James Braddock's Grave

James Braddock's Grave
Mount Carmel Cemetery
10 Serpentine Rd.
Tenafly, NJ 07670
(The grave is located along the black fence on East St. near row 47)

James J. Braddock was the World Heavyweight Champion of boxing from 1935-1937. The film "Cinderella Man", starring Russell Crowe, was based on his life. He is best remembered for his upset unanimous decision win over Max Baer in 1935 to win the World Heavyweight Championship. Braddock would later go on to fight boxing legends Joe Louis and Tommy Farr. The "Bulldog of Bergen" was not only a hero of New Jersey boxing fans, but also a symbol of overcoming poverty. Braddock worked and fought his way out of poverty to become World Heavyweight Champion. Braddock served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and later worked on the construction of the Verrazano Bridge in the 1960's. Braddock was inducted in the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, NY in 2001.

Below is a write up on James J. Braddock from the official James J. Braddock website, along with some photos that I took of Braddock's gravesite:

"James J Braddock earned his nickname, Cinderella Man, from his seemingly fairytale like rise from a poor local fighter to the heavyweight boxing champion of the world.

Braddock, born in New York City, had a powerful right hand and a successful amateur career. He turned pro in 1926. Braddock had victories over fighters like Jimmy Slattery and Pete Latzo. Braddock fought light heavyweight champ Tommy Loughran in 1929 for the title, but was defeated in a heartbreaking 15-round decision. Following the Loughran fight and the stock market crash of 1929, Jim Braddock was down on his luck. He had a hard time struggling to win fights and put food on the table for his young family.

Eventually Jim's luck began to change. In 1934 he had upset wins against Corn Griffin and John Henry Lewis. With these two wins, Braddock set himself up for a shot for the title against heavyweight champion Max Baer.

On June 13th, 1935, in Long Island City, N.Y., Braddock, as a 10 to 1 underdog, won the heavyweight championship of the world from Max Baer. The general reaction in most quarters was described as, "the greatest fistic upset since the defeat of John L. Sullivan by Jim Corbett". Braddock would lose his heavyweight title two years later in an 8 round KO to "The Brown Bomber", Joe Louis. He retired after a final win over Tomomy Farr in 1938. Jim was inducted into the Ring Boxing Hall of Fame in 1964, the Hudson County Hall of Fame in 1991 and the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2001." (http://www.jamesjbraddock.com/)

MW

Bey's Boxing Camp

Bey's Boxing Camp Marker
516 River Road
Chatham, NJ 07928

As most my readers know by now, two of my passions in life are history and boxing. That being said, I jump at most opportunities to visit locations associated with the history of boxing. When I discovered that Chatham, NJ put up a roadside local history marker for Madame Bey's Boxing Camp, I put it on the top of my "must see" list. I drove out to Chatham last weekend on a chilly fall afternoon, and found the marker in a residential area on River Road. It was very interesting to see and photograph this marker, because I was also able to take in the terrain in which Madame Bey's boxing campers trained. River Road has a particularly curvy feel to it, along with nice inclines to support the conditioning of fighters. For those of you who also plan to make the trek out to Chatham to see the former location of Madame Bey's Boxing Camp, you will have no problem finding the marker with GPS via the address I provided above.

Below is a write up on the history of Bey's Boxing Camp from NJ.com, along with some photos I took of the marker:

"Can you picture world famous boxers running down River Road? It happened in the mid 1900’s as Madame Bey’s world famous prizefighting camp operated on River Road from 1918 through 1960. The Chatham Township Historical Society has commemorated the site at 516 River Road, placing its third historical marker there last week.

Madame Bey must have cut quite an interesting figure back in the early 1900’s in the rural township. According to John Cunningham’s book Images of America: Chatham Township, Bey was born in Turkey, graduated from the American College in Constantinople, spoke four languages, was a trained soprano and was married to the secretary of the Turkish Empires Delegation in Washington, D.C. Close friends of President McKinley, she was only two people away from him when he was fatally wounded by an assassin.

Madame Bey came into the world of boxing via the Welsh Wizard, also known as Freddy Welsh the lightweight boxing champion from 1914 to 1917. He invested his winnings in a mansion on Meyersville Road and opened a health farm for businessmen. Upon joining the army in 1920, Welsh asked Bey to continue the health farm which she expanded to include prizefighters. In 1926 she moved the camp to her own farm, built a full-size outdoor boxing ring and staged daily boxing exhibitions.

The boxing camp hosted many prominent contenders from all over the world who trained on River Road. She ran a tight ship with no drinking or swearing. Gene Tunney, Mickey Walker, Max Schmelling (Adolf Hitler’s favorite,) Jimmy Braddock, (known as the Cinderella Man), Kid Chocolate, Kid Gavilan, Floyd Patterson, Sugar Ray Robinson, Rocky Graziano, Archie Moore and many others trained there and were frequently seen running on township roads.

Exhibition matches were held on Sundays and in the audience were sports writers and local residents. The Chatham Township dateline was seen in papers around the world on the sports writers’ articles commenting on the various fighters chances before matches, large and small.

Madame Bey died in 1942 but the boxing camp continued to thrive for more than 20 years, run by her assistant Ehsan Karadag. It closed in the 1960’s when the so-called Borscht Belt Hotels started to provide free training space for boxers with the purpose of attracting patrons."
(http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2011/06/chatham_historical_society_com.html)

MW