Journal
Sioux City. Iowa
MM ££
Golden Gloves Champion Bob Morley
Has Become "Mike Jacobs" of Saipan
ir Trinity Boxer Promotes Weekly Bouts There
BY ED LALLEY
S STAFF $GT. BOB MORLEY, former Trinity high school stellar athlete and Sioux City Golden Gloves amateur boxing champion, who is with the Western Pacific Special Service command, may well be acclaimed the "Mike Jacobs" of Saipan.
Since Sgt. Morley's arrival on Saipan more than a year ago he has been coaching boxing at the base, and during the last few months directing a great deal of his time to promoting shows. As a climax to a year's work in the athletic department during which time he coached his army team to several championships he took a team of boxers to Iwo Jima and staged the first boxing exhibitions ever presented on that island. Braddock Referees
Highlights of the initial Iwo Jima show were that C pt. James J. Braddock, former world's heavyweight champion, acted as referee of several of the bouts, and that more than 7,000 men of the armed forces witnessed the bouts.
According to The Daily Saipan, a base publication, it was the largest gathering of any kind since the Yankees captured the island. Eleven bouts were held, and in all except three boxers trained by Sgt. Morley participated.
In a recent letter to W. H. ("Bill") Carrigg, superintendent of the city sanitation department, Sgt. Morley gave a detailed account of his career since arrival on Saipan. The letter in part:
"We arrived here on this island (Special Service did) before the island was secured and immediately started to build an arena, the Garrison arena which was a combination movie theater and boxing arena in the early days here. The arena was built in Charon Kanoa Saipan, and 48 days after the island was declared secure we put on our first fight. Shows were immediately put on weekly, and as attendance and popularity grew we started to broadcast the fights to all the ships at sea.
20,000 Witness Boxers I 41The attendance grew until we
Among the men instrumental in staging the first boxing program on Iwo Jima island included a well known former Sioux City Trinity high school athlete and former Golden Gloves champion, S. Sgt. Bob Morley. Shown above is Sgt. Morley (left) discussing boxing with the former world's heavyweight champion, James J .Braddock, who is a captain and stationed on Saipan. Capt. Braddock was one of the referees for the bouts presented by Sgt. Morley on August 7.
finally reached our peak, when for the finals of the All Service Glove tournament, held here in January, a record crowd of over 20,000 service personnel packed the Bay arena to witness the champions crowned. No show on this island has ever reached that high mark for attendance although the Eddie Bracken and Peggy Ryan show drew 17,000 at the Palace theater for the highest stage show attendance. Fights continued every week and by January over 300 fighters were listed in the match-making file.
"All Army and All Service Golden Glove tournaments were held in January and in a 30-day span of that month 14 fights were presented on this island. Next the island was invited into the Forward area tourney, the winners in the various weight classes to receive a trip back to Honolulu to fight for the Pacific Ocean Area championships. Saipan placed eight of the nine men on championship team, the only other winner being Tinian, who was represented by Frank Robinson, two-time national amateur, champion, who won the junior welterweight| championship.
"Hits Jack Pot"
"In Honolulu the Saipan team! really hit the jack pot . . . seven of the nine-man team won the P.j O. A. titles and Saipan was declared the Madison Square Garden of the Pacific. Boxing continued on a big scale throughout thel Marianas Island ... in May the Marianas championships were held in Guam . . . Saipan again was declared the champions when they won four of the nine titles to win the team championship."
Today, the 26th of August, marks the first anniversary of boxing for Saipan, and Sgt. Morley wrote that an exceptional boxing program was being arranged in celebration. He says the show will be the 64th presented by the Special Service command and "with an attendance record of better than half a million for the first year of boxing on the small Pacific island, certainly Saipan is truly-the Madison Square garden of the Pacific."
