attention-grabbing 19-day construction period. President Donald Trump, a big UFC fan, has proclaimed the event will be “the greatest show on Earth” and has mused openly about keeping the site standing after America’s recognition of the 250th anniversary of independence fades away. Dana White, UFC boss, expects the sport he runs will lose $30 million.
But remarkably, this is not the first time in American professional sports history when there was a frantic rush to meet a deadline to construct a sports venue. It was a giant venue, and it rose where a marshland covered with garbage sprawled in Jersey City.
It was 105 years ago – 1921 – and big-name boxing promoter Tex Rickard was looking for a site to hold the heavyweight championship bout between champion Jack “The Manassa Mauler” Dempsey and challenger Georges Carpentier, the light heavyweight champion and a French World War I hero. Rickard wanted to hold the match, hyped as the Fight of the Century, at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, but boxing was banned in New York state. So he headed across the Hudson River to Jersey City, where Frank “I Am the Law” Hague was the widely regarded as corrupt mayor who quickly recognized an opportunity for everyone involved to make a worthwhile amount of money.
Hague helped Rickard obtain Boyle’s Thirty Acres, 34 acres of marshland polluted with all sorts of garbage about 2 miles west of where the Holland Tunnel was being constructed. Gov. Edward I. Edwards’ two brothers were chosen as the builders.
More: Inside Flemington's little-known hanging of the youngest person ever executed in the US
Peter Begans, curator and lecturer at the Museum of Jersey City History and the Finally Home Jersey City website, provided insight and details about Boyle’s Thirty Acres and the fight.
Construction of the entirely wooden, outdoor, octagonal arena began April 28, 1921, with the fight set for July 2 – a 64-day period. Rickard planned a 50,000-seat site, but growing demand for tickets for what was billed as a boxing showdown second only to the fight between David and Goliath forced a change. At least $100,000 worth of tickets were sold before the site was announced, so the capacity was increased to 80,000.
The race to meet bell time was on. Five hundred carpenters and 400 laborers were hired to build the 300,000-square-foot arena with 2,250,000 feet of pine lumber and 60 tons of nails. In a final step, seat numbers were stenciled on the night before the fight. Ground-level seats were borrowed from Madison Square Garden. At a cost of $250,000, it was the largest amphitheater ever built.
Rickard named the arena the Pine Bowl. History recalls it as Boyle’s Thirty Acres. “Not since I have been in this promotion have I met a more enthusiastic body of men than in Jersey City,” Rickard declared.
RCA, for the first time, broadcast a championship fight to 61 cities. The bout was filmed and shown nationally in movie theaters. The Chicago Tribune had a plane standing by to fly fight photos to the Windy City. Paris officials arranged to have a plane fly over the city that would signal the winner – red for Carpentier, white for Dempsey. The day after the fight, The New York Times ran six columns of fight stories on the front page and 12 pages of additional stories and photos inside.
Ringside tickets went for $50. That would equal $922 today. A ticket for the last row, 104 yards from the ring, went for $5.50, or $102 today. The gate netted the promoters a record $1.8 million. As for Mayor Hague, he reportedly got $80,000 under the table. That would be $1.4 million today.
A throng of 91,615 boxing fans turned out. Among them were the wealthy and celebrities, including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller Jr., William H. Vanderbilt, Vincent Astor, George M. Cohan, Al Jolson and Tom Mix. It was the first time women were permitted to attend a professional fight, and reportedly some 2,000 showed up. But a review of crowd photos fails to show any.
More: Historians say NJ site may predate West Point as first academy
Much like the news media have repeatedly provided details on how to reach the Meadowlands for the World Cup soccer matches, Begans noted newspapers told ticketholders how to get to Boyle’s Thirty Acres. Most arrived by buses, trains and ferries, but others traveled by private rail car, limousines, yachts and even chartered tugboats.
A total of 2,900 police officers and firefighters closed streets four blocks from the arena, and only ticketholders were allowed beyond the barricades. “Hague built the police force in a most effective manner,” Begans said. “Any problem was quickly taken care of.”
Carpentier, a wounded and decorated French World War I fighter pilot, was the crowd favorite. Dempsey, who somehow dodged the military draft but continued to box, was seen as the villain. Spectators booed and shouted “draft dodger” and “slacker” as he entered the ring.
In the second round, Carpentier broke his right thumb punching Dempsey in the face. In the fourth round, Dempsey knocked him down twice. The second time, Carpentier could not get up. Dempsey retained the championship. He took home $300,000; Carpentier $200,000.
Fights continued at Boyle’s Thirty Acres for six more years. In 1924, Harry Wills, the “World Colored” heavyweight champion, defeated Luis Ángel Firpo, the “Wild Bull of the Pampas,” in another heavily attended match.
More: UFC goes from 'human cockfighting' to the White House in 30 years
But in the 1920s, the heyday of professional boxing, the major matches moved across the river when New York state began welcoming events at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium. In 1927, Rickard had Boyle’s Thirty Acres demolished and sold the pine scrap wood.
A restaurant once named Thirty Acres in Jersey City took its name from the historic site, though it has since closed. There is no historical marker.
Tom Hester is a retired 42-year New Jersey daily newspaper journalist. He was part of the Newark Star-Ledger staff that earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2005.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: White House UFC arena echoes 1921 Dempsey fight build
Continue reading...
Construction on the 120-square-foot site with the octagon – where combatants will punch, kick and wrestle beneath looming bleachers that will hold much of the invited crowd of 4,300 expected to attend – began May 25 and must be completed by June 13, the eve of the nationally televised event. Event planners also foresee up to 80,000 people watching the competition on giant screens on the adjacent Ellipse.
That is an attention-grabbing 19-day construction period. President Donald Trump, a big UFC fan, has proclaimed the event will be “the greatest show on Earth” and has mused openly about keeping the site standing after America’s recognition of the 250th anniversary of independence fades away. Dana White, UFC boss, expects the sport he runs will lose $30 million.
But remarkably, this is not the first time in American professional sports history when there was a frantic rush to meet a deadline to construct a sports venue. It was a giant venue, and it rose where a marshland covered with garbage sprawled in Jersey City.
It was 105 years ago – 1921 – and big-name boxing promoter Tex Rickard was looking for a site to hold the heavyweight championship bout between champion Jack “The Manassa Mauler” Dempsey and challenger Georges Carpentier, the light heavyweight champion and a French World War I hero. Rickard wanted to hold the match, hyped as the Fight of the Century, at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan, but boxing was banned in New York state. So he headed across the Hudson River to Jersey City, where Frank “I Am the Law” Hague was the widely regarded as corrupt mayor who quickly recognized an opportunity for everyone involved to make a worthwhile amount of money.
Hague helped Rickard obtain Boyle’s Thirty Acres, 34 acres of marshland polluted with all sorts of garbage about 2 miles west of where the Holland Tunnel was being constructed. Gov. Edward I. Edwards’ two brothers were chosen as the builders.
More: Inside Flemington's little-known hanging of the youngest person ever executed in the US
Peter Begans, curator and lecturer at the Museum of Jersey City History and the Finally Home Jersey City website, provided insight and details about Boyle’s Thirty Acres and the fight.
Construction of the entirely wooden, outdoor, octagonal arena began April 28, 1921, with the fight set for July 2 – a 64-day period. Rickard planned a 50,000-seat site, but growing demand for tickets for what was billed as a boxing showdown second only to the fight between David and Goliath forced a change. At least $100,000 worth of tickets were sold before the site was announced, so the capacity was increased to 80,000.
The race to meet bell time was on. Five hundred carpenters and 400 laborers were hired to build the 300,000-square-foot arena with 2,250,000 feet of pine lumber and 60 tons of nails. In a final step, seat numbers were stenciled on the night before the fight. Ground-level seats were borrowed from Madison Square Garden. At a cost of $250,000, it was the largest amphitheater ever built.
Rickard named the arena the Pine Bowl. History recalls it as Boyle’s Thirty Acres. “Not since I have been in this promotion have I met a more enthusiastic body of men than in Jersey City,” Rickard declared.
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RCA, for the first time, broadcast a championship fight to 61 cities. The bout was filmed and shown nationally in movie theaters. The Chicago Tribune had a plane standing by to fly fight photos to the Windy City. Paris officials arranged to have a plane fly over the city that would signal the winner – red for Carpentier, white for Dempsey. The day after the fight, The New York Times ran six columns of fight stories on the front page and 12 pages of additional stories and photos inside.
Ringside tickets went for $50. That would equal $922 today. A ticket for the last row, 104 yards from the ring, went for $5.50, or $102 today. The gate netted the promoters a record $1.8 million. As for Mayor Hague, he reportedly got $80,000 under the table. That would be $1.4 million today.
A throng of 91,615 boxing fans turned out. Among them were the wealthy and celebrities, including Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller Jr., William H. Vanderbilt, Vincent Astor, George M. Cohan, Al Jolson and Tom Mix. It was the first time women were permitted to attend a professional fight, and reportedly some 2,000 showed up. But a review of crowd photos fails to show any.
More: Historians say NJ site may predate West Point as first academy
Much like the news media have repeatedly provided details on how to reach the Meadowlands for the World Cup soccer matches, Begans noted newspapers told ticketholders how to get to Boyle’s Thirty Acres. Most arrived by buses, trains and ferries, but others traveled by private rail car, limousines, yachts and even chartered tugboats.
A total of 2,900 police officers and firefighters closed streets four blocks from the arena, and only ticketholders were allowed beyond the barricades. “Hague built the police force in a most effective manner,” Begans said. “Any problem was quickly taken care of.”
Carpentier, a wounded and decorated French World War I fighter pilot, was the crowd favorite. Dempsey, who somehow dodged the military draft but continued to box, was seen as the villain. Spectators booed and shouted “draft dodger” and “slacker” as he entered the ring.
In the second round, Carpentier broke his right thumb punching Dempsey in the face. In the fourth round, Dempsey knocked him down twice. The second time, Carpentier could not get up. Dempsey retained the championship. He took home $300,000; Carpentier $200,000.
You must be registered for see images attach
Fights continued at Boyle’s Thirty Acres for six more years. In 1924, Harry Wills, the “World Colored” heavyweight champion, defeated Luis Ángel Firpo, the “Wild Bull of the Pampas,” in another heavily attended match.
More: UFC goes from 'human cockfighting' to the White House in 30 years
But in the 1920s, the heyday of professional boxing, the major matches moved across the river when New York state began welcoming events at the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium. In 1927, Rickard had Boyle’s Thirty Acres demolished and sold the pine scrap wood.
A restaurant once named Thirty Acres in Jersey City took its name from the historic site, though it has since closed. There is no historical marker.
Tom Hester is a retired 42-year New Jersey daily newspaper journalist. He was part of the Newark Star-Ledger staff that earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2005.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: White House UFC arena echoes 1921 Dempsey fight build
Continue reading...
