Madison Square Garden Bowl | |
Former names | Long Island City Bowl Jinx Bowl The Graveyard of Champions |
---|---|
Location | Long Island City, New York |
Coordinates | 40°45′10″N73°54′59″W / 40.752686°N 73.916414°W |
Owner | Tex Rickard |
Operator | Tex Rickard |
Capacity | 72,000 |
Construction | |
Broke ground | 1929 |
Built | 1930-1 |
Opened | 1932 |
Closed | 1942 |
Demolished | 1942 |
Construction cost | US$132,000 (1932) [1] |
Madison Square Garden Bowl was the name of an outdoor arena in the New York City borough of Queens. Built in 1932, the arena hosted circuses and boxing matches. Its seating capacity was 72,000 spectators on wood bleachers. The idea of the stadium came from boxing promotor Tex Rickard, who died before it was completed. [2]
The Bowl, located at 48th Street and Northern Boulevard in Long Island City, was the site where James J. Braddock defeated Max Baer for the World Heavyweight title on June 13, 1935, a fight later dramatized in the film Cinderella Man . [3] Braddock's first comeback fight against John "Corn" Griffin was also in the venue. Jack Sharkey and Primo Carnera also captured the heavyweight crown in the 1930s at the Bowl. But because no titleholder ever successfully defended his title there, the stadium was soon dubbed the "Jinx Bowl".
The Madison Square Garden Bowl was torn down during World War II to make way for a US Army Mail Depot (and also because arena management deemed it more economical to rent baseball stadiums for fights). Metal from the stadium was melted down to make bullets and other war materials, including those to build the Mail Depot. [1] The depot itself was torn down in the 1960s, and the area is now home to a Major World used-car dealership and strip mall.
Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as the Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd streets above Pennsylvania Station. It is the fourth venue to bear the name "Madison Square Garden"; the first two, opened in 1879 and 1890 respectively, were located on Madison Square, on East 26th Street and Madison Avenue, with the third Madison Square Garden (1925) farther uptown at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street.
Maximilian Adolph Otto Siegfried Schmeling was a German boxer who was heavyweight champion of the world between 1930 and 1932. His two fights with Joe Louis in 1936 and 1938 were worldwide cultural events because of their national associations. Schmeling is the only boxer to win the world heavyweight championship on a foul.
Joseph Louis Barrow was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "The Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He reigned as the world heavyweight champion from 1937 until his temporary retirement in 1949. He was victorious in 25 consecutive title defenses, a record for all weight classes. Louis has the longest single reign as champion of any boxer in history.
Maximilian Adelbert Baer Sr. was an American professional boxer and the world heavyweight champion from June 14, 1934, to June 13, 1935. He was known in his time as the Livermore Larupper and Madcap Maxie. Two of his fights were rated Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. Baer was also a boxing referee, and had occasional roles in film and television. He was the brother of heavyweight boxing contender Buddy Baer and father of actor Max Baer Jr. Baer is rated #22 on The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
James Walter Braddock was an American boxer who was the world heavyweight champion from 1935 to 1937.
George Lewis "Tex" Rickard was an American boxing promoter, founder of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League (NHL), and builder of the third incarnation of Madison Square Garden in New York City. During the 1920s, Tex Rickard was the leading promoter of the day, and he has been compared to P. T. Barnum and Don King. Sports journalist Frank Deford has written that Rickard "first recognized the potential of the star system." Rickard also operated several saloons, hotels, and casinos, all named Northern and located in Alaska, Nevada, and Canada.
Madison Square is a public square formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The square was named for Founding Father James Madison, fourth President of the United States. The focus of the square is Madison Square Park, a 6.2-acre (2.5-hectare) public park, which is bounded on the east by Madison Avenue ; on the south by 23rd Street; on the north by 26th Street; and on the west by Fifth Avenue and Broadway as they cross.
Jeremiah "Joe" Jeannette was an American boxer, considered one of the best heavyweight boxers of the early 20th century. Because he was African-American, he was not given a shot at the world heavyweight title, though he did win the World Colored Heavyweight Championship on two occasions.
Sports in the New York metropolitan area have a long and distinguished history.
Robert Lous Olin was an American boxer who became the World Light Heavyweight champion on November 16, 1934, against Maxie Rosenbloom at Madison Square Garden. He was trained by Ray Arcel and managed by Harold Scadron.
Morris "Whitey" Bimstein was an American boxing trainer who would be remembered for his exceptional career and as a cutman to world champions. Though his cutwork was usually confined to only forty seconds between rounds, it amazed doctors for its thoroughness and professionalism.
Arthur Lakofsky, also known as Art Lasky, was a heavyweight professional boxer from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Boyle's Thirty Acres was a large wooden bowl arena in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was built specifically for the world heavyweight championship bout between Jack Dempsey of the United States and Georges Carpentier of France on July 2, 1921. It held approximately 80,000 fans and was built at a cost of $250,000. It was situated around Montgomery Street and Cornelison Avenue, on a plot of marshland owned by John F. Boyle.
Madison Square Garden was an indoor arena in New York City, the third bearing that name. Built in 1925 and closed in 1968, it was located on the west side of Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th streets in Manhattan, on the site of the city's trolley-car barns. It was the first Garden that was not located near Madison Square. MSG III was the home of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and also hosted numerous boxing matches, the Millrose Games, the National Invitation Tournament, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, concerts, and other events. In 1968 it was demolished and its role and name passed to the fourth Madison Square Garden, which stands at the site of the original Penn Station. One Worldwide Plaza was built on the arena's former 50th Street location.
Madison Square Garden (1891–1926) was an indoor arena in New York City, the second by that name, and the second and last to be located at 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. Opened in 1891 at the cost of about $500,000, it replaced the first Madison Square Garden, and hosted numerous events, including boxing matches, orchestral performances, light operas and romantic comedies, the annual French Ball, both the Barnum and the Ringling circuses, and the 1924 Democratic National Convention, which nominated John W. Davis after 103 ballots. The building closed in 1925, and was replaced by the third Madison Square Garden at Eighth Avenue and 50th Street, which was the first to be located away from Madison Square.
Madison Square Garden (1879–1890) was an arena in New York City at the northeast corner of East 26th Street and Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The first venue to use that name, it seated 10,000 spectators. It was replaced with a new building on the same site.
Michael Strauss Jacobs was a boxing promoter, arguably the most powerful in the sport from the mid-1930s until his effective retirement in 1946. He was posthumously elected to the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1982, and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990.
Abraham Simon was an American professional heavyweight boxer. He fought Joe Louis for the world heavyweight title twice. He was managed for most of his career by Jimmy Johnston, and trained by Freddie Brown. In 1940, he was rated the sixth best heavyweight in the world, and would rise higher in the next two years. After retiring, he became an actor and had roles in two of America's best-known movies about boxers, Academy Award winner On the Waterfront and Requiem for a Heavyweight.
Stefano "Tami" Mauriello was an American professional boxer and actor of Italian descent who was world ranked in two divisions during the 1940s. He thrice challenged for world titles, fighting Gus Lesnevich (twice) and Joe Louis for the world's Light-Heavyweight and Heavyweight titles, respectively. Mauriello's nickname was "The Bronx Barkeep".
Bob Pastor born Robert E. Pasternak, was a prominent American boxer. He was a top-ranked heavyweight of the 1940s who once challenged for the world title, losing to Joe Louis in 1939.