A city only gets one bicentennial, so Pickerington is making sure its celebration this year packs a serious punch.
Literally.
Though the city has been celebrating its bicentennial all year, everything comes to a head with the homecoming festivities on Labor Day weekend. A variety of events will take place at and around Victory Park, including a parade, carnival games and fireworks.
These types of events are not uncommon for local-level celebrations, but one particular
Championship boxer James J. Jeffries, a Violet Township native
aspect stands out as unique: a series of USA Boxing sanctioned fights.
Starting at 6 p.m. on Sept. 6, fighters ranging from 8 to 30 years old will compete in amateur-style boxing matches. The competitors will vary greatly as both male and female boxers will compete in weight classes from 55 pounds to super heavyweight.
“(It’s) some of the best fighters from around the area – high-level amateur boxing,” says Rob Pilger of Grandview Heights-based Pilger’s Old Skool Boxing and Fitness Academy, who is helping organize the event.
Pilger says that the variety in age groups, skill levels, genders and boxing styles will make the fights exciting to watch.
Mayor Lee Gray felt it important to include boxing in Pickerington’s bicentennial celebration to commemorate the city’s history with boxing and wrestling.
“Depending who you talk to, boxing and/or wrestling is a part of Pickerington’s history,” Gray says. “There were matches Downtown. And the late James Jeffries was from Pickerington; he was a world heavyweight champion. Having these fights is just another way to connect to our history.”
Though few definite details can be found about these long-ago fights in Pickerington, some residents maintain first-hand accounts. Gary Taylor, former president of the Pickerington-Violet Township Historical Society, remembers wrestling events taking place in the community when he was growing up in the 1940s.
“I would’ve been 8 or 9 years old,” says Taylor, who attended some of the matches with his father.
The events took place in a vacant lot at the intersection of Columbus and Center streets that
Photo by Hannah Bealer
Rob Pilger
was typically used to screen movies on the side of a building. Taylor estimates fewer than 1,000 people made up the community at the time, which he says was still only a village. Without much access to theaters or televisions in the area, the movie nights and wrestling matches were the two biggest social events for residents.
The matches typically paired local wrestlers against each other and drew large crowds. A wrestler by the name of Boivin “Hap” Houser lived across the street from the empty lot and would organize many of the matches. Houser, a crowd favorite, frequently defeated his opponents. Still, Taylor notes that Houser would invite his competitors over to clean off and eat dinner after the fights.
Taylor believes the matches were promoted by grassroots methods such as handmade signs and says there wasn’t as much showmanship as there is in many modern fighting events.
“I would relate it more to what you would see in high school and college today,” Taylor explains.
Beyond wrestling, Violet Township holds significance in boxing history as the birthplace of James J. Jeffries, who reigned as world heavyweight champion from 1899-1905. He bested Bob Fitzsimmons for the championship and remained undefeated until his retirement. According to the Historical Society, Jeffries’ family left the area to settle in Los Angeles when he was 8 years old.
Jeffries, whose original home was moved piece by piece and reconstructed in the old village area of Canal Winchester, infamously suffered his only loss after coming out of retirement to fight Jack Johnson, the first African-American world heavyweight champion, in 1910. Still, Jeffries’ strength and endurance during his career led many noteworthy boxers and promoters to label him as one of the greats.
Those interested in this aspect of Pickerington’s history, or anyone wanting to watch live boxing, can enjoy the free fights until 9 p.m., when the city will begin a fireworks display. Seats will be set up around the ring in addition to open space to watch from a hill.
Cameron Carr is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
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