Some men are driven by a need to succeed, others simply to avoid defeat, and still others by the quest for gold. May- be, just maybe, the fuel that motivated Jack Gibbons was delivered in the genetic code from his father, Or maybe, simply, by trying to live up to the man.
Whatever the source, Jack impressed just about anyone who knew him with this athletic prowess, his ability to make sports or activities look easy. He was described by longtime St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Don Riley as a “natural” at anything he tried.
Hand him a polo mallet, a cricket stick, a pool cue, a horse- shoe _ anything at all requiring dexterity and precision and he picked it up almost immediately.
It was in his blood, in his genes, in every fiber of his
body, this natural proclivity for athletics, be it football, handball, golf or _ and above all _ boxing. After starring in several sports at Cretin High School, he earned a football scholarship to the University of Detroit but there was there only one year when the Great Depression hit. He returned home to help out the family, and to continue a remarkable athletic career.
Many of those who saw him put an iron shot onto the green, inches from the cup, did not know his natural ability at athletics was polished, honed and brought to perfection by hours of practice and devotion to that particular craft. Boxing was no different, although the genetic code was certainly present.
Michael John “Jack” Gibbons fought 75 times with 56
wins, five losses and a draw from 1932 to 1938. He had an additional 13 newspaper wins and a total of 20 knockouts. Never stopped himself, he was the No. 4 ranked middle- weight in the world in 1935-36 and the No. 6 ranked light heavyweight in 1936-37. Among his greatest victories was a 10-round decision over Tony Zale, who later defeated Rocky Graziano for the middleweight championship, all of this at a time when only the eight classic weight divisions existed and one dominant boxing organization. He started
his career with 51 consecutive victories. He fought Lee Savold, Farnk Bataglia and Fred Lenhard. Undefeated as an amateur, he turned down a trip to the National Golden Gloves tournament in 1932 to turn professional.
Gibbons was appointed to the Minnesota Boxing Com- mission by Governor Orville Freeman in 1956, was named executive secretary in 1965 and retired in 1975. He was the Minnesota representative to the World Boxing Association for six years and was a vice president of the WBA for two years.
He was a perfectionist, driven to succeed, perhaps, by the accomplishments of his famous father, Mike “The Phantom Gibbons’’, a man he revered and used as a personal measuring stick.
“I think so,’’ said Jack’s daughter, Mary Pat. “His drive was to live up to grandpa, always to beat himself. He always said that he wished he could be half as good as his dad. He never thought he was good enough.’’
“Never stopped himself, he was the No. 4 ranked middleweight in the world in 1935-36 and the No. 6 ranked light heavyweight in 1936-37.”
It is possible that Jack Gibbons did not know how good he was, or at most had only limited awareness of his athletic prowess. His daughter Kathleen tells the story about
her father hitting shot after shot on the driving range, practicing, practicing....
“He would practice until dark, hit balls until his hands were sore,’’ she said. “Then, one night, he said ‘I got it, I found it. I know what I’m doing.’‘’
Mary Pat was her father’s boxing buddy, Kathleen his golf companion.
He was working with Kathleen on her iron shots on the front lawn one time when she put the ball through an upper corner of the new plate glass window at the Gibbons’ home. Her mother came running out, wondering what had happened. “He just told her to take it easy that I had just hit a perfect iron shot,’’ said Kathleen.
That was another side to Jack Gibbons – cool as a cucum- ber, hard to rattle even under pressure. He had the self
possession of a gambler, the cool steel nerves of a Dodge City gunslinger.
“When he boxed, he never hit the other guy first. He waited to get hit and then he would start fighting,’’ Mary Pat recalled.
His training sessions were designed to manufacture stamina and resilience later on. “He would always train with two of three sparring partners,’’ Mary Pat said.
“He would spar three minutes with one and that guy would leave the ring and and another one would step into the ring immediately. When he hit the bag he wouldn’t rest between rounds.’’
“You can’t get tired when you fight,’’ Gibbons always said.
Jack Gibbons had already retired from the ring when his daughters were born.“He quit before he and my mother were married. She didn’t like to see him get hurt,’’ said Mary Pat, who accompanied her father to sparring sessions and fight cards alike.
“I went to the gym when Del and Glen Flanagan sparred and Kid Gavlian was there,’’ she said. “I met Jack Dempsey. I got to hang out with (former middleweight champion) Mike O’Dowd.’’
Mary Pat liked boxing well enough that she skipped her senior prom to be at her father’s side. “He was on the com- mission and I went with him to a boxing card,’’ she recalled.
Gibbons routinely beat mean 40 years younger than he on the handball court when in his sixties. And as good as he was in the ring, there was one venue in which he never fought. “He and my mother said the rosary every night when they got into bed and he told her every night how much he loved her,’’ Mary Pat said. “He told her that every night for 61 years. Those were the last words Vida heard from him before his death.
Gibbons had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease when he fell in the garden and hit his head. “He hit it very hard,’’ recalled Mary Pat.Gibbons sized up the occasion
in terse fashion afterward despite his failing memory. “That certainly never happened to me in the ring,’’ he said. “Nobody could hit me then.’’
It was one of the very few times during his life that Jack Gibbons thought he was that good at anything. Yet, despite whatever concerns he had about measuring up, Gibbons exceeds all the requirements necessary, and then some, for a place in the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame.
