JESS WILLARD REED Jess Willard Reed passed away September 27, 2009, at Enloe Hospital in Chico, at the age of 87. He was born February 5, 1922 in Gordon, Nebraska to Edward and Daisy Reed. The family ...

One hundred and ten years ago yesterday, one of the most famous, celebrated and resented men in America stepped between the ropes of a ring that had been erected in Havana’s Oriental Park racetrack to ...

L. A. Firpo (“Argentine Ape”) knocked out Jess Willard (” Huge Anachronism of the Ring”) in eight rounds in Jersey City. Firpo received $110,000 as his share of the “gate”; Willard received $185,000.

JESS WILLARD ALEXANDER Known to family and friends as “J.W.”, “J”, and “Papa”, was born in Hockley, TX, February 23, 1916. He was the second of 7 children, born to Annie Ruth and Oscar Alexander Sr.

The crowd goes wild. The band breaks into a jubilant, drum-thumping march. The loser, a shave-headed Negro, is led from the ring, while speaking ruefully with a reporter. The winner, a white man, is ...