

A portrait of Jess Willard, (1888-1968), native of Pottawatomie County, Kansas, who became the world heavyweight boxing champion, on April 5, 1915, when he defeated defending champion Jack Johnson in a twenty-six round match in Havana, Cuba. The "Pottawatomie Giant" as Willard was know in the boxing world, had a career of twenty-five wins but was unable to defend his title to challenger Jack Dempsey on July 4, 1919 in Toledo, Ohio. After the lost, Willard's boxing career came to a close and he pursued a new profession in movies and vaudeville shows. On December 15, 1968, Willard passed away at the age of eighty-six in Los Angeles, California.
Date: 1919
Item Number: 572
Call Number: B Willard, Jess *3
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 572
Business and Industry - Occupations/Professions - Actors
Business and Industry - Occupations/Professions - Athletes
Collections - Photograph
Community Life - Recreation and Sports - Sports - Boxing
Date - 1910s - 1919
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Photograph
People - Notable Kansans - Willard, Jess, 1881-1968
Places - Counties - Pottawatomie
Thematic Time Period - World War I, 1914-1919
Type of Material - Photographs
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/572