Bob Hope is /was one of my favorites!!
Before he became a comedian, Bob Hope was a boxer known as Packy East.
“I was sixteen, I weighed 128 pounds and the featherweight class had a top limit of 126. I just missed getting into it. If I’d taken the apples out of my pockets, I could have qualified as a featherweight. If I had, I’d have made out better. As it was, I creamed my first opponent. He was constantly looking over his shoulder toward his corner for instructions. When I hit him, he turned toward (his corner) and asked “What’ll I do?” and (his trainer) yelled back strategy. I finally tagged him while his head was turned.” –New York Herald Tribune, July 10, 1938
Too bad for “Packy” his third and last opponent didn’t turn his head. Hope won his next bout when the guy he was supposed to fight failed to show up. And “Packy” was headed for the finals–as in time to hang up the gloves, a very early retirement!
“Never forgot my last fight…a guy by the name of Happy Walsh. They called him Happy because every time you hit him he smiled. We fought at Moose Hall. I gave him my Sunday punch. He smiled. Then everything turned black.” –The Plain Dealer, August 17, 1984
Happy Tuesday!
Angies Grapevine 