For other uses see Jack Dempsey (disambiguation)

Jack Dempsey (disambiguation)

Jack Dempsey was a heavyweight boxing champion.Jack Dempsey may also refer to:* People:**Jack Dempsey Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) was a heavyweight boxing champion.Jack Dempsey may also refer to:* People:**Jack Dempsey (politician) Jack Dempsey (1895–1983) was a heavyweight boxing...

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Thomas Moore (1920 - November 2007) was a British professional wrestler

Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom

Professional wrestling in the United Kingdom spans over 100 years but became popular when the then new Independent Television station - ITV began showing it in 1955 firstly on Saturday afternoons and then also in a late night mid week slot...

, best known by his ring name Jack Dempsey, who was active in North American and European regional promotions from the 1930s to the 1960s.

One of the leading British welterweight champions during the 1960s, he faced many top stars of the era including George Kidd, Joe Murphy, John Foley, Eddie Capelli, Bob Steele, Alan Colbeck and, most notably, Mick McManus who he defeated for the British Welterweight Championship in 1958.

Career

Born in Newtown

Newtown, Chester

Newtown is an area of Chester, Cheshire, England.-History:left|thumb|1899 OS map of N.E. Chester showing Newtown. The Cathederal grounds of St. Werburgh can be seen to bottom left of the map...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, Moore grew up in Wigan

Wigan

Wigan is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It stands on the River Douglas, south-west of Bolton, north of Warrington and west-northwest of Manchester. Wigan is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its administrative centre. The town of Wigan had a total...

 and, at age 11, began amateur boxing and later became involved in rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 as a member of the Bradford Northern

Bradford Bulls

Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....

 club, taking part in the first competition for the Ken Gee Cup. As a teenager, he worked as a coal miner while training at the famous Riley's Gym in Scholes

Scholes, Greater Manchester

Scholes is an urban area in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Scholes is immediately to the east of Wigan's town centre; separated from the commercial area by the River Douglas....

. Taking part in several amateur wrestling bouts, he eventually made his professional debut in 1937 with the 17-year-old Moore losing to Al Jenkins.

Adopting his grandmother's surname, he began wrestling under the name Jack Dempsey and gained a large following while wrestling for promoter Billy Riley

Billy Riley

For the rockabilly musician, see Billy Lee Riley.For the 19th-century baseball player, see Billy Riley .Billy Riley was a practitioner and teacher of Catch Wrestling...

 during the next several years. By the 1950s, he had begun pursuing the British Welterweight Championship held by Tony Lawrence and eventually defeated him for the title in 1953. Dempsey would defend his title for over three years before losing to Mick McManus in London, England on January 5, 1957. Feuding with McManus over the next year, he would regain the Welterweight Championship in one of the most anticipated matches of the era defeating McManus in London on April 23, 1958. When he later won the World Welterweight Championship, Dempsey was described by one sports writer as "The perfect ruthless fighting machine".

Although publicly criticizing the changing business of professional wrestling, stating his personal dislike for "clowns, gimmicks and showmen" in a magazine interview with The Wrestler in March 1963, he would feud with many such wrestlers such as Vic Faulkner, Jon Cortez and "Mr. TV" Jackie Pallo

Jackie Pallo

Jackie "Mr TV" Pallo was an English professional wrestler, a star of British televised wrestling in its 1960s and 1970s heyday, when the sport had a regular 40-minute slot before the Saturday afternoon football results on ITV.Even before the publication of his 1985 autobiography "You...

 as national televised wrestling matches became more frequent during the 1960s.

He would remain Welterweight champion for eight years until vacating the title due to illness in October 1966. Upon doctors orders, he eventually retired from active competition so as to work with his wife Theresa in their Vine Street store in Whelley

Whelley

Whelley is an area of northeast Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is mainly a residential area, between New Springs and Scholes.In Whelley, there is Canon Sharples School, St Stephen's Church and a labour club. Whelley also has its own hospital which specialises in rehabilitation of the...

 and later worked at Gullicks in Wigan. During the 1970s, he became an instructor at Riley’s gym along with Billy Riley’s son Ernie and head trainer Roy Wood. He later appeared in a documentary on the gym, The Wigan Hold, which eventually prompted government funding to move the gym to a location with modern facilities several miles from the original gym.

In the years following his retirement, Moore became known as a popular local character often seen wearing a trademark bow tie

Bow tie

The bow tie is a type of men's necktie. It consists of a ribbon of fabric tied around the collar in a symmetrical manner such that the two opposite ends form loops. Ready-tied bow ties are available, in which the distinctive bow is sewn into shape and the band around the neck incorporates a clip....

 and beret

Beret

A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....

 as well as smoking a King Edward cigar. Often telling stories of his wrestling days in local pubs, he was the subject of a television documentary in 1995.

Spending his last years in Westwood Lodge Nursing Home in Poolstock, he died in November 2007 at age 85. His funeral held at St Mary's RC Church in Standishgate, he was later buried in Gidlow Cemetery on November 26.

Championships and accomplishments

• Joint Promotions
• British Welterweight Championship (2 times)
• British Lightweight Championship
  British Lightweight Championship
  The British Lightweight Championship was a top British wrestling championship found throughout the country's circuit. The title's broken history dates back to the 1930s and it was last claimed actively in 2002. The official upper weight limit for the belt was 11 stone.- Title history :This is a...
  
  (1 time)

• Other titles
• European Welterweight Championship (5 times)
• European Lightweight Championship (1 time)