JACK ‘DOC’ KEARNS – THE MAN BEHIND JACK DEMPSEY

“I’m a winner, not a loser. I’d do anything to win, but I won’t lose. And you can draw your own conclusions.”

Born John Leo McKernon, on August 17th 1882 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, at the age of 1, he and his parents move to the state of state of Washington, where he would stay into the age of 14. At 14, the John young Doc Kearns joined the Alaska gold rush by stowing on a freighter. It was in this period that the young McKernon developed an ambitious instinct, after watching the veteran gamblers, hustlers, and scam artists. Kearns grew up taking different jobs here and there, including a job helping to smuggle illegal immigrants across Canadian and American borders.

After juggling a great deal of different jobs to get by, Kearns would find himself immersed in the fight game in 1900. As the story goes, when the promoter asked him if he could fight, Kearns charismatically replied ‘Stick out your chin and find out’. Soon after, John McKernon had his first pro fight under the names ‘Young Kid Kearns’. It is reported (but not verified), that Kearns had over 60 fights. It was in 1907, when the first seeds were sown that would see the start of Doc Kearns’ managerial career, ,after being convinced by a  man named William A. Brady (who managed legends Gentleman Jim Corbett and Jim Jeffries) to hang up the gloves and dive into management.

Doc would go on to manage greats such as Mickey Walker, Joey Maxim, Harry Wills and Archie Moore. But by far he is best known for being the manager of the legendary Jack Dempsey, who was one of the most fearsome champions in all of boxing history. As the story goes, Jack Dempsey came to rescue Doc Kearns who was involved in a bar brawl. At the time, Dempsey was 30-3 and had previously taken a beating from Jim ‘Fireman’ Flynn (which Dempsey was rumoured to have taken the dive). Before Kearns, Dempsey wasn’t taken as a serious challenge in the heavyweight division, but Kearns was able to spot the fiery championship spirit within. After the two decided to work together, Kearns relocated Dempsey to San Francisco, which was the boxing Mecca at the time, to reignite his career.  Later, they would establish themselves in Oakland, California.

Jack Dempsey had his first fight under Doc Kearns in 1917, and in the next 3 years leading up to his first heavyweight championship challenge, he had 33 fights. Then came July 1919, with Jess Willard in the opposite corner. In one of the most brutal displays of ring savagery in all of boxing history, Willard was sent to the deck 10 times, leaving the ring with broken ribs, a broken eye socket, jaw and nose. The fight was ended in the third round and the start of Dempsey’s reign began.

Despite Dempsey’s activity beforehand, Dempsey wasn’t a very active champion. However, Dempsey would still go on to have a few historical matches. The first of those came against Frenchman Georges Carpentier, who was promoted by legendary Tex Ricard, in what was boxing’s first million dollar gate and the first ever to be on a radio broadcast. These were significant milestones in the sport of boxing. Dempsey fought once in 1922, and twice in 1923. Dempsey then fought Luis Angel Firpo at the Polo Grounds, in which 11 knockdowns occurred in only two rounds.

Dempsey and Kearns parted ways after this period, after Dempsey’s wife accuessed Kearns of mishandling Dempsey’s finances. It was reported that he was taking in 50 percent of Dempsey’s income purses, despite the fact managers can only take a maximum of 33%. Kearns would later sue Jack Dempsey 3 times (unsuccessfully) for close to a million dollars.

Kearns later spent five years as a match maker of the notorious International Boxing Club in the 1950s. When the Kefauver Committee went after the head of the IBC, Doc Kearns was summoned to testify. Kearns, now 79, ever the sly trickster, convinced the senators that he wasn’t a part of the mob. Kearns continued to manage fighters until his death in 1963. In all of his career as a promoter and manager, Kearns managed over 80 different fighters, including notable names such as Battling Nelson, Benny Leonard, Abe Attell and Bob Satterfield.