When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport [Hardcover]

Allen Bodner (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 30, 1997

This is a splendid oral history of a time between World War I and World War II when Jewish athletes were the dominant ethnic group in professional boxing in the United States. The author draws on his own personal experience in New York City's fight arenas, and incorporates interviews with more than thirty former boxers, trainers, managers, promoters, and boxing judges to report on this overlooked aspect of sports history. Bodner explores the stories of the Jewish boxers both inside and outside the ring, and also examines their lives as they left the ring to pursue their careers which ranged from fire chiefs to boxing judges to hospital presidents. Boxing was a means many second generation urban immigrants--including Jews--used to get ahead in the early 20th century. The Jewish boxers interviewed reported that they took up fighting to earn money, not to defend their "race" or negate stereotypes that Jews were weak. These boxers were proud of their heritage and displayed Stars of David on their robes and trunks until religious symbols were banned in the 1940s. During the 1920s nearly one-third of all professional boxers were Jewish, and by 1928, they were the dominant ethnic group in the sport earning 30 World Championship titles between 1910-1940. Bodner's interest in the subject was kindled by his father who was an amateur boxer and professional manager during this period.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Bodner] presents a concise overview of boxing as it involved Jewish participants, as well as a capsule social history of the Jewish experience in 20th-century New York City....Generally New York's leading Yiddish paper, the Daily Forward, ignored the exploits of boxers, as do most major Jewish histories, so Bodner has rescued many from oblivion. Boxing fans will be intrigued by the arcana here.”–Publishers Weekly

“Bodner's book is less about boxing than it is about boxers, and it is a loving and thoughtful tribute to a generation of fighters whose stories might otherwise go untold....The affection he feels for the ex-fighters he met underscores his entire book and, more than anything else, makes it a compelling chronicle....Bodner's tribute to the men he was able to meet and interview is a thoughtful and moving collection of stories about what it meant to earn a living as a Jew in a distinctly American game. Passionate without romanticizing its subject, When Boxing was a Jewish Sport preserves some of the first-hand stories we were in danger of losing altogether.”–Jewish Book Guide

“Mr. Bodner's book is a welcome addition to the literature on Jews in American sports.”–Forward

“...Bodner offers a valuable addition to the numerous tomes that chronicle the Jewish experience in America. In giving us more than just another recitation of Jewish sports greats, he treats us to a look at a time that no longer exists through the eyes of the people who made it what it was.”–The Jerusalem Report

“The strength of the book...concerns the struggles and triumphs of the fighters.”–Newsday

“...Bodner has written a readable book about a mostly forgotten phase of American history, one whose like the American Jewish community will probably never see again. You don't have to be Jewish, and you don't have to be a sports fan, to appreciate his achievement.”–Washington Post Book World

“...Bodner often manages to capture the long-gone, blue-collar, Julius Kniplesque world of smoky arenas, surly ticket-takers, and clattering manual typewriters that permeated his boxing-fan childhood.”–Washington City Paper

“With first person accounts, Bodner vividly retells of life inside and outside the ring in [this] overdue tribute.”–Jewish Telegraph

“Bodner is extremely informative. His historical perspective of the Jews in America...is enlightening....It's the people, those actual boxers telling of their youth and fights, that makes the book pay off for readers....Bodner's oral history is an important contribution to what would ultimately become part of the social fabric of America.”–The West Coast Review of Books

“Bodner has written a wonderfully engaging book about a little-known aspect of American Jewish life.”–Multicultural Review

“...Allen Bodner reminds us in this welcome work of devoted research, clearly a labor of love, that we have seen in the first half of the 20th century a Golden Age of Jewish Boxing, score on score of Jewish champions of the world, not to mention fierce and gifted contenders like Allie Stolz, Artie Levine, Maxie Shapiro, Georgie Abrams, Leach Cross...the brave boys who made their statement for all of us.”–Budd Schulberg Screenwriter, On the Waterfront and The Harder They Fall

“A very satisfying trip down boxing's memory lane. When Boxing was a Jewish Sport captures the flavor, history and pride of an era when Jewish athletes were kings of the ring.”–Mike Silver Boxing historian and journalist, Ring Magazine

“Finally, an insightful study of the world of Jewish boxing.”–Henry Feingold Professor and editor, The Jewish People in America

From the Back Cover

Boxing was an integral part of American culture during the first half of the twentieth century, second only to baseball in popularity. It was also a heavily Jewish sport--from 1910 to 1940, there were twenty-six Jewish world champions, and during the 1920s and 1930s, almost one-third of all boxers were Jewish. Drawing on numerous interviews and first-person accounts of the boxers themselves, Allen Bodner offers a vivid portrayal of the important role of Jews in American boxing history, and vice versa. When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport is a must read for fans of the sweet science, as well as anyone interested in the Jewish American and immigrant experience more generally. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 207 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Publishers; 1st edition (October 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 027595353X
• ISBN-13: 978-0275953539
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #853,282 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating history lacking vibrancy, April 11, 2000

By 

Ken Margolin (Newton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport (Hardcover)

Allen Bodner's sincerity and feeling for his subject is undeniable. "When Boxing was a Jewish Sport" contains historical information and vignettes about an era when, as the title implies, Jews were a major force in boxing. For that reason alone, the book is worth reading by any boxing history fan. The problem is with the writing. Despite ample oral histories and interviews, the book reads like a sociological text, dense and often tedious. Nonetheless, as a reference, for those who know that Benny Leonard, a Jew, was one of the five greatest pound for pound fighters ever, or for those boxing fans who don't know, the book is a wealth of boxing history not to be found elsewhere.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Labor of Love, December 9, 2002

By 

Smoten (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport (Hardcover)

Allen Bodner has tracked down and interviewed just about all of the surviving boxers from the Golden Age of Jewish participation in professional boxing, the 20's, 30's, and 40's. Jews then were near the bottom of the socio-economic ladder, entree to many of the professions denied them by "Jewish quotas" and other forms of officially sanctioned forms of discrimination. The tough, talented men sought out by Mr. Bodner grabbed their share of the American Dream with their fists. As times changed many later went on to successful careers outside the ring but if there is one common denominator to these men-other than their religion-it is that all still defined themselves by the warrior's heart that impelled them into the ring in the first place. Mr. Bodner has proven to be a skillful interviewer and chronicler. He hasn't limited himself to these oral histories, important though they are, but has gone through old newspaper accounts of fights held decades ago and also consulted numerous other source materials (the book contains an excellent bibliography) to profile other, deceased, Jewish fighters. "When Boxing Was A Jewish Sport" is so good that my only complaint is that two personal favorites didn't make Mr. Bodner's cut for inclusion-Benny Bass and Harry Blitman, both Philadelphians. Benny "Little Fish" Bass was dubbed by no less an authority than Jack Dempsey as one of the contenders for the mythical title of best pound for pound fighter of his era; he lost his share of the lightweight title to the legendary Tony Canzoneri. Harry Blitman only lost four times in his career, once to Bass. He beat Canzoneri in a non-title bout.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Well worth the read, October 2, 2009

By 

M. Cohen "get real" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport (Hardcover)

I read this book awhile ago; and while I was impressed by the scope of the author's treatment, I was a little disappointed by his lack of perspective and his exaggeration of the extent of Jews participation in boxing in the 20s and thereafter. In fact I contacted Mr. Bodner and he acknowledged that he had no authority for the assertion that "nearly one-third of all professional boxers [in the 1920s] were Jewish.". Anyone who has scoured the voluminous records of that period would realize (1) that at no time then, before or after, did Jews dominate the sport of boxing (with the possible exception of 1915 to 1920, when the lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and light-heavyweight titles were for the most part held by Leonard, Lewis, McCoy and Levinsky, respectively), and (2) that its very hard to believe that Jews ever represented more than 10, possibly 15% of professional boxers in the USA. Maybe in the New York area, which is the area of his concentration, their numbers approached 1/3, but limiting his coverage to the New York area is another shortcoming of the book. This isn't to say that Jews were not a substantial, even impressive, presence in boxing from 1915 to the early 1940s, only that their overall participation wasn't nearly as great as Mr. Bodner maintains. This actually makes the achievement of those Jewish boxers who did hold titles more impressive in that their relative percentage is much closer to that of all Jews in boxing. There are more and more references to the above-subject matter on the internet, and exaggerating the overall participation of Jews in boxing does tend to denigrate the quality of that participation. Some people continue to have a hard time accepting that Jews were ever as capable at physical pursuits as other ethnic groups, especially in a sport as rough as boxing.

Still, all in all, I think Mr. Bodner's book is a welcome contribution to the subject, and I highly recommend the read.