Camden People - Jersey Joe Walcott
aka
Arnold         Cream
JERSEY         JOE WALCOTT, Camden's own..... a million words have been written, by         those far more talented than I, so on this page I'm going to post some         of the best I've found, along with some newspaper articles rarely seen.
For         those not familiar with the story of Jersey Joe Walcott, here is the         too-quick version. 
He         was born Arnold Raymond Cream on January         31, 1914, outside of Camden NJ. Most         texts say he was born in Merchantville, but as Merchantville was a very         white town then as now, I would not be surprised if he had been born a         stones throw away in Pennsauken or Delaware Townships, both of whom in         those days used the Merchantville office. The historically black         Matchtown neighborhood is situated along the border of the two         townships, just outside of the Borough of Merchantville. His father died         when he was 14 years old, at which time he went to work at the Campbell         Soup factory in Camden. He turned to professional boxing in 1930 as a         lightweight. 
Sources state         that he compiled a record of 53-18-1 with 33 knockouts, others state his         record was 50-17-1. I would be in no way surprised if he fought many         more times than the record shows. 
Jersey         Joe struggled for years, and had all but quit the fight game, when a         Camden "character" named Felix         Bocchicchio took an interest in         him. He got Walcott better fights, and a shot at the world title. It         took Jersey Joe Walcott four attempts before he finally won the belt, at         the age of 37. which he held for only         a short time before being knocked out by Rocky Marciano. After a 1953         rematch against Marciano, he hung up his gloves.
After         retiring, Walcott remained active in boxing as a referee. He took a stab         at professional wrestling in the early 1960s. He also had an acting part         in the 1956 film The Harder They Fall.
Jersey         Joe Walcott later turned to politics, and was elected to the office of         Sheriff of Camden County in 1971, serving for three years.  He also         served as the chairman of the New Jersey State Athletic         Commission. 
Jersey         Joe Walcott passed away as a result of diabetes on February         25, 1994 in  Camden, NJ. 
Jersey Joe Walcott
Pro Record: 53-18-1 with 33 wins by knockouts
 
1930 Sep 9 Cowboy Wallace  Vineland, NJ  KO 1 Oct 10 Jimmy O'Toole  Camden, NJ  KO 4 Oct 24 Frankie Matthews Camden, NJ  KO 4 1931 Apr 20 Carl Mays  Atlantic City  KO 2 1932 Inactive 1933 May 5 Bob Norris  Camden, NJ  KO 1 Jul 28 Henry Taylor  Camden, NJ  KO 1 Nov 16 Henry Taylor  Philadelphia  L 6 1934 Inactive 1935 Jan 1 Al Lang   Camden, NJ  KO 1 Feb 2 Lew Alva  Camden, NJ  KO 3 Oct 1 Pat Roland  Camden, NJ  KO 4 Oct 29 Joe King  Camden, NJ  KO 1 Nov 26 Roxie Allen  Camden, NJ  KO 7 1936 Jan 21 Al Ettore  Camden, NJ  KO by 8 Mar 16 Willie Reddish  Philadelphia  W 10 Apr 28 Joe Colucci  Camden, NJ  KO 4 Jun 16 Lou LaPage  Coney Island, NY KO 6 Jun 22 Phil Johnson  Philadelphia  KO 3 Jul 14 Billy Ketchell  Camden, NJ  D 10 Aug 1 Young Carmen Passarella Camden, NJ  W 8 Aug 15 Billy Ketchell  Camden, NJ  W 10 Sep 1 Billy Ketchell  Camden, NJ  L 10 1937 May 22 Tiger Jack Fox New York  KO by 8 Sep 3 Joe Lipps  Atlantic City  KO 2 Sep 25 Elmer Ray  New York  KO 3 Oct 9 George Brothers  New York  L 8 1938 Jan 10 Freddie Fiducia  Philadelphia  W 8 Jan 20 Jim Whitest  Philadelphia  W 8 Mar 25 Art Sykes  Philadelphia  KO 4 Apr 12 Lorenzo Pack  Camden, NJ  KO 4 May 10 Tiger Jack Fox Camden, NJ  L 10 Jun 14 Roy Lazer  Fairview*, NJ  L 10 Dec 23 Bob Tow   Camden, NJ  W 8 1939 Aug 14 Al Boros  Newark, NJ  W 8 Nov 18 Curtis Sheppard  New York  W 8 1940 Jan 19 Tiger Red Lewis  Philadelphia  KO 6 Feb 12 Abe Simon  Newark, NJ  KO by 6 1941 Jun 27 Columbus Grant  Memphis, TN  KO 3 1942-43 Inactive 1944 Jun 7 Felix Del Paoli  Batesville**, NJ  W 8 Jun 28 Ellis Singleton  Batesville**, NJ  KO 3 1945 Jan 11 Jackie Saunders  Camden, NJ  KO 2 Jan 25 Johnny "Skippy" Allen Camden, NJ  L 8 Feb 22 Austin Johnson  Camden, NJ  W 6 Mar 15 Johnny "Skippy" Allen Camden, NJ  W 8 Aug 2 Joe Baksi  Camden, NJ  W 10 Sep 20 Johnny Denson  Camden, NJ  KO 2 Oct 23 Steve Dudas  Paterson, NJ  KO 5 Nov 12 Lee Q. Murray  Baltimore  WDQ 9 Dec 10 Curtis Sheppard  Baltimore  KO 10 1946 Jan 30 Johnny "Skippy" Allen Camden, NJ  KO 3 Feb 25 Jimmy Bivins Cleveland  W 10 Mar 20 Al Blake  Camden, NJ  KO 4 May 24 Lee Oma   New York  W 10 Aug 16 Tommy Gomez New York  KO 3 Aug 28 Joey Maxim Camden, NJ   L 10 Nov 15 Elmer Ray  New York  L 10 1947 Jan 6 Joey Maxim Philadelphia  W 10 Apr 3 Elmer Ray  Miami   W 10 Jun 23 Joey Maxim Los Angeles  W 10 Dec 5 Joe Louis New York  L 15  (For World Heavyweight Title) 1948 Mar 10 Austin Johnson  Chicago   Exh 4 Jun 25 Joe Louis New York  KO by 11  (For World Heavyweight Title) Dec 14 Earl Griffin  Camden, NJ  Exh. 4 1949 Feb 4 Baba Adams  Curacao   Exh Jun 22 Ezzard Charles Chicago   L 15  (For Vacant NBA Heavyweight Title) Aug 14 Olle Tandberg  Stockholm  KO 5 1950 Feb 8 Harold Johnson Philadelphia  KO 3 Mar 3 Omelio Agramonte New York  KO 7 Mar 13 Johnny Shkor  Philadelphia  KO 1 May 28 Hein Ten Hoff  Mannheim, Germany W 10 Nov 24 Rex Layne  New York  L 10 1951 Mar 7 Ezzard Charles Detroit L 15  (For World Heavyweight Title) Jul 18 Ezzard Charles Pittsburgh  KO 7  (Wins World Heavyweight Title) 1952 Jan 10 Jackie Burke  New Bedford, MA  Exh 5 Jan 12 Jackie Burke  Lewiston, ME  Exh 5 Jan 21 Jackie Burke  Holyoke, MA  Exh 5 Jan 23 Jackie Burke  Portland, ME  Exh 4 Jan 24 Jackie Burke  St. Johns, New Brun. Exh 5 Jan 25 Jackie Burke  Bangor, ME  Exh 5 Jan 26 Jackie Burke  Watery, ME  Exh 5 Jan 29 Jackie Burke  Lewiston, PA  Exh 5 Feb 1 Jackie Burke  Orlando, FL  Exh 5 Jun 5 Ezzard Charles Philadelphia  W 15  (Retains World Heavyweight Title) Sep 23 Rocky Marciano Philadelphia  KO by 13  (Loses World Heavyweight Title) 1953 May 15 Rocky Marciano Chicago   KO by 1  (For World Heavyweight Title) 1963 Aug 15 Wrestling: pinned in third round by Lou Thesz at Memphis, TN
* The Fairview fight was held in the Fairview section of Camden NJ
** Batesville was the name of a neighborhood in what is now Cherry Hill NJ, just outside of Haddonfield, along county road 561, commonly known as the Haddonfield-Berlin Road. For many years amateur and minor professional fights were staged there.
 
The         best article I've ever seen
on Jersey Joe Walcott
Time Tunnel: Jersey Joe Walcott; The                   Long, Long Journey
By B.R. Bearden
They                 say the journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. And to                 climb a mountain that first step is always up. It is the                 willingness to continue to trudge upward despite pain and                 fatigue, regardless of heartbreaks and failure, which can mark                 the difference between the contender and the champion. Yet for                 one Raymond Arnold Cream, better known by his ring name of                 Jersey Joe Walcott, the climb to the top didn't run straight up,                 but rather wound round and round the mountain.
Time                 and again he would come back from self-imposed retirement for                 another try at those slopes, which only get steeper with age,                 and time and again he would fall. Unlike Joe Louis, who was born                 the same year as Walcott and would reign 11 years at the top,                 Jersey Joe would spend 22 years on the journey.
Walcott's                 father died when he was 13 years old, effectively leaving him as                 the male head of the family. He quit school and took whatever                 jobs he could find to help his mother, an enormous task to                 demand of a child. Then one day he walked into Battling                 Mack 's                 gym in Camden, New Jersey. It wasn't long before he was getting                 in the ring with the fighters who called the gym home. There was                 something special about the skinny kid and soon he was fighting                 for money.
His                 first pro bout came when he was 16 years old and he won his                 first 6 recorded fights before suffering a loss. During those                 early fights he decided he needed a catchier name than Arnold                 Cream. His father had been born in the British West Indies, and                 his father's favorite fighter was from the same region, a                 legendary fighter named Joe Walcott. So, in honor of his                 father's memory, Arnold decided to change his name to Joe                 Walcott. And to differentiate himself, he tacked on "Jersey".
Over                 the next several years Jersey Joe won most of his fights, though                 there were the occasional losses. He married and started a                 family, but providing for them wasn't easy. The color barrier                 was still in existence in many cases, leaving a young, gifted                 black fighter limited opportunities. Time and again he left                 boxing in search of work to feed his wife and kids. But it was a                 reality that the last ones hired when times were good were the                 black men and the first ones let go when times were bad were                 those same men. In the ring and out, Joe's race hindered his                 chance to advance. Still, he soldiered on, and it was said of                 Walcott that he outlasted the color line, an ageless fighter who                 transcended two eras of the sport.
Walcott's                 first great opportunity came about when he met the trainer Jack                 Blackburn. The veteran handler of fighters took a liking to Joe                 and began teaching him the tricks of the trade, and soon Walcott                 was racking up victories.
Then                 came a real break, a chance so sweet that only when looking back                 would it be apparent just how great the missed opportunity.                 Blackburn was contacted by a couple of numbers runners from the                 midwest, Julian Black of Chicago and John Roxborough of Detroit,                 and offered the job of training an amateur champion they had                 interest in. Blackburn agreed as long as they'd take Walcott                 into their stable of fighters.
Jack                 told Walcott he wanted him to come along to Chicago. It could be                 a big break for Jersey Joe; for if the other kid didn't pan out,                 they would be looking for someone else. "We're gonna take a                 trip to find out if you're the one," Blackburn told the                 excited fighter.
But                 fate stepped in, and the next day Joe was rushed to the hospital                 with typoid. It took most of a year for him to recover.                 Blackburn traveled to Chicago without him and was introduced to                 the young fighter the numbers men wanted developed. His name was                 Joe Louis.
"If                 I hadn't gotten sick and been able to meet that man in Chicago,                 who knows, I could have been the champion before Joe                 Louis," Walcott would later say.
He                 struggled on for a couple more years, fighting when he could,                 working at hard, low paying jobs when he couldn't. It seemed the                 only Walcott to gain fame in the ring would be the original.
Then                 a ray of light appeared in what was becoming a gloomy career.                 The rapidly rising Joe Louis was training to fight former                 champion Max Schmelling and needed sparring partners. Blackburn                 contacted Joe and offered him the job. Eager to seize the                 opportunity, Jersey Joe showed up in camp full of fire and                 ambition; too much of both. The very first round of his very                 first day as a sparring partner, Walcott dropped Louis with a                 left hook (or right cross, depending on the source). His stint                 as sparring partner began and ended in that round and the                 disheartened young man returned home.
By                 1941 Louis was champion, the most popular champion since Jack                 Dempsey, but Walcott had missed four more opportunities. In the                 only four outtings he 'd had against Top Ten ranked fighters,                 Joe had lost each and every one; to Al Ettore in 1936, Tiger                 Jack Fox in 1937 and 1938, and to Abe Simon in 1940. Often his losses were the result of being on short call for fights,                 sometimes having only days to train for top fighters. In between                 he worked in the Camden shipyards or any other job he could                 find. How many unlisted fights he fought during those years to                 put food on the table no one will ever know.
From                 1941 to 1945 Walcott fought only 3 times. He was living at the                 poverty level and boxing had failed to pull him out of the                 dregs. It appeared the sun had set on his career and there would                 be no more chances for the 31 year old fighter. But with the end                 of the war there was a dearth of heavyweights to fill out boxing                 cards. Local gambler and owner of a sports club, Felix                 Bocchicchio , heard of Walcott's plight and offered to manage                 him. At first Walcott refused, saying, "Fighting never got                 me nothin' before, and all I want now is a steady job so my wife                 and kids can eat regular. I'm over 30 and just plain tired of it                 all."
But Bocchicchio bought food for the Walcott family, put coal in the                 bin, and got Joe's boxing license renewed. Jersey Joe went on                 the comeback trail and in 1945 he had nine bouts, winning eight.                 More importantly, he beat three Top Ten ranked fighters; Joe                 Baski, Lee O. Murray, and Curtis Sheppard.
In                 1946 he had an important win over Top Ten Jimmy Bivins and it                 wasn't long before the well-connected manager had Walcott                 fighting in Madison Square Garden in a main event against Lee                 Oma, a name fighter. Walcott took a 10 round decision, then lost                 to Joey Maxim and Elmer Ray in back-to-back bouts. But in                 January of 1947 he beat Maxim, then in April he beat Elmer
Ray, and in a third bout with Maxim, Joe won again.
From                 depression to Madison Square Garden, Walcott's star was rising.                 Joe Louis needed an opponent and promoter Mike Jacobs recalled                 how Walcott had dropped Louis during the sparring session eleven                 years before. He trotted out the story, played it up to the                 press, and it seemed the match might be at least mildly                 interesting. Of course, Louis would win, but maybe Walcott would                 give a better showing than the other "bums of the                 month". Or so the talk went.
So                 low was Walcott's stock compared to Louis's, however, that at                 first the match was scheduled only as an exhibition. But the New                 York State Athletic Commission declared that any fight over 6                 rounds featuring the champion must be for the title. Even so,                 Walcott was a 1-10 underdog.
Yet                 in the first round, just as in training camp years before,                 Walcott suckered Louis into a right hand lead and dropped him                 with his "sneak" left hook. The crowd was on its feet                 in disbelief. To prove it wasn't just luck, Jersey Joe dropped                 Louis again in the fourth round. The champion's timing was                 thrown off by Walcott's confusing use of a shuffle, called the "Walcott Shuffle", which involved shifting his feet                 around so that first the left, then the right, were the lead,                 and pivoting his body to match, making it almost impossible to                 tell from which side the next punch would come.
Ahead                 on the cards, baffling Louis at will, Walcott then made a                 serious mistake. Rather than finishing the fight in the same                 dominant manner, Jersey Joe decided to coast the final rounds.                 It was the wrong tactic against so popular a champion. When the                 bell sounded at the end of the 15th round, everyone in the                 auditorium, including Louis, thought Walcott was the new                 champion. Joe Louis was so sure he had lost that he started to                 leave the ring in defeat while the crowd gave Walcott a booming                 ovation. But Louis' people kept him in the ring as the scores                 were read. Referee Ruby Goldstein had voted for Walcott, but the                 two judges, Frank Forbes and Marty Monroe, cast their votes to                 the Brown Bomber.
The                 crowd reacted in outrage, something Louis wasn't used to, but                 all Walcott could do was cry. It seemed his absolute last                 opportunity had passed him by. However, the nearness of the                 thing demanded a rematch, and when Walcott's left hook dropped                 Louis again, it seemed he had the situation well in hand this                 time around. By the 11th Louis's left eye was swollen almost shut while Walcott was unmarked. Then Walcott let Louis trap him                 along the ropes. There was a barrage of punches, the short,                 deadly kind for which Louis was so well known, and Jersey Joe                 went down. He was counted out with only 4 seconds remaining in                 the round. Two tries at the title and two failures and it                 appeared the aging Walcott had used up all his luck.
Then,                 to the surprise of almost everyone, Joe Louis announced his                 retirement. There would be an elimination fight between Ezzard                 Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott. Again Joe would get a chance to                 grab the golden ring. In a good fight against a great fighter,                 he lost a 15 round decision to Charles and announced his                 retirement. He was now 35 years old. However, Felix Bocchicchio                 wasn't as ready to give up on old Joe as Joe himself was, and                 they took a short vacation to talk over his future. Returning,                 they issued a press release stating that Jersey Joe had changed                 his mind and wouldn't retire. Instead, he went to Sweden and                 beat local favorite Ollie Tandberg. Wishing to quit a winner,                 Walcott again talked of retirement. But once more, Bocchicchio                 talked him back into the ring.
Joe                 produced an excellent third round KO of future Hall of Famer                 Harold Johnson, but as he had also defeated Harold's father,                 Phil Johnson, 14 years earlier, it made it more apparent just                 how long Jersey Joe had been at on the road without making it to                 the top.
Walcott                 then lost to Top Ten contender Rex Layne, and again to Ezzard                 Charles over 15 rounds and the stock options on one Jersey Joe                 Walcott could be had for pennies.
Yet                 the gods of boxing weren't finished yet with Joe. Ezzard Charles                 had defended his title against the tough Rex Layne and then                 against clever Joey Maxim, as well as a KO of Joe Kahut, and the                 men behind the champ were looking for a "safe" fight                 for his next outing. And what could be safer than old Joe                 Walcott, a man he'd already beaten twice? It was a                 miscalculation that cost Charles his title, for even though                 Walcott was now 37 years old, he seemed to be getting better                 with age.
In                 the seventh round, Joe's "sneak" left hook once again                 did him service and Ezzard Charles was knocked out, the victim                 of what Ezz called, "a sucker punch". Walcott had at                 last attained the title after a journey of almost a quarter                 century. In the rematch he held Charles to a 15 round decision                 and his manager announced that they would only defend the title                 once a year. Unfortunately, the first defense after Ezzard was a                 hungry young swarmer named Rocky Marciano. Unlike Walcott, the                 challenger's journey to the title shot had been straight and                 undeterred, battering down opponents both good and bad with                 equal disdain. He was undefeated, and even more, he had no                 concept of defeat. Still, Walcott held him in little regard,                 laughing at his crude, though effective, style and declaring, "If I can't beat this bum, take my name out of the record                 books."
Showing                 none of his age, and every intention of keeping the title,                 Walcott boxed and moved like a 28 year old fighter, rather than                 the 38 year old man he was. In the first round he dropped                 Marciano with the same unexpected left hook that had dropped                 Louis several times and knocked Ezzard Charles out. But Marciano                 was stronger than Charles and younger than Louis. He showed no                 effect from the punch and the two men gave the fans one of the                 greatest championship fights in the history of the heavyweight                 division. Jersey Joe was winning on all three score cards until                 the 13th round, when he stepped back to the ropes to try to                 sucker Marciano in. Joe shifted to his left and
began to throw a right hand at the incoming Marciano, but                 Marciano threw leather at the same time. Rocky's punch arrived                 first, a murderous right hand that exploded off the champion's                 jaw.
As                 one sportswriter at ringside said, "You could see his body                 quiver with the shock. His lips, cheeks, nose and eyes all                 seemed to shake loose and run together like blobs of wet mud.                 Then he sank slowly, painfully, pathetically. When he fluttered                 to the canvas, he had no more life than a rag doll."
Joe                 lost his title unconscious on the floor. In the rematch he would                 be knocked out in the first round and retire permanently from                 boxing. The crown had been his a mere 14 months of a 22 year                 career.
Few                 men ever journey so far and so long to hold a thing of value for                 such a short time, but perhaps in Walcott the journey was the                 thing. The opportunities missed, the odds seemingly against him                 at every turn, it was the persistence of Jersey Joe Walcott that                 made his short championship a destination worthy of the climb.