I never saw him with the star of david on his trunks like Ross, Rosenbloom, Pastor, the Baer brothers, etc.:huh
It was common knowledge in that era that Simon was Jewish. There were many Jewish boxers at that time. The great majority didn't wear the Star of David, although many, depending on the area they were from, and how many tickets they could sell, changed their surnames to Irish and Italian, e.g. Mushy Callahan, and many more.
Well, I cant think of a more hebrew name than Abraham Simon, so I always assumed he was Jewish, and he's often described as Jewish. But I think some guys of the 10s,20s, 30s, 40s and 50s did change their names to SOUND Irish, Jewish or Italian. Depending what neighbourhood they were in. Guys like Johnny Dundee, Rocky Kansas, Sammy Fuller and Tippy Larkin had names that hid their true ethnicity. And countless others.
Thats correct, many Jewish American fighters changed their names and began going by names that were Irish, Italian or otherwise.
Many Italian fighters changed their names to sound more American /British. Willie Pep, and Peter Kane come to mind. Rocky Marciano was going to be called Rocky Mack until Rocky settled on Marciano because in his words, " At least Marciano sounded Italian ". Some Jewish fighters did the same thing, most notably Benny Leonard, Barney Ross, and Al " bummy " Davis. Its a shame these fighters had to pick a stage name, but I suppose it was needed in those days. I read that Harry Greb was also Jewish. Tunney claims this. Greb's real last name might have been Berg.
I think it has a lot to do with pronouncination, rather that just pure prejudice. People like to pick up the sports pages and know how to pronounce the names. Promoters and MCs often dictated what would sound best. Most of us say ANDREW Golota, but that's not his name. Herbie HIDE isn't his real name either. I think boxers, by the 30s and 40s, were more open about their ethnicity than others, they were proud and wanted to appeal to their own crowd, but the name changes were for reason that in English-speaking America somes names just dont roll off the tongue as easily. Stage names in Hollywood for the same reason, I mean EVERYBODY changed their name, but there was much more commercial need for upholding PREJUDICE in Hollywood, it was different to boxing. A matinee idol cant appeal to any ethnic minority. For example Rocky Marciano retained an Italian-sounding name, as did Jake LaMotta, even Joey Maxim and Mike DeJohn retain a hint. Benny Leonard still sounds "Jewish". But in Hollywood they almost always had strictly WASP names across the board, like Kirk Douglas and Danny Kaye, and I doubt their early press releases mentioned anything about them being Jews.
