02819cam a22003493u 4500 78585 UtSlPG 20260610134825.0 m cr n 260607r20261958utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d 58008780 UtSlPG en iso639-1 GV Fleischer, Nat, 1887-1972 50 years at ringside Fifty years at ringside Salt Lake City, UT : Project Gutenberg, 2026 1 online resource : multiple file formats text txt rdacontent computer c rdamedia online resource cr rdacarrier Release date is 2026-05-02 Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.) "50 years at ringside" by Nat Fleischer is an autobiography written in the mid-20th century. It charts a half-century of boxing as witnessed by a premier sportswriter and editor, weaving ringside reportage with backstage portraits of champions, promoters, and the sport’s mix of glory, controversy, and underworld entanglements. The opening of the memoir presents a foreword lauding Fleischer as the Pepys of boxing, then his own declaration of faith in the sport’s “drama” and a brief résumé of his global credentials. He recalls an athletic East Side boyhood, his first great newsroom triumph covering the Titanic disaster, and vivid encounters with Theodore Roosevelt, who championed boxing’s virtues. He describes pushing the Army to lower height requirements so he could serve in the First World War, then laments returning to find much of his prized fight memorabilia given away. Nostalgic sketches of old New York and Madison Square Garden blend spectacle with grit—six-day races, star track men, police raids on pickpockets, distance-swim stunts, and dangerous late-night reporting, including witnessing a stabbing. He then confronts boxing’s criminal ties, from Tammany fixers to a tense, gun-guarded visit to Al Capone’s estate, and details his exposé of an extortion fund tied to the Rosenthal case. Book Two begins by profiling “Millionaire Kid” amateur great Warren Barbour and shifts to a colorful portrait of ferocious middleweight Stanley Ketchel—his generosity, killer instinct, and mischievous snipe-hunt pranks—before the narrative pauses mid–fight setup. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Originally published: New York: Fleet Publishing, 1958 Boxing -- History Daniel, Dan, 1890-1981 https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.166521 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/78585 119303 119303