DID YOU KNOW? INTERNATIONAL BOXING MATCH ARENA COLLAPSE, 1916 ON WEST COLORADO AVENUE By Leah Davis Witherow, Curator of History Among the CSPM’s hundreds of boxes and thousands of folders storing our large photograph collection is a single image titled, “International Boxing Match Arena Collapse, 1916 on West Colorado Avenue.” The grainy image was donated by local historian Wanetta Draper in 1971, and is a prime example of a small object that can tell a big story. In the sunny days of early September 1916, Colorado Springs was the center of the boxing universe. Freddie Welsh, Lightweight Champion of the World was slated to take on challenger Charley White in a 20 round bout. Both men arrived a few weeks earlier to train for the match, with Welsh hosting public practices at the Temple Theater on North Nevada Avenue. According to promoters, “…tickets were selling like hot cakes,” and a hastily constructed outdoor arena was built on West Huerfano Street to accommodate up to 15,000 fans. To ensure public safety, Colorado Springs Chief of Police Howard Stark posted detectives several days prior at train stations and throughout the arena the day of the event to round up pickpockets and other troublemakers. Little did local authorities know, trouble would be of a different kind…Freddie Welsh, known as the “Welsh Wizard,” was born in Pontypridd, Wales in 1886. His father was a coal miner and the family lived in poverty. The young man turned to boxing as a way to escape his father’s fate. Freddie immigrated to America, becoming a professional boxer in Philadelphia in 1905. He won the lightweight title in 1914, and was wellknown for his “healthy living” philosophy of not smoking and following a vegetarian diet. He was also wealthy. Organizers of the Colorado Springs match guaranteed him a prize of $13,500 or 50% of the gross gate receipts, and 51% of moving picture revenues – whichever amount was larger. CHARLES ANCHOWITZ On the other hand, they offered challenger Charley White a $4,000 flat fee whether he won or lost. Charley’s real last name was Anchowitz. He was born in Liverpool, England in 1891, the child of Russian Jewish parents. A tailor by trade, Charley’s father moved the family to Chicago where they settled in a largely Jewish, working-class neighborhood on Chicago’s west-side. Living in crowded urban conditions, Charley contracted tuberculosis at age 13. To build strength in his son’s weakened lungs, his father sent him to the famous O’Connell’s Sports Club. There Charley took up boxing and 18 months later was declared free of disease. At age 15 he changed his name to White and joined brothers Jack and Billy as professional boxers. MUSELETTER OCTOBER 2019| PG 6
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