Maxine Dempsey Alive in 1928?

In regards to the information found in biographies and autobiographies of Jack Dempsey, I would not take any of it as factual without checking other sources.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Why would this topic even matter to anyone except a GOL. I hate to tell you this cos it's really obvious that this is a boxing forum not a gossip forum, but then a pretentious intellectual like yourself would know this, or maybe not.

 

Omg you're right. His wife supposedly loved ice cream, which obviously means dempsey ate too much ice cream.

Okay, drop him from my top 5, put him at 8.
He definitely loses to Wills
And he definitely had horseshoes in his gloves against Jess.

 

I must admit I don't think I can name the dates and places of death of any former wives of former heavyweight champions.

I'd never realized before how much knowledge I was lacking in this important area.

 

A death certificate in digital form of one Maxine Devin can be found on the Missouri Death Certificates, 1910-1965 database on Missouri Digital Heritage website. According to her death certificate, Maxine Devin was born on June 15, 1896 in Oregon and died after a bout with chronic myeloid leukemia on June 3, 1939 in the K.C. General Hospital, which was located in Kansas City, Missouri. She was the wife of Don Devin. Her parents were William "Kates," a native of Kentucky, and Adie Thurman, a native of Iowa.

Note- It may be that Maxine Cates' birth name was Ada Ruby "Addie" Cates, who apparently was a native of The Dalles, Oregon. Ada or Addie can be found in the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census Records.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Marriage records show that one Maxine Cates was 20 years old when she married one W. H. Dempsey, 21 years of age, on October 9, 1916 in Farmington, Utah. U.S. Census Records show that one Maxine Dempsey, a 23-year-old native of Oregon, was living in Wells, Nevada during 1920. At that time, Maxine was a prominent figure in the highly publicized trial of Jack Dempsey on the charge of avoiding the military draft in which the latter was found not guilty. During the trial, it was reported that Maxine was a resident of Wells.

In other words, there are two records which show that Maxine Cates or Maxine Dempsey was born during a period from 1895 to 1897. In regards of Maxine's age or when she was born, I am more inclined to believe what is stated in the records than in any biography or autobiography of Jack Dempsey. Moreover, if Maxine Cates Dempsey, the wife of Jack Dempsey, later married Don Smith Devin, I have found that all of the census, marriage and death records pertaining to her to be very consistent when it comes to stating her age or when she was born.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Marriage records show that Jack Dempsey and Maxine Cates married on October 9, 1916 in Farmington, Utah, not Salt Lake City, Utah. Farmington is located about 17 miles from the downtown part of Salt Lake City.

- Chuck Johnston

 

Another smoking gun by the historical researcher shamu, clearing up another "mistake"

 

I find it interesting in the case of Dempsey because so much of his legend was crafted by press of the day .. I have read every Dempsey book published and NEVER heard anything about Cates living past the fire .. this is including the 1977 bio written in Dempsey's words by his step daughter .. it just makes me curious how much of Dempsey's story really has been airbrushed .. you don't grow up in hobo jungles and mining camps , ride the rails with undesirables, bounce in brothels, marry a prostitute and remain a boy scout .. makes me remember a famous story written by Tommy Loughran about Dempsey .. Tommy spent time with Dempsey in LA in the mid 1920's and said Jack was the only man that ever scared him .. that Jack was on the whole a very nice guy but there was something about him that seriously unnerved Tommy. He made reference to Jack's indian blood impacting his mannerisms .. my point is that Kearn's and Rickard, two brilliant promoters and pr kings made their best efforts to make sure this wild kid from the bowels of the wild west morphed into solid citizen .. while he clearly did and this is to all of their credit, let's not forget just how rough he grew up and what he was exposed to .. when you see what a savage he was in the ring, a take no prisoners nor whine or cry foul type it kind of makes sense .. he was a seriously hard man ..

 

"er WGAF?? Not I says me