Jack Dempsey vs rocky Marciano

So this is a little more complicated calculation with really not enough info to fully determine the bottom line.

Dempsey PAID BACK a loan of an unspecified amount WITH INTEREST that he received in 1915 in 1919. So if we assume an interest rate of 10% which would have been a 2-3 points higher than a bank loan interest rate around 1920. If you do the calculations the original loan in 1915 would have been around $4500 which in 2017 dollars would have been $108,000.

 

I don't know that all the loan, or even any of the loan, was in 1915. It could have been money here and there over the years. Hard to say what the interest was.

I agree we can't determine the bottom line off what I know of this, but it is an interesting point that there might have been a potential source for help when he was short. And that Dempsey apparently never mentioned Auerbach in later years.

 

Your argument is with the newspaper report.

I don't think the loan was necessarily in 1915 or the sum paid back was for certainly for one loan only.

*I was right. I just read the whole original article and Auerbach states it was a whole series of loans whenever Dempsey was short.

 

It's possible the newspaper reports were lying. The media is known to embellish the truth and be less than honest. They tried painting Dempsey as a slacker who dodged the draft for the beginning of his title reign.

 

The article in question is from the New York Times, July 7, 1919, on page 21

DEMPSEY STARTS CAREER AS CHAMPION BY REPAYING MONEY ADVANCED TO HIM YEARS AGO.

DEMPSEY SETTLES WITH BENEFACTOR

REPAYS SALT LAKE CITY MAN THOUSANDS ADVANCED TO HELP HIM BEGIN HIS RING CAREER

PAYS FOR HIS TRIP ALSO

(long article, here are what I judge the relevant excerpts)--

The man is A. J. Auerbach, a businessman of Salt Lake City. It was he who first took an interest in Jack and helped him financially to get his start on his pugilistic career.

Auerbach's story goes back three or four years to Auerbach's store in Salt Lake City. Ethel Clark was one of his employees. A big raw-boned lad used to come in to see Mrs. Clark. Auerbach asked who he was. Mrs. Clark told Auerbach that it was her younger brother and that he was ambitious to become a boxer. He had appeared in several smokers and stags and had discovered that he could hit hard.
Auerbach became interested. He asked Jack if he had any money. Jack didn't have a dollar. So the business man helped the boy out with new clothes and started him to work in a gymnasium. Jack was quick to learn and ready to listen to advice.

"I knew he was a real fighter and was anxious to see him succeed," said Auerbach today. "Jack was a sensation from the start. He beat Terry Kellar twice and Kellar was considered a top man in those days. He also beat D-ck Gilbert and a number of good men and I knew my confidence in him was justified.
Remember, he was still a minor and I had no contract to act as his manager. I accepted none of the money he earned, but on the contrary, lent him money.
On August 22, 1916, shortly after Dempsey became 21, we entered into a contract whereby I was to be his manager for five years, or until August 22, 1921. I was to arrange all his matches, and in return receive (indecipherable) percent of his winnings. I have a copy of that contract with me. Things went along well until February, 1917, when Dempsey was knocked out by Jim Flynn in one round of their contest at Salt Lake City.
Dempsey was just a boy then, and the sudden possession of a considerable amount of money naturally went to his head. Some of his actions did not please me, and I asked him into my office and had a heart to heart talk with him, the result of the talk being that Jack and I parted.
'Go and find another manager to handle your affairs, and if you ever need any help you can call on me.'
I ________Dempsey, for I liked the boy, even if he had made mistakes, and I never lost interest in him. After that, things broke badly for Jack, and I frequently made him loans, till I figured it up and Jack owed me exactly $5,340.50."

Auerback goes on to say that several months earlier, after the Willard fight had been made, Dempsey came into his store and offered to make good his debt.

(Later, the article goes on, after the fight)

Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Auerbach was invited by Dempsey to call on him at the Boody House. When he entered the room, Jack handed him in cash $6,126.20, covering the debt with interest, and the money Mr. Auerbach had spent after leaving Salt Lake City, and Dempsey's conscience was relieved.
Incidentally, Auerbach won a lot of money on the fight.

(these excerpts are directly from the New York Times Archives, not a reprint)

I am sorry that I couldn't make out the % Auerbach was supposed to get in their contract.

 

I typed up what I judge the relevant excerpts. The full article is in the New York Times archive, online.

Be interested in your feedback.

I don't know that this article makes Dempsey look bad. It shows he pays his debts.

 

For the sake of completeness - 25% is the amount Auerbach said he was supposed to get.

 

thank you. I couldn't make that out.

 

It boils down to do you believe him or not ?If you don't, then the implication is that he wasn't telling the truth!

 

What exactly about Auerbach's story is hard to believe? That Dempsey wasn't necessarily starving all the time time prior to 1918? Auerbach did say Dempsey had no money when he met him.

 

I'm referring to Dempsey not Auerbach I lost interest in the rest of this when it became a financial conversion of different eras.

 

"financial conversion"

That was Perry. Nice of him to figure out that Dempsey got loans from Auerbach in total about $90,000 in modern dollars.

 

You must calculate the present value of a sum paid nearly 100 years ago in order to understand the true amount in today's dollars. Dempsey paid back in 1919 about $90,000 in today's dollars. A heft sum.

It's very possible he was loaned x dollars during a period of time. He could also have thrown it away on wine women and song. It also does not mean he was not starving once those funds were spent.

 

All right.

Anything is possible, I suppose. But it is rather odd to toss away so much money you haven't anything left for food.

 

Not really. Boxing history is full of great champions who blew fortunes. Most young men given a hefty sum would blow it to just have fun.

They found Mickey Walker laying in a gutter penniless back in the mid 70's only 10 miles from where I currently live. Mickey, a wealthy champion, blew his money also on wine women and song.