Jack "Doc" Kearns (bornJohn Patrick Leo McKernan; August 17, 1882 – July 7, 1963) was an American boxer and boxing manager. He was born on a farm inWaterloo, Michigan[citation needed] to Phillip H. McKernan and Frances M. Knauf (aka Hoff,[1] later Quigley), daughter ofGerman immigrant andWaterloo, Michigan,settler Peter Knauf. His father was the son of Irish immigrants Philip and Amelia "Ann" McKernan and is noted as being "among the early pioneers in the Northwestern Territories ofMontana,Idaho andWashington."[2]
Known as "Young Kid Kearns", he adopted the Kearns surname while boxing. Following 67 professionallightweight andwelterweight fights, he became more well known as a flamboyant boxing coach and manager.[3]
Kearns was reportedly tutored as a manager and promoter inSan Francisco—then the epicenter of the boxing scene in America—by veteranfeatherweight Dal Hawkins, the former boxing instructor at the Seattle Athletic Club, a city in which Kearns had briefly "piloted a primitivetaxicab."[4]
He is most remembered for achieving the first "million dollar gate" in boxing when theJack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier bout generated a record $1,789,238 in ticket sales,[5] and for managingJack Dempsey, who becameWorld Heavyweight Champion from 1919 to 1926 and gave him the nickname "The Doc". Kearns was sued by Dempsey, then repeatedly and unsuccessfully sued Dempsey for large sums of money, following his firing; the two became friendly again in later life. Following his death, Dempsey was quoted as saying that Kearns "made me a champ... he was a great manager, and I'll miss him."[6] Kearns managed six world champions: Jack Dempsey,Mickey Walker,Jackie Fields,Benny Leonard,Joey Maxim, andArchie Moore.[7]
On March 20, 1915, Kearns married Edythe Angell, a dancer who had performed inVaudeville as the Angell Sisters with her sister Gertrude and solo as Ledana.[8] The couple divorced, and he remarried August 4, 1921; the pair were also divorced, on March 18, 1932. However, Kearns disputed the existence of this second marriage to a woman known as Legana Kearns, despite a judgement against him for alimony, which he lost by default, being a no-show in court.[9][10]
The Million Dollar Gate, Kearns' memoir as told to sportswriterOscar Fraley, was published posthumously in 1966.[11]
In 1989, theLA Times reported Kearns to be "one of the great sportscon men of the century."[12]
In 1990, Kearns was inducted into theInternational Boxing Hall of Fame and is there lauded as "a master of publicity and... largely responsible for making possible the first million-dollar gate in boxing history" at the 1921Jack Dempsey vs. Georges Carpentier bout.[13]
Jack Kearns, who managed Jack Dempsey and other boxing champions, died today at the home of his son Jack Kearns Jr. He was 80 years old.
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