Tunney: Boxing’s Brainiest Champ and His Upset of the Great Jack Dempsey

Its not bad, I think the John Jarret book is better although I could be getting them mixed up, one starts with this great piece about meeting Tunney on a New York ferry in the 60's or 70's

 

I don't know that Tunney was particularly more brainier than other heavy Champs ,the press made a big deal about him reading Shaw and Shakespeare, I tend to think his learning was ostentatiously displayed, he was once come upon by reporters reading a classic ,but closer inspection revealed it was upside down.I beleive Tunney was very shrewd and calculating, but his education was not that erudite.

 

Good book. Covers alot about Dempsey too.My only problem is that it only devotes about 5 pages of his life after the last Dempsey fight.It doesnt touch on his reported alchoholism or anything much about his personal life.The Tunney family didnt help because they wanted more controle over the book.
Still no definitive Tunney bio out yet.

 

Genes son is just about finished on a book.

 

Can U elaborate on this a bit?
Im a huge Tunney fan.

 

Can't tell you how nice it is to finally hear Ali talk about Dempsey and dad. I've always heard about this show that he did with Howard Cassell but never could get a hold of it. I remember Deanna Dempsey, Jack's last wife, was terribly upset about it and was trying to bar the broadcast of the interview.

You're the delivering angel of Ali's good impressions of dad spoken out loud and I appreciate your taking the trouble to send it.
I'm being told by my publisher that Feb-Mar 2010 is when the release of my book on dad will finally be. It has taken nearly ten years-- a labor of love.

All the best,

Jay

 

last email from jay dated 8 Sep 2009

 

I've read this one. Not bad at all and is almost as much about Dempsey as it is Tunney. Good read.

 

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Prizefighter-Playwright-Tunney-George-Bernard/dp/1554076412/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278746171&sr=1-3[/ame]

Jay Tunneys book came out in April by the looks of it, appears to be more about his relationship with George Bernard Shaw

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Thats dissapointing to me.

 

The book is decent, read it last year, painted a cohesive though not terribly deep portrait of the man.

 

That was this one ... I liked it but I'm not a huge fan of standard bio's .. autobios or sociological are more interesting to me ...

 

His education may not have been but his interests and aptitude certainly were .. his passion for reading classics was real ... he graduated to a more intellectual level of stimulation ... you'd of liked him McVey ... you could play spell check police together .. :good