Lancaster New Era - Friday, May 20, 1932 (page 16) Erne Comes Back By Damon Runyon Brown clothes, brown Bangkok hat, brown shirt, brown tie, brown shoes, and just the right shade of tan linen apats to blench with the brown ensemble — such was the symphony in brown that was revealed to my astonished gaze in Mr. Doesserich's Pioneer gymnasium Wednesday afternoon. "My goodness," I my-goodnesses to Mr. Doc Morris, the sports scribe, "that's quite a dude there. Who might he be?" "Well," said the Doc, "he might be Gene Tunney, but he isn't. He's Frank Erne." (Doc pronounces it "Ernie.") So he was, so he was, to be sure. I could see that for myself on closer inspection. It had been so long since I had clapped eyes on Frank Erne (I pronounce it "Urn") that I had forgotten his contour. But there he was, a slightly rotund, dapper, Wall-streetish looking chap, with specs across his face through which he gazed at the toiling gladiators in the gym as if the scene was wholy new and strange to him. A stranger would never have picked him out as a former lightweight champion of the whole world, and one of the greatest boxers that rubbed shoes in resin. Only Small Scar Not a mark on him, save a small scar over one eye. "And gosh, what a bleeder he was when he was fighting," commented Tom O'Rourke, the silv'ry haired old manager who had come in with Erne. "Yes, sir,he could bleed more than any man I ever saw, ecept Joe Choynski." Rising seventy-six is Tom O'Rourke, and bar a little rheumatism in the knee joints, as clear eyed and spry as any manager in the boxing game, and twice as alert mentally. He used to run a boxing club in what is now the Pioneer gymnassium, andhe glaced about the ancient hall with reminiscent eye. "I once put $22,000 in this place with Knockout Brown and Ad Wolgast, then lightweight champion," he said. "You don't come around gymnasiusms much," I remarked to Frank Erne, as the one-time king of the lightweights watched, with a slightly startled expression, a youth shadow-boing in one of the rings. It was even money the youth would knock himself out before he got through. "No," said Erne, "not much. But I still go to fights quite often. I have never lost my interest in the game." Won From Lavigne Presently he was reviewing some of his fistic glory. He was the title July 3, 1899, from the great George Lavigne, "The Saginaw Kid," at Buffalo. He beat the mighty Joe Gans in twelve rounds in New York in May 1900, but in May, 1902, Gans knocked out Erne in a roundat Fort Erie in a championship bout. Gans, "The Old Master," was reluctant to make the division weight, and in the Fall of 1902, when Jimmy Britt knocked out Erne in seven rounds, Britt claimed the title. The lightweight limit at that time was 133 pounds. Britt's claim wasn't generally recognised, and he was knocked out by Battling Nelson in 1905. Then in 1906, with Nelson claiming the title, the late Tex Rickard staged his first pugilistic promotion at Goldfield, Nevada, with Nelson and Gans as the principals, and Gans won on a foul from the Durable Dane in forty-two rounds. "Who was the best fighter you ever saw?" I asked Erne. "George Dixon," he said, promptly. (He fought Dixon a ten round draw, won from him in twenty rounds, and lost to him in twenty-five rounds). "Joe Gans was a great fighter, too, but I think Dixon was greatest of all. O'Rourke here managed him. Dixon could figh the twenty-fifth round just as fast as he fought the first round. He was an amazing boxer, and dead game. "Another fellow I thought was a great fight," Erne continued, "was New York Jack O'Brien. He had arms like an ape, and he was plenty tough. "I should say he was," commented O'Rourke. "I managed him, too. I took him away from Three-Fingered Jack Dougherty." "I fought him a twenty-five round draw at Coney Island." Said Erne, "and you never saw two fellows as badly hammered up as we were. Say, he was tough! He died a long time ago." Fifty-Seven Years Old "I'm fifty-seven now and weigh 170 pounds, Erne said. Yes, I'm in good physical condition. I take plenty of exercise, especially walking. I've been having some trouble with my eyes of late years, but it isn't due to boxing. I can still box a little, but don't try it much on account of my eyes." It has been twenty-five years since Erne boxed professionally. He became a sort of physical director for he sons of John Hays Hammond, the famous engineer, after he quit the ring, and it was a nice billet. I believe Erne still is associated with the Hammond's to some extent. He is the best dressed most prosperous looking ex-gradiator I've seen in many a day. He was a veritable Adonis at the top of his ring glory, and he maintains plenty of appearance. He was born in Switzerland, but was brought to this country by his parents when he was seven years old. He started fighting in 1894. "He was a great fighter," confided Tom O'Rourke, as Frank Erne decided he had seen enough, and took his departure. "I'd like to have a Frank Erne now."
