October 16, 1909: Johnson vs. Ketchel

Jack Johnson

October 16, 1909: Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson fights Middleweight Champion Stanley Ketchel, at the Mission Street Arena in the San Francisco suburb of Colma, California. Talk about "punching above your weight": Ketchel was one of the best middleweights ever, but, absent a lucky punch, there's no way he should have had a chance against Johnson.

Stanley Ketchel

And, at first, he knew it. He and Johnson agreed to make it look good, but let it end in a draw, which, under the rules of the time, would be the case if neither fighter quit or was knocked out. That way, Johnson, the 1st black man ever to win the heavyweight crown, would keep it -- Ketchel's crown was not officially up for grabs -- and the big black man from Texas, known as the Galveston Giant (at the time, 6 feet, one-half inch was considered tall), and the wiry Pole, born Stanisław Kiecal in Grand Rapids, and known as the Michigan Assassin, would split the film distribution rights 50-50. It was a good deal.

The problem was, Ketchel was nuts. Boxing historian Bert Sugar once referred to him as "Stanley Ketchel, who was half animal, anyway." After 11 rounds, he must have seen a weakness in Johnson (which no one else saw), and decided he could take him. He knocked Johnson down in the 12th -- and may have thought that he'd gotten the lucky punch he needed.

As with later heavyweight champs Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano, knocking Johnson down was the worst thing you could have done with him, because, instead of stopping him, it only made him mad. Jack hit Stanley so hard, he not only went down, but a couple of his teeth became embedded in Johnson's glove. I've seen the film, and the legend is true: Johnson brushed the teeth out of one glove with the other.

Both men came to sad ends: Ketchel was murdered a year later, only 24 years old; while Johnson lost his title in 1915, after 3 years on the run from American authorities, forcing him to fight in other countries, and served a year in prison, eventually being killed in a car crash in 1946, at the age of 68.

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October 16, 1909 was a Saturday. This was also the day that the Pittsburgh Pirates, with Honus Wagner, won Game 7 of the World Series over the Detroit Tigers, with Ty Cobb. I have a separate entry for that event.

These notable games were played in college football:

* In a match of unbeatens, at the original Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the University of Pennsylvania beat Brown University, 13-5.

* In another match of unbeatens, on "The Plain" at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, Yale beat Army, 17-0.

* At Worden Field on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, Villanova upset Navy, 11-6.

* Michigan beat Ohio State, 33-6 at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* Alabama beat Clemson, 3-0 at the Birmingham Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Alabama.

* At the Polo Grounds in New York, Carlisle beat Syracuse, 14-11.

* In New Jersey, in another battle of unbeatens, Princeton beat Sewanee, of Sewanee, Tennessee, 20-0.

* And Rutgers lost to Franklin & Marshall, 15-0 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Also, Woolwich Arsenal lost 6-2 to Sunderland, at Roker Park in Sunderland, in the North-East of England.

October 15, 1910: The Murder of Stanley Ketchel

October 15, 1910: Stanisław Kiecal, a.k.a. Stanley Ketchel, a.k.a. the Michigan Assassin, Middleweight Champion of the World since 1907, is murdered at the Conway, Missouri ranch where he was training. He was just 24 years old.

The murderer was a ranch hand named Walter Dipley. He and the ranch's cook, Goldie Smith, were a couple (but not married), and set Ketchel up to be robbed. Dipley was captured the next day. At the trial, Smith said she had no idea Dipley was going to rob Ketchel. They were both convicted of murder anyway, and sentenced to life in prison, but Smith's conviction was overturned, and she served just 17 months. Dipley served 23 years.

The writer John Lardner (son of Ring and brother of Ring Jr.) wrote, "Stanley Ketchel died yesterday, shot by the husband of the woman who was cooking his breakfast" – the implication being that Dipley was a jealous husband who had caught Ketchel having an affair with his wife. It was great writing, but it wasn't true.

Ketchel's manager, a con artist named Wilson Mizner, was told about Ketchel's death, and said, "Tell 'em to start counting ten over him, and he'll get up." Mizner is also believed to be the source of the classic lines, "If you copy from one author, it's plagiarism. If you copy from two, it's research" and "Be kind to the people you meet on the way up, because you're going to meet the same people on the way down."

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October 15, 1910 was a Saturday. Despite the lateness of the year, there was still one regular-season major-league baseball game to be played. The Chicago Cubs, having already clinched the National League Pennant, beat the team that would become their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. The World Series started 2 days later, and the Cubs lost to the Philadelphia Athletics, 4 games to 1.

These notable college football games were played that day:

* The University of Pittsburgh, retroactively named Co-National Champions, beat Waynesburg University, also of Western Pennsylvania, 42-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.

* Harvard, the other Co-National Champions, beat Amherst, 17-0 at Harvard Stadium in Boston.

* Army beat Yale, 9-3 on The Plain at West Point, New York. But Yale would go on to taint Harvard's undefeated season with 0-0 tie.

* New York University and Williams College played to a 3-3 tie at Ohio Field in The Bronx.

* Princeton beat Lafayette, 3-0 at Taylor Field in Easton, Pennsylvania.

* Rutgers beat Swarthmore, 21-6 at Neilson Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

* Ohio State beat Western Reverve, now Case Western Reserve of Cleveland, 6-0 at Ohio Field in Columbus.

* Michigan beat Michigan Argicultural, the school that would become Michigan State, 6-3 at Ferry Field in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

* The University of Illinois -- or so it now claims -- hosts the 1st Homecoming, the tradition of welcoming back former students and members. Illinois beats the University of Chicago, 3-0 at Illinois Field in Champaign.

* Vanderbilt beat arch-rival Tennessee, 18-0 at Dudley Field in Nashville. There would be no Southeastern Conference until 1933, but Vandy were the best team among eventual SEC teams that season.

* Georgia beat Alabama, 22-0 at the Birmingham Fairgrounds in Birmingham, Alabama.

* The University of Washington, the best team on the West Coast, defeated the University of Puget Sound, 51-0 in Tacoma, Washington.

And in English soccer, Woolwich Arsenal, later to be the pride of North London, beat Lancashire team Blackburn Rovers, 4-1 at the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South-East London.