Adventures in Autographs "The Pittsburgh Kid" BILLY CONN Part II of II

[JimStinson]

Part II , conclusion

We arrived at Billy Conn's house in what's known as the squirrel hill district of Pittsburgh around noon. The neighborhood and everything about it was impressive, Large brick houses built the way they used to build them 100 years ago shared the avenue with massive shade trees. Members of the wealthy Mellon banking family still live in that neighborhood. Not bad for the Son of a steam fitter in a steal mill town who by his own admission "never worked a day in his life" His father Billy Conn Sr. toiled for 40 years at Westinghouse. His son wanted none of that so he became a prizefighter , Light Heavyweight Champ and in 1941 Almost heavyweight champion of the World .

Things are different now than they were in 1941 like so many other American cities Pittsburgh has changed , the steel mills have mostly closed down. The Pittsburgh graduate school of business stands where baseball's Forbes Field once stood and a portion of North Craig St. in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh is named "Billy Conn Blvd" but on that day when I arrived at his home the man who in 1941 WAS Pittsburgh was still there. He had never left his hometown or his childhood sweetheart Mary Louise. It was her that greeted my father and I at the door that day with an engaging personality and still beautiful smile and invited us in. It was easy to see how Billy had fallen in love with her on their first date, she was only 15 years old then and he told her "I'm going to marry you". She had told him he was crazy.

Billy was seated at the large dining table near the entrance and stood to greet us with a smile. We shook hands and I remember to this day his huge hands and the strength of his grip. He was tall and lean now close to 70 years old and probably not more than 20 pounds over his fighting weight in his prime of 169 pounds. I was certain that he could still clobber any man half his age and as I would find out immediately just had. Mary offered my father and I coffee and we sat and chatted for awhile. She asked if I had heard about Billy's latest tussel . I hadn't and she smiled , "Tell him Billy" he smiled back and told her "You tell it better" , A few months prior they were seated at the counter next to the cash register at their neighborhood Deli, It was winter time and a young man approached the owner who ran the Deli and demanded he empty the till and give him the cash. The owner resisted and was hit. Conn reached over with one of his giant paws and grabbed the mans jacket with one hand and pummeled him with the other. Unable to unleash himself from the vice like grip, he pulled free from his jacket leaving it behind and ran away. Conn still holding the jacket handed it to the Deli owner who in checking the pockets found the man's name and address , the would be thief was promptly apprehended. By the time she had finished telling me the story , we were all laughing I asked him why and he said "The guy that owns the Deli is my friend , and I didn't want my friend to get hurt", Mary whispered "he was protecting me" To be around the both of them it was immediately clear they were infatuated with each other. "The boxer and the blonde" , as the media would call them were still very much in love.

We talked about boxing for awhile, but it was clear this was not an interesting subject for Billy Conn, Unless it was Harry Greb. The great Greb was Conn's boyhood hero. Generally regarded as one of the greatest middleweight champions in history in 1926 he checked into an Atlantic City New Jersey clinic for surgery to repair damage to his nose and respiratory tract from his ring career and several car accidents but died on the operating table. Billy told me "he's buried just down the street" , In fact I was to learn later that when Conn's mother died in 1941 Billy bought the closest available plot to where Harry Greb is buried in Calvary cemetery as her final resting place.

It was inevitable but I asked him about the first Joe Louis fight the one everyone remembers. The one that I'm sure he's been asked about a million times, Like Joe Namath and his super bowl win over the Colts. Its the one thing strangers meeting him for the first time always ask about. he told me his corner saw what he was trying to do late in the fight (knock Joe Louis out) and told him not to try and slug it out with Louis, but of course he didn't listen. I asked him if there was any talk during the fight between him and Louis when they were in the clinch or heading back to their corners , he thought for a second a bit surprised it seems as maybe this was a question that he had never been asked. He said he remembered telling Louis several times "Joe, You're in a fight tonight" he said if Louis had said anything at all during the fight he didn't remember it. I asked him if he was sick of always being asked about THAT fight and he said simply "yes"

I changed the subject to baseball. When he found out I was friends of baseball Hall of Famer Bill Terry , and had often visited him at his home in Jacksonville Florida. He perked up. You see its like this Bill Terry hated John McGraw and the feeling was mutual, Terry had told me that when both he and McGraw were with the Giants , in the evening Terry would walk with his wife near Central Park after dinner and John & Mrs McGraw would do the same they would often cross paths and both wife's would greet each other , and Terry would say hello to Mrs McGraw and John McGraw would say hello to Mrs Terry but neither of the men spoke to each other. Billy Conn liked that story because his father in law Greenfield Jimmie Smith a former major league ball player was close personal friends with John McGraw and Conn and Greenfield Jimmie had feuded for years even once coming to blows in which Conn broke his hand hitting his father in law in the head. He seemed pleased that Bill Terry despised McGraw

I remarked how impressive their house was and Mary told me they bought the house for cash with the money that Billy made in the first Joe Louis fight right after they were married and had lived there ever since. He joked that he had many fights in that house but Mary Louise had won every one of them "by decision" as he called it. As he signed the boxing gloves and 8x10 photos I had brought along , His wife told me he still gets autograph requests in the mail on average of several times a week and always replies flattered that he would still be remembered over four decades after his last professional bout.

After we had finished the signing she suggested that Billy show us HIS collection and to give us "The Tour" as she called it. We went downstairs to the large basement area where the walls were lined with photos the largest being an artist's rendering of Harry Greb. Among the others were pictures of Billy Conn taken in action or at weigh ins for his various bouts and photos of him posed with celebrities and Presidents. Mary Louise excused herself to make lunch and Billy would point out the different opponents by name. We came to a photo of Conn posed with former President Richard Nixon , I asked him what was he like and Conn said "Big Sports Fan" , he leaned toward me and lowered his voice to a whisper "Nixon told me that he was hoping I would have beat that %#8&#@% Joe Louis"....I said WHAT ???? he said it like that ??? and Billy nodded. I was astonished. We continued along the wall with Billy pointing to the photos and saying a word or two about each one until ..well he stopped , and appeared frightened and even confused as if he could not remember where he was or who I was. He called for his wife , she returned and finished "The tour" with us picking up where Billy had left off. On our way back upstairs she explained that sometimes he "forgets" and was then in the early stages of Alzheimers disease but that the episodes usually don't last long. It was clear she was his "anchor" and once he saw her he was himself again.

We finished lunch and said our goodbyes. It had been a wonderful meeting. Billy Conn and I posed for one last photo outside the front door of his house and I was on my way back to the airport in Newark and the flight home. I wrote them a Thank you after I had gotten home and received a large manila envelope shortly after postmarked from Pittsburgh. Inside was a photo of Mary Louise and Billy Conn , Taken in 1941 right after they were married. I doubt that a more attractive couple ever existed. Mary Louise had signed "To Jim, It was our pleasure meeting you" and both had autographed it for me. It was a nice touch.

On May 29th, 1993 I was watching the evening news and learned that Billy Conn had died. They played the clips from the famous Joe Louis fight and told the story briefly of the kid from Pittsburgh that ALMOST became the heavyweight champion of the World.

In the classic Marlon Brando film "On the Waterfront" . In the famous scene in the back of the cab - "I could have been a contender." Rod Steiger playing "Marlon Brando's brother reflects on Brando's character Terry's early promise as a boxer with the words "You could have been another Billy Conn."

I realized the impossibility of it , There could not have been nor would there ever be "Another Billy Conn"
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