Requiem for a heavyweight

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 11

Requiem for a heavyweight

By

FRANK DUGGAN

Thomas Heeney, born Gisborne, New Zealand, March 18, 1898, died Miami, United States, June 16, 1984.

Pat O’Connor, the world heavyweight wrestling champion, unfolded his legs, leaned forward and scoffed at the suggestion that he was the best known New Zealander in the United States. “They know only one New Zealander, Tom Heeney,” O’Connor replied.

His statement was made in the lounge of the Grand Hotel in Invercargill in the 1950 s when O’Connor, something of an unsung hero in New Zealand sport, was making a barn-storming tour in the wake of his elevation to world champion.

Tom Heeney was the only New Zealander to challenge for the world heavyweight boxing title. That he failed against Gene Tunney in 1928 is now irrelevant for Heeney’s eleventh-round knockout preceded a successful and contented later life.

It was Damon Runyon who bestowed the “Hard Rock” nickname on the rugged New Zealander; it was his great “mate” and sparring partner (whether it was in or out of the ring or in the occasional bar-room brawl), Ernest Hemingway, who sang the praise of the man whose theory was “take two, give one, but make that one count.”

Up until his death Heeney was the oldest man living to have challenged for the heavyweight title, and he was proud of it. Although his twilight years were spent in a wheelchair and in a convalescent home in North Miami, Heeney never lost touch with his homeland or his sport. He often said that the present “bunch” of heavyweights were nowhere near the class of his era — 1920 to 1933. For the record, Heeney fought 69 times, won 37, lost 22, mostly when on the

decline, had eight draws, one “no-decision” bout and one “no contest.” In this time the former plumber won, and lost, bouts in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Britain, and the United States. But it was in the United States that he highlighted his career and it was there, after he lost a points decision to Stanley Poreda in New York in 1933, that he and his American wife, Marion Dunn, decided to live. They had no children.

They bought a bar in Miami and 30 years later sold it and retired. Tom returned to New Zealand in 1947 and was heralded everywhere he went. Consistent to his family’s Irish background, the reunion was everything the then middle-aged Heeney wished. He later wrote: “Everyone knew me. I can’t understand why a loser (referring to his loss to Tunney 19 years previously) is standing on a pedestal.” Heeney was just that. After interviewing O’Connor, New Zealand’s only world wrestling champion, it was logical for a cadet reporter to delve into the newspaper file and find out Heeney’s achievements and to talk to people of his era. “Son” Tall, Harold Kindley, Eddie Parker and Paul McQuarrie, southerners of fistic distinction, all stood a couple of inches taller when speaking of the legendary Heeney. “He was something apart from the others,” Mr Tall said one day. “There has never been anything like him in the big division. He would have murdered the likes of his pretenders, Maurice Strickland and Don Mullett.” And the affable Mr Tall would know, for he was the mentor for many fine boxers when Ambrose Palmer, of Sydney, sent them to New Zealand “for more experience.”

The last “import” was Phil Wallace, who married and settled in Invercargill and whose son, Johnny, is now the national amateur featherweight champion. “Left-hand” Phil was a great drawcard in Invercargill those days as was the Cockney, Arthur Kelly, a dubious character who eventually was murdered in an East London gang war. Heeney’s one regret, apart from not winning the world crown, was a failure to win the “Australasian” title. Three times he tried to lift the crown from the mountainous Australian, Colin Bell, nicknamed the “Moree Mountain.” He drew the first over 15 rounds in Gisborne and then lost on points in two bouts at Mackay. Heeney could never fathom out Bell’s hugging style and half-arm jolts about the body. Again, in London in 1924, Heeney lost the decision when attempting to beat the British Empire heavyweight champion, Phil Scott. In 1925 Heeney spent most of his time in South Africa, winning his first four fights and then losing on a disqualification to Blackie Miller in Cape Town. Heeney had five fights in Britain the next year, his only loss being to Scott on points over 20 rounds in another attempt at the British Empire championship.

The next year Heeney was in the United States and his career took a sudden upsurge. He fought the best and, after an elimination series, the colourful promoter, Tex Rickard, chose Heeney to challenge Tunney for the title, as he considered the fallen champion, Jack Dempsey, did not have enough drawing power to fill New York’s Yankee Stadium.

The Tunney-Heeney fight cost Rickard money, $157,000 to be exact, because of one pre-fight incident. In the presence of Dempsey and 3000 other spectators Heeney was nearly knocked out by a sparring mate, Phil Mesurio. Rickard and his entourage missed the action; they were continuing a champagne breakfast on board his hired yacht. The news media immediately spread the word and Rickard’s gamble failed to pay off.

Not that Heeney did not prove a worthy challenger. On the contrary, he gave the champion some uneasy moments in the early rounds. However, Heeney was not in the same class.

It was Tunney’s last fight. Heeney had another 22 bouts, winning only five over the next five years,

drawing three, and being involved in one “no deci-

By 1933 Heeney, now married and in business, had run out of enthusiasm and retired. However, he looked back with pride on a career spanning 13 years and countless notable achievements, including his first New Zealand heavyweight title when he beat Albert Pooley in Gisborne in 1921. After relinquishing it early in 1923 he returned to New Zealand from Australia to beat Brian McLeary in Christchurch for the crown. Shortly afterwards he dropped a disputed points decision to Jim Sullivan in a title fight in Auckland, and quickly won it back. He had two more bouts in New Zealand, again beating Sullivan by the short route in Palmerston North and Ern Young at Tokomaru Bay. His remaining 46 fights were overseas.

In an epitaph, the NZPA staff correspondent in Washington, Hugh Neville, this week wrote of Heeney: “They buried Tom Heeney quietly today, cremating ‘the Hard Rock from Down Under’ and putting his ashes next to those of his wife in the Vista Memorial Gardens in North Miami. “He had suffered one stroke, however, and on May 23 he was hit by a second one, which caused him to slip into a coma from which he never recovered,” wrote Neville.