By Alex P. Vidal
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”—Camille Pissarro
I MET Gotthard in, of all places, Spuyten Duyvil third week of September this year.
He was an elevator operator in a building in Manhattan sometime in 1969 when Jack Dempsey, then 74, became his “passenger.”
When Gotthard, then 30, recognized Dempsey, also known as the Manassa Mauler, the retired former world heavyweight boxing champion gave him a $5 tip.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Gotthard sighed.
“That you saw Jack Demsey?” I muttered.
“No. That he gave me a $5 tip,” Gotthard intoned.
A five-dollar tip at that time was equivalent to around $500 (Philippine Peso 25,000) today.
“By the way, Alex, do you know him?” Gotthard, now 82, inquired.
“Yes, Mr. Hoitink (Gotthard’s family name),” I quickly retorted. “In fact, I can’t forget him. Jack Dempsey was regarded by many as the apotheosis of the professional fighter. And he was involved in the controversial ‘the long count’.”
My rather stout response was enough to provoke Gotthard’s interest on the subject matter.
He demanded for more details and how the hell I was able to remember this iconic personality in sports history when I wasn’t yet born when the press had supposedly started to bypass his ring exploits the moment his tavern beaming international sporting events and offering a menu of American grub and Irish breakfast on 36 W 33rd Street, New York became an international sensation because it bears his name: Jack Dempsey’s.
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Before we proceed with Dempsey and Gotthard, let me explain where is Spuyten Duyvil, why I was there—or what I was doing there—and why it’s tongue twister.
Spuyten Duyvil has quite the sinister name and is a seemingly peaceful body of water that connects the Harlem and Hudson Rivers.
Erin Klarke of NY1 quoted Bronx borough historian Lloyd Ultan as saying, “It’s a Dutch name that means in spite of the Devil.”
It’s actually one of the most peculiar names in the Bronx.
“Spitting devil because of the strong current,” wrote Angel Hernandez of the Bronx Historical Society.
“Spouting stream,” according to Thomas Casey, president of the Huntington Free Library.
No one knows for sure why it got that reputation, but author Washington Irving helped fan the flame with a story that some still debate.
“He tells a fictional story that when the English fleet comes in menacing the Dutch control of the area that Peter Stuyvesant sent a messenger to the mainland. There was a big storm in the area, but the messenger had a duty to perform so he said that he was going to cross that creek in spite of the devil or in ‘spuyten duyvil’ and supposedly, according to the story, he drowns,” Ultan explained.
“He’s eaten by a very large fish,” Casey said.
Frightening creatures aside, Spuyten Duyvil Creek was a troublesome waterway.
Its curves and shallow waters made it difficult to navigate, and in 1895, the Army Corp of Engineers widened and made it deeper.
Years later when a railroad was built, more people began moving to what was known as the country and they took their neighborhood name from the creek.
“You had a large estate and you traveled sometimes by boat you had a dock right on the Hudson River,” said Casey.
That position along the Hudson made Spuyten Duyvil a prime location a century earlier during the Revolutionary War.
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Back to Dempsey, who held the title from July 4, 1919, when he knocked out Jess Willard in three rounds in Toledo, Ohio, until September 23, 1926, when he lost a 10-round decision to Gene Tunney in Philadelphia.
Dempsey fought 84 bouts, winning 62, 51 of which were by knockout.
Dempsey started boxing in 1914 under the name Kid Blackie.
In 1918 and early 1919 he compiled an impressive number of knockouts, most in the first round, to earn a fight with Willard.
The 37-year-old champion proved no match for young Dempsey, who attacked ferociously from the starting bell and knocked Willard to the floor seven times in the first round.
Even more primitive in its intensity was Dempsey’s title defense against Argentine heavyweight Luis Angel Firpo in New York City on September 14, 1923. After being knocked out of the ring in the first round, Dempsey battered Firpo into defeat in the second.
Why I was in Spuyten Duyvil. Social worker Lucelle tasked me to “help” Gotthard for a few days after he was diagnosed with colon cancer metastasized to liver with pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
A daily three-hour conversation with me and assisting him to take a shower are part of my tasks for Gotthard, a lawyer-university professor-historian rolled into one.
But it’s our tete a tete that made him forget his present condition for a while. He’s also interested to know if Imelda Marcos is still alive and how did the “Thrilla in Manila” end, why it is called the greatest heavyweight championship in history until today.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two dailies in Iloilo)
