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Tex Rickard

Era - Late 1900s / Early 1910s - Boxing

Perhaps the single most significant boxing promoter in history, George "Tex" Rickard started out as a gold prospector in Alaska and Nevada, before realizing that the real money could be made in charging admission to fights. He promoted the 1906 bout between Joe Gans and Battling Nelson, and set up the monumental fight between champion Jack Johnson and former champ, James J. Jeffries, who had returned from retirement to serve as a "white hope" against Johnson. Rickard himself served as the referee for the bout, a decision that is quite simply inconcivable today, but Rickard handled his duty well, officiating Johnson's 1910 victory in Reno.

Rickard's promotional career continued on, finding an unparalled star in Jack Dempsey as he promoted his 1919 victory over Jess Willard, and drawing the first million dollar gate with Dempsey and Frenchman Georges Carpentier in 1921, and Dempsey's eventuall loss to Gene Tunney. None of these bouts featured Rickard as a referee, who was content to watch from ringside at this point.

He also played a central role in the reconstruction of Madison Square Garden and the formation of the NHL's New York Rangers, and helped Nat Fleischer found the influential Ring Magazine.