Boxing and Wrestling Cards, Autographs and Memorabilia
19 Lots
»
Lot 380. Billy Conn Book – “The Boxer and the Banker” by J. Knox McConnell. This self-published 1984 hardcover tells the story of Conn and his influence on McConnell as a youngster. McConnell was eight when he met Conn at one of his first professional fights. As an adult, McConnell served as president of two large banks. The book is ex, and the dust jacket, vg+ with a scuff at the top of the front. McConnell signed the flyleaf with his middle name, “Knox.” The signature is mint 9 and personalized. Conn died in 1993, and McConnell in 1997.
Winning Bid $7.
Lot 381. 4 Boxing Books – 3 on Jack Johnson and 1 on Muhammad Ali. Written by Jack Olsen, the Ali book is “Black Is Best: The Riddle of Cassius Clay,” 1967 apparent first edition, vg-ex, dust jacket absent. A senior editor at “Sports Illustrated,” Olsen attempts to put into perspective competing and even contradictory images of the heavyweight champion. It contains eight pages of photographs. Among the books on Johnson is his autobiography, “My Life & Battles.” The 2007 first edition hardback is a translation of a memoir by Johnson that was published in French, first as a series of articles in 1911 and then as a book in 1914. Christopher Rivers, who translated the French manuscripts, autographed the first title page and personalized the signature to Bert Sugar. The signature is mint 9. The first edition hardback is nm in a vg-ex dust jacket. The other books are softcovers: “Papa Jack: Jack Johnson and the Era of White Hopes,” Randy Roberts, uncorrected proof, vg with some underlining, edits and corrections, and “Jack Johnson,” Sal Fradella, 1990 first edition, inscribed by the author to Sugar as “Boxing’s ‘Renaissance Man’.” Mint 9 signature. Part of a “They Didn’t Know It Could Be Done” series, the ex-m 116-page book devotes more space to photos than to text.
Winning Bid $20.
Lot 384. 16 1910 T218 Champion Athletes and Prizefighters Including 6 Golfers. The golfers are Herreshoff p, Nicholls (3) two f and 1 p, and Alex Smith (2) one f and one p. The other athletes are Collins p, Daniels (seated) g, Keating (2) one f and one p, Kiviat f, Robbins (2) both p, Sedley p, Trubenbach p-f and Williams p. One Robbins card and the Sedley and Trubenbach cards have Hassan backs; the others have Mecca backs.
Winning Bid $15.
