The Fearless Harry Greb book...

Abdullah, When I read "Give him to the Angels", I was very smitten with the book then..I recall it was much less extensive than Bill Paxton's book is today..But it made me a life long admirer of the Iron City Express...That book and my father,who saw the first Greb=Tunney bloodbath, MSG 1922..He worshipped Greb...Always said that Greb and Benny Leonard were the greatest fighters he ever saw, and he along with me tagging along saw Ray Robinson and Willie Pep,at their peaks...
Abdullah, one footnote=In 1945 or 1946,I was introduced by my uncle who owned a Quonset candy store, to a short and strong ex fighter named Soldier Bartfield...Soldier Bartfield, then in his late fifties, in front of my dad grabbed me in a clinch playfully pummeled my ribs,and pushed me around in good fun..He mentioned to us how he fought Harry Greb and Benny Leonard etc...My father who saw the teak tough Soldier Bartfield fight in the early 1920s,often pried Bartfield and me apart...Soldier Bartfield was a tough SOB in his day....I often think to myself after all those years, I was in a clinch with one of my hero Harry Greb's opponents,and being punched albeit not too hard, in the short ribs also. So even I have a connection with Harry Greb,Abdullah....B.B.

 

Now THAT's a post.

Thank you, Burt