Butte American-made

By Matt Vincent of The Montana Standard - 01/24/2005

Stanley Ketchel, "The Michigan Assassin," as he appeared on a 1921 postcard. Ketchel, who began his career in Butte in 1904, fought 40 of his 64 professional bouts in The Mining City and Montana. He became undisputed world middleweight champ in 1908.

The Story of Stanley Ketchel: from The Mining City to world champ.

The following is the writer's account of former world middleweight champion and International Boxing Hall of Fame inaugural inductee Stanley Ketchel's career beginnings in Butte, Mont. circa 1904. Ketchel, who earned the nickname "The Michigan Assassin" for his devastating performances in the ring, quit high school and rode the trains from his boyhood home of Grand Rapids, Mich. to Butte in 1902 when he was only 16. After months of living the boomtown streets, surviving on handouts, Ketchel finally landed a job and started working as a waiter at The Casino, or The Big Casino, as it was more commonly known — a bustling nightlife venue formerly located on East Galena Street. Coincidentally, this establishment is also where Ketchel both unofficially and officially began his career as a prize fighter. Facts for this story are drawn from numerous accounts and records surrounding Ketchel's early days in The Mining City.

fter living the first year of his new life away from home in the transient jungle of the railroads and street people, young Stanley Ketchel was determined to prove he'd finally found what he was looking for in Butte, Mont. The story he'd always romanticized of life in the wild west was now right before his eyes and he was in it up to his belly. Having held down a waiter job at The Big Casino long enough to afford a meager room in one of the cheaper boarding houses of the boomtown, Ketchel was sure he had found his home. A roof and a bed sure beat the sulphurous stench and bitter cold of sleeping in the uptown alleys to which he had grown accustomed. Besides, The Big Casino was a great job, as he got to be right in the middle of what all Butte's wildlife had to offer him — girls, girls, gambling and more girls.

Stanley loved the girls. And up until he'd left his boyhood home in Michigan, they'd always seemed to have noticed his sparkling charisma and chiseled, Polish good looks. But one particular blonde beauty working the tables at The Casino who had caught his eye the day he'd been hired didn't seem too interested in the soft-spoken newcomer. His subtle advances, suave only to him, had no effect. A smile here and a hello there were the only indications to Stanley that she even knew he existed. After all, who could blame her. Ketchel had rolled into town on the rails, traveling with hobos, and showed up at The Big Casino filthy, hungry and looking for anything, much less a job.

Like always, he would simply have to prove the impressions wrong.

It looked to be shaping up for another rowdy night. All interests seemed to be in the barroom and gambling tables, rather than in the food Stanley was being paid to peddle. One group of boisterous miners had become overzealous in the least at heckling the many girls working the Casino floor. The teenage waiter watched with eyes intent with envy should any one of the

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entertaining ladies actually be swept off her feet by these drunkards' boar-like antics.

As Ketchel was clearing the plates off a nearby table, a frightening squeal caused him to turn his head. The three menacing patrons had swept the wrong lady off her feet. Stanley's object of infatuation was in the lustful grasp of one of the men. She tried to break free, but to no avail as the whiskey overpowered her potent perfume.

"Let her go, sir," imposed Ketchel on the captor, politely yet insistently. "She's with me."

A barrel of wild, inebriated laughter rolled past the young hero-to-be, as the only thing Ketchel noticed was the admiration he'd gained of the girl. Seeing by the young waiter's unwavering stare that he meant business, the burly intimidator tightened his grip on the girl's arm and rose to his feet, towering over Ketchel's small but sturdy frame.

"Hey, get back to where you belong, Kid," interrupted the Casino's head bouncer, shoving Ketchel aside. "This is my job and I'll handle it. "

Still unwavering in his stance and stare, Stanley struck a lightning quick blow to his co-worker's temple. The Big Casino's toughest bouncer collapsed in a heap on the dirty, beer-sopped floor. Before any more words were spoken, the three men who were tormenting the girl hit the deck in succession — one, two, and three. Four punches, four men. Out cold on the floor.

Butte was a tough town, but this was certainly exceptional, as all action stopped to witness the spectacle and its devastating aftermath.

"So, you like a fight do you?," came a new voice from behind Ketchel, through the murmur of awestruck patrons.

With his fists still clenched and ready to fly, Ketchel whirled to confront his next potential target. Before him stood a man, who up until just a few moments ago, was revered by most as the toughest fighter in the place — Maurice "Cyclone" Thompson.

Thompson, who came to Butte via Illinois to fight professionally a few years back, was one of The Casino's biggest draws whenever he chose to appear on one of its frequent prize fight cards. Ketchel knew this, yet refused to back down to the champion.

"What business is it of yours, sir" challenged Ketchel, still polite in his delivery.

"How would you like it if I told you you could get paid to knock people out," Thompson replied with confidence. "The name's Maurice Thompson. And I'd like you to train with me at my gym. Good sparring partners are hard to find and from the looks of what you've got, I might even be able to get you a real fight or two."

With confrontation cast aside, Ketchel and Thompson shook hands. Moments after being awarded the Casino's head bouncer position by the manager, Ketchel retired with his freshly-won girl and Thompson to the bar to discuss their new arrangements.

Little did any of the witnessing patrons know as they turned back to their drinks and games, but so began the career of a young man who would eventually become one of the most dominant, exciting, yet tumultuous fighters ever to lace up the gloves.

Soon thereafter, Ketchel entered The Big Casino ring for his first professional bout against local favorite Kid Tracy, a promising middleweight making his way up the ranks. Ketchel knocked Tracy out cold in the first round. From that day on, Butte was Ketchel's hometown for the next three years, over which time he compiled a ring record of 35-2-3, at one point knocking out 14 opponents in a row.

Of the scarce blemishes on Ketchel's local record, both losses and one draw came at the hands of his alleged founder and teacher, Thompson, who went on to become the lightweight champion of Montana before his retirement. Both of Thompson's victories over Ketchel, as well as the draw, came in his protege's first year of professional fighting in 1904, a testament to the skill of The Mining City's fighters of the time. For the first decade of the twentieth century, Butte was one of the grandest cities in the world for the professional fighter. And for the most part, all of the professional fighters came to town on occasion. However, as interest in the sport grew nationwide, Butte was no longer able to compete against metropolises like New York City, Chicago and San Francisco for drawing championship crowds and purses. With an impressive resume and a reputation far exceeding Butte, Ketchel eventually left for California, where big money and big fights promised more than what he had claimed in The Mining City.

"The Butte Boy," as Ketchel was called in the Daily Miner's accounts of his title fights, captured the world middleweight crown a little over a year after arriving in The Golden State. Although the undisputed record shows Ketchel winning the belt with a 20th-round knockout over Mike "Twin" Sullivan in 1908, many other sources, including the Miner, awarded him the title two fights earlier when he earned a knockout in the 32nd round of a rematch with Joe Thomas at Colma, Cal. in 1907.

While champion, Ketchel took on his nickname, "The Michigan Assassin," bowling over his opponents with strength and pure grit more often than skill or strategy. Although his birthplace gave way to his moniker, the Michigan native had strong allegiance to his life in The Mining City, as one Philadelphia newspaper quoted him in 1909 as saying he was born in Butte on September 14, 1887. Ketchel's life outside the ring was said to be even more colorful. Labeled "an unforgiving" or "rash" playboy by many, the young champion had an insatiable penchant for the fast life — fancy clothes, sporty cars, and all kinds of women. The latter indulgence was perhaps his fatal flaw, though it arguably made him one the most loved champions of all time.

Ketchel's overall professional record was 52-4-4, with 49 knockouts and four no decisions. At one point during his title years, Ketchel was tabbed boxing's "Great White Hope" in an attempt to dethrone the invincible Jack Johnson, the world's first "colored" heavyweight champion. Ketchel entered the ring against "The Galveston Giant," as Johnson was called, in 1909, giving away 40 pounds and nearly a half-foot height advantage, yet still managed to knock the heavyweight down in the 12th round of their bout. Johnson responded to the knockdown by getting up and unleashing a blow that is described as the most devastating punch in professional boxing history. The tremendous uppercut laid Ketchel out unconscious on the mat for nearly 10 minutes and, as rumor has it, left several of his teeth embedded in Johnson's glove. But the most astounding item still talked about is that a middleweight would have even stepped into the ring against a fighter as overpowering as Johnson. Only the Butte boy, Ketchel would stand up to a challenge as great as that.

Ketchel's sensational career ended prematurely when he was murdered in 1910 at the age of 24 in Conway, Mo., training for an upcoming title defense. Walter A. Dipley, a ranchhand on the farm where Ketchel was training, was convicted of the killing. Testimony of the case tells how Dipley shot Ketchel in the back twice with a rifle while the champ was eating breakfast, allegedly, payback for Ketchel's relentless advances toward Dipley's common-law wife and the ranch cook, Goldie Smith. Smith was also sentenced in the crime as a conspirator.

"Tell them to stand over him and start counting to ten," quipped infamous con-artist Wilson Mizner, who reportedly owned part of Ketchel's contract, upon hearing of the fighter's death. "He'll get up."

Ketchel was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as one of its inaugural members in 1990 and was ranked in 2004 by The Ring magazine as the No.6 hardest puncher of all-time. So inspiring was Ketchel's story that Nat Fleischer, founder of The Ring and one of the sport's all-time greatest writers, penned the biography, "‘The Michigan Assassin' The Saga of Stanley Ketchel, World's Most Sensational Middleweight Champion" in 1946. Grand Rapids native Gene Skye also wrote a short biography on Ketchel in 2003 and another book, "The Killings of Stanley Ketchel: A Novel" by James C. Blake is scheduled for release later this year.

It is only fitting that Ketchel be enshrined in the Butte Sports Hall of Fame, the town where his legend began and where he learned what it took to become the greatest in the world. Ketchel came to Butte, a quiet, hungry teenager from Michigan. He left as a young man, having conquered and enjoyed all that perhaps the toughest mining boomtown ever had to offer. And on the day he was murdered, part of Butte died along with one of boxing's greats. That he was born in Michigan and won the middleweight title in California should be of no consequence. As for his boxing and the lust for life that made him famous, Stanley Ketchel was born and raised in The Mining City.

May we now see fit to give him his overdue respect and finally let him rest in peace where he belongs?