First Evidence of ‘If You Build It, They Will Come’

Seventy-eight years ago today, two prizefighters--a western mining camp saloon brawler and a French war hero--had the boxing world galvanized.

Jack Dempsey, 26, the heavyweight champion, and Georges Carpentier, 27, the light-heavyweight king, were about to engage in boxing’s first million-dollar fight.

The artistry with which promoter Tex Rickard pulled this off proved to be far more interesting than the fight itself, which was a mismatch. Dempsey won with a third-round knockout.

There were few major stadiums in America in 1921. Yankee Stadium was still in the blueprint stage and Chicago’s Soldier Field was under construction.

So Rickard moved over to Jersey City, N.J., and built a 91,613-seat, all-wood bowl on a site known as Boyle’s 30 Acres.

Boxing was illegal in New Jersey at the time, but for Rickard, this was an easy one. He simply hired two contractors, who just happened to be brothers of New Jersey Gov. Edward I. Edwards, and got approval to stage the fight.

As the fight began, fans in Europe and America gathered near telegraph offices. In Los Angeles, patrons paid 60 cents to sit in the Pantages Theater at Seventh and Hill streets to listen to a man on a stage announcing bulletins through a megaphone.

As the last spectator left that day, Rickard’s army of workmen promptly began dismantling the one-day stadium, Rickard selling the scrap lumber.

The gross live gate was $1,789,238.

Dempsey and Carpentier got $300,000 each.

Even after paying the participants and retiring the loan for the stadium construction, Rickard said he cleared $600,000.

Rickard, who priced his tickets that day from $50 to $5.50, said afterward that was his only mistake.

“I should’ve made it $100 to $10,” he said.

Also on this date: In 1941, Joe DiMaggio, with a home run, extended his consecutive-games hitting streak to 45, breaking Willie Keeler’s major league record. . . . In 1977, Bjorn Borg beat Jimmy Connors in a memorable Wimbledon final, 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.