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{{short description|American boxer (1904–1933)}}
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{{Tone|date=May 2014}}
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{{Infobox boxer
| name = Young Stribling
| image = Young Stribling BNF.jpg
| nationality = United States
| realname = William Lawrence Stribling Jr.
| nickname = King of the Canebrakes
| weight = [[Heavyweight]]<br>[[Light heavyweight]]<br>[[Middleweight]]<br>[[Welterweight]]<br>[[Lightweight]]<br>[[Featherweight]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1904|12|26}}
| birth_place = [[Bainbridge, Georgia]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1933|10|3|1904|12|26}}
| death_place = [[Macon, Georgia]], U.S.
| style = [[Orthodox stance|Orthodox]]
| total = 291
| wins = 256
Line 25 ⟶ 20:
}}
 
'''William Lawrence Stribling Jr.''' (December 26, 1904 – October 3, 1933), known as '''Young Stribling''', was an American professional [[boxing|boxer]] who fought from [[Featherweight]] to [[Heavyweight]]. fromHis 19211931 untilfight 1933against [[Max Schmelling]] for Schmeling's world heavyweight championship was named [[Ring Magazine fight of the year]]. Stribling was inducted into the [[Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1965, and the [[International Boxing Hall of Fame]] in 1996.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=James B. |title=Young Stribling |url=http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/stribling.html |website=ibhof.com |access-date=15 October 2023}}</ref>
He was the elder brother of fellow boxer Herbert "Baby" Stribling.
 
==Personal Background life==
Born in [[Bainbridge, Georgia]], on December 26, 1904. Stribling's mother claimed she wanted him to be a boxer from the time he was a baby. "When he was two years old, I started him on leg and arm exercises," she told an interviewer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=James B. |last2=Skutt |first2=Alexander G. |title=Young Stribling |url=http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/stribling.html |website=ibhof.com |publisher=International Boxing HOF |access-date=5 October 2023}}</ref> Stribling was raised as a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]].<ref>White, Jaclyn Weldon. (2011). ''The Greatest Champion that Never Was: The Life of W.L. "Young" Stribling''. Mercer University Press. p. 13. {{ISBN|978-0-88146-252-4}}</ref>
Born in [[Bainbridge, Georgia]], on December 26, 1904, Young Stribling spent most of his childhood in show business with his parents and a younger brother. His parents were devout Christians from rural southwest Georgia. In 1911, Stribling's family had come to Spokane on the Sullivan and Considine [[Vaudeville]] Circuit with an acrobatic act called the "Four Novelty Grahams." Ma was his trainer, donning gloves and sparring with him in the ring. Pa was his manager and promoter.
 
"Strib" celebrated his 21st birthday by marrying Clara Kinney, a student at [[Brenau College]]. Clara's father was a prominent Macon businessman, and her mother was the first woman to serve on the city council. Clara's grandfather was a former president of Wesleyan College in Macon, the oldest female college in America. "Strib" and Clara had three children, the first was W. L. Stribling III, born in 1927.<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=1927-02-07 |title=Milestones: Feb. 7, 1927 |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,729977,00.html |access-date=2023-01-19 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=STRIBLING IS EAGER FOR TITLE MATCH: Here on Honeymoon, He Tells Rickard Marriage Will Not Interfere With Ring Career. WANTS TO FACE BERLENBACH Also Anxious for Return Bout With Slattery |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103468200 |access-date=4 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=29 December 1925|id={{ProQuest|103468200}} }}</ref>
The Stribling family traveled widely as vaudeville performers with a wholesome family act that included gymnastics and balancing acts and ended with a brief boxing match between four-year-old "Strib" and his two-year-old brother, "Baby" Stribling. The act lasted several years and was so popular that it took the family through 38 foreign countries before they settled in [[Macon, Georgia]], prior to World War I. Backstage between acts, the Striblings read the Bible together and prayed before each performance, just as "Strib" later prayed before each fight when he became a professional boxer. Regardless of where the family performed, they always went to church on Sunday and refused any physical training on the Lord's Day. "Strib" attended Macon's Lanier High School where he excelled as a forward on the basketball team that won the state championship in 1922.
 
Stribling was one of the best high school basketball players in the United States. He was known as a "dead shot". His team went to the national interscholastic tournament at Chicago, but he was ruled ineligible to play because of his professional boxing. Stribling was also an avid and accomplished aviator who loved to fly.
 
Stribling was raised as a [[Vegetarianism|vegetarian]].<ref>White, Jaclyn Weldon. (2011). ''The Greatest Champion that Never Was: The Life of W.L. "Young" Stribling''. Mercer University Press. p. 13. {{ISBN|978-0-88146-252-4}}</ref>
 
== Professional career ==
Stribling turned professional in 1921. Stribling fought 75 professional bouts while still in high school. He fought at very high frequency. From 1921 to 1929 he fought 258 times, over 28 times per year.
Stribling turned professional in 1921. While still in high school, Stribling fought 75 professional bouts. After gaining favorable media attention for his first major fight, a bout which he tied with champion [[Mike McTigue]] from Ireland, "Strib" was besieged by offers to box all over the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa. People wanted to see the young prodigy of the boxing ring in person during those days before television. "Strib's" most successful year was 1925 when the family purchased a bus and toured coast-to-coast to give fans in smaller towns an opportunity to see a popular boxer in exhibition bouts.
 
In a title match against light-heavyweight champion [[Mike McTigue]] the fight was declared a draw. Unhappy with the draw, the ring was surrounded by angry fans who demanded the fight be given to Stribling, which the referee did. Three hours after the fight though, he re-affirmed that it was a draw. "Unless I awarded the decision to Stribling I would never leave the arena alive," referee Harry Ertle said after the fight.<ref>{{cite news |title=M'TIGUE GETS DRAW AFTER RIOTOUS BOUT: Referee First Called Battle a Draw, Then Gave It to Stribling Under Force, He Charges. VERDICT AGAIN REVERSED Three Hours After Fight Ertle Asserts His Original Decision Stands. BOUT HAD BEEN CALLED OFF McTigue Pleaded Injured Hand, but Declares Pistols Were Used to Get Him Into Georgia Ring. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103171219 |access-date=4 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=6 October 1923|id={{ProQuest|103171219}} }}</ref> The two would face again for a rematch 6 months later. Stribling convincingly outpointed McTigue, winning the match. However, in New Jersey boxing at the time a title couldn't change hands on a [[newspaper decision]].<ref>{{cite news |title=STRIBLING OUTPOINTS M'TIGUE AT NEWARK: World's Light-Heavyweight Champion Loses by Wide Margin to Southern Youth. |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103282081 |access-date=4 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=1 April 1924|id={{ProQuest|103282081}} }}</ref> Both fights occurred while Stribling was just 19 years old. After his bouts against McTigue, he was often referred to in newspapers as "the uncrowned light-heavyweight champion."<ref>{{cite news |title=New picture of uncrowned champ |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84020645/1924-04-07/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=4%2F7%2F1924&sort=relevance&rows=20&sequence=0&index=15&date2=4%2F7%2F1924&words=&dateFilterType=range&page=14 |access-date=7 April 2024 |publisher=The Montgomery Advertiser |date=7 April 1924}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Young Stribling also golfs, dresses part |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn85042243/1924-04-07/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=4%2F7%2F1924&sort=relevance&rows=20&sequence=0&index=10&date2=4%2F7%2F1924&words=&dateFilterType=range&page=3 |access-date=7 April 2024 |publisher=The Bismarck Tribune |date=7 April 1924}}</ref>
Pa sometimes pitted him against the local champion, offering $10.00, a substantive amount at the time, to anyone who could beat his son. "Strib" fought 33 matches that year. Moreover, the tour did much to popularize the sport, and it helped establish the athlete's reputation for clean sportsmanship and wholesome living. He never drank or smoked, and he was always careful about what went into his body.
 
[[Paul Berlenbach]] took the light-heavyweight title from McTigue. Stribling had previously fought Berlenbach to a draw. In 1926 a match between the two took place. Berlenbach won the rematch decisively.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dawson |first1=James P. |title=BERLENBACH VICTOR; RETAINS HIS TITLE: 50,000 See Light Heavyweight Champion Beat Stribling in 15 Rounds at Stadium. TRIUMPH IS DECISIVE ONE Berlenbach's Powerful Blows Wear Down Rival After the Third Round. GEORGIAN HARD PRESSED Resorts to Clinches to Save Himself From Knockout |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/103789105 |access-date=4 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=11 June 1926|id={{ProQuest|103789105}} }}</ref>
Another cross-country tour in 1927, this time without the bus, resulted in his winning 57 straight fights with only one draw and one loss. He fought 38 bouts in 1928, winning all but two by a [[knockout]]. He ended the tour by knocking out three different opponents within four days in three different cities, no opponent lasting more than two rounds.
 
In 1928, now 24 years old, Stribling set the record for knockouts at 101. [[The New York Times]] added that "few of Stribling's recent victories were over well known fighters."<ref>{{cite news |title=Young Stribling Sets Record For Knockouts, Stopping 101 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/104506449 |access-date=4 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=5 July 1928|id={{ProQuest|104506449}} }}</ref>
Macon loved the Stribling family and honored "Strib" with a parade after every major fight. In turn, "Strib" established himself as a valuable citizen. As a professional boxer "Strib" usually trained on the family farm in [[Ochlocknee]], near [[Thomasville, Georgia]]. There on November 17, 1927, he was raised a Master Mason at Ochlocknee Lodge No. 117 (now defunct). And back in Macon on December 7, 1928, he became a 32° Scottish Rite Mason. He was created a Shriner of Macon's Al Sihah Temple on May 23, 1929.
 
Stribling met the future heavyweight champion, [[Primo Carnera]], in 1929 and lost on a foul. In a rematch, Carnera fouled Stribling. Each scoring a victory by disqualification. Commenting on the unsatisfactory conclusion of the two matches, sportswriter [[Robert W. Edgren|Robert Edgren]] commented "Stribling seems to be playing Carnera the way he has played a lot of palukas and stable mates at different towns in "the sticks" in this country. Always the return engagement."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Edgren |first1=Robert |title=As Edgren Sees It - Young Stribling Gets Only 50-50 Break in Attempt to Grab Off Carnera in Europe |publisher=The Oregonian |date=21 December 1929}}</ref>
During the peak of his career, "Strib" flew his own airplane to fights around the country and served as a lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve, taught Sunday School for athletes at Macon's Mulberry Street Methodist Church, and worshipped at Vineville Baptist Church where he was a member.
 
After a string of impressive wins against [[Hans Schönrath]], [[Otto Von Porat]], and [[Phil Scott (boxer)|Phil Scott]], none of which lasted more than 2 rounds. Stribling was given a shot at the heavyweight championship against [[Max Schmelling]]. It was a decisive victory for Schmelling. Stribling nearly made it to the final bell, with the referee stepping in with just 14 seconds remaining in the 15th and final round. The first and only KO or TKO loss in Stribling's 291 fight career.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nichols |first1=Joseph C. |title=STORY OF TITLE BOUT TOLD ROUND BY ROUND: Schmeling Has Slight Advantage in Weight, Scaling 189 Pounds to Stribling's 186 |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/99324248 |access-date=5 October 2023 |work=The New York Times |date=4 July 1931|id={{ProQuest|99324248}} }}</ref> It was named ''[[The Ring (magazine)|Ring Magazine]]'' [[Ring Magazine fights of the year|Fight of the Year]] for 1931.
Incredibly handsome and personally appealing, the six-foot-tall, blue-eyed, brown-haired youth received offers to model clothes for major companies and to appear on the Broadway stage. He received numerous gifts from admirers, including a motorcycle on which he often had a rider, his mother. Big-name fighters had their photos made with him, including heavyweight champion [[Jack Dempsey]], who later became one of his best friends. By 1926, "Strib's" success as a boxer had earned him over a million dollars. And there was more to come. "Strib" celebrated his 21st birthday by marrying Clara Kinney, a student at [[Brenau College]]. Clara's father was a prominent Macon businessman, and her mother was the first woman to serve on the city council. Clara's grandfather was a former president of Wesleyan College in Macon, the oldest female college in America. "Strib" and Clara had three children. Although he lost his championship bid in the fight against future world champion [[Jack Sharkey]] at Miami Beach in 1929, "Strib" at 23 had fought more professional rounds than any other fighter in history, had knocked out more opponents, and had compiled other records as well.
 
He would fight for 2 more years and 21 more fights, but the Schmelling loss was his last title shot. Stribling was still an active boxer when he died. His final bout came less than two weeks before his death.
Later in 1929, "Strib" made his first European tour where he lost by a foul to a future world heavyweight champion [[Primo Carnera]] in London and a month later defeated him in Paris in a rematch. Later in 1930, he made a second European tour, and this time defeated the champions of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Belgium. Back in the United States while nursing a broken left hand, he defeated the heavyweight champion of Norway. "Strib" missed his one great chance to become heavyweight champion of the world when he lost to [[Max Schmeling]] on July 3, 1931, in Cleveland, on a technical knockout in the last 14 seconds of the 15th round. The battle was a rout before it was half over; the only round Young Stribling might have won was the 4th. According to one ringside observer, Stuart Bell, "Strib" may have landed only 30 good punches in the 15 round fight. It was the first major fight to be broadcast live over national radio. When the fight ended, "Strib" went to shake hands with Schmeling who, although swarmed by photographers, insisted on being photographed with "Strib." During the spring of 1932, "Strib" went on a boxing tour to Australia, accompanied by his wife and children, and in the fall they sailed to Johannesburg, South Africa, where he defeated the heavyweight champion of that country before a record crowd of 15,000. Early in 1933 "Strib" returned to Paris to beat, again, the champion of Belgium in a rematch. One night in Atlanta, "Strib" rose from his ringside seat and threw in the towel to stop a young boxer's brutal beating by an experienced opponent. The news reporter who witnessed the incident later wrote, "To me, this one incident did more to reveal the true character and instinct of Young Stribling than anything else—the instinct of a Christian gentleman who abhorred brutality whether at his expense or the expense of a foe."
 
===Highlights===
"Strib" fought a total of 253 recorded bouts, losing only 13. He was knocked out only once, and it was a technical KO during the final round with Germany's [[Max Schmeling]] in 1931. His lifetime achievement records include most fights by a heavyweight, most fights by a heavyweight in a single year (he fought 55), most knockouts by a heavyweight (129), and fewest times knocked out. Champion boxer [[James J. Corbett|Jim Corbett]] called him "the best heavyweight fighter for his pounds that ever lived." Setting himself at odds with boxing promoters of the 1920s, "Strib" decried the violence and cruelty associated with professional boxing, and he saw himself as a "scientific" pugilist who preferred to win over his opponent on points rather than knockouts. He gained attention from the media as an outstanding boxer beginning with his first professional fight at age 16 in Atlanta.
 
== Death ==
He died at 6 A.M, EST on October 3, 1933, at 28 years old, after a motorcycle/automobile accident when he was just 28. The accidentwhich occurred October2 1days outsideprior ofin Macon, Georgia. Traveling 35 miles per hour on a motorcycle, "Strib" was enwhile routetravelling to a hospital to visit his convalescing wife and their newborn. babyInjuries (hisinvolved thirdpelvic child),fracture bornand twosevere weeksleft previously.foot Hedamage wavedwhich a greetinglead to a friend passing in an automobileamputation. ButHe hewas failedburied toin see[[Riverside anotherCemetery car behind that of his friend(Macon, RoyGeorgia)]].<ref Barrow.name="history2">{{cite Theweb veteran|title=History of roughlyRiverside 300Cemetery bouts, who never received a permanent scar due to his great defensive skills, attempted to dodge the second car but was too late|url=http://www.riversidecemetery.com/history/ The|access-date=April fender of the car struck Stribling27, crushing2017 and|website=Riverside virtually ripping off his left foot, and sending him to the pavement, fracturing his pelvis.Cemetery}}</ref>
 
==Professional boxing record==▼
Stribling was taken to the hospital, where, coincidentally, his wife and baby were. His mother rushed to the hospital from the Stribling plantation in South Georgia; his father from Texas. At one point he awoke, saw his wife, and asked, "How's the baby?" Almost to the end he remained conscious, "carrying on in the same spirit that he showed when they picked him up from the roadside on Sunday," reported papers of the day. "Well, kid," he said to his friend (Barrow), who was the first to reach him as he lay beside his wrecked motorcycle with one foot dangling by a single tendon, "I guess this means NO more roadwork."
All information in this section is derived from [[BoxRec]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/12052|title=Please login}}</ref> unless otherwise stated. ▼
 
At first the doctors held out hope, after they had amputated his left foot. But his vitality began to wane. Physicians were amazed at his ability to cling to life when his temperature hit 107.5 degrees and his pulse 175bpm. His wife was wheeled into his room and he recognized her.
"W.L.?"
"Sugar," was his barely audible reply.
"Hello, baby," were his last words to her, the papers reported.
His father walked grimly from the room and tearfully said, "He's gone."
Death occurred at 6:00 Tuesday morning, October 3. The next day, his body was placed in the Municipal Auditorium of Macon, to lie in state from 10 in the morning until 6 that evening. He was buried in [[Riverside Cemetery (Macon, Georgia)|Riverside Cemetery]].<ref name=history>{{cite web|title=History of Riverside Cemetery | url=http://www.riversidecemetery.com/history/ | website=Riverside Cemetery | access-date=April 27, 2017 }}</ref>
 
== Honors ==
* Inducted into the [[Georgia Sports Hall of Fame]] in 1965.
* Stribling's fight against Schmeling was named [[Ring Magazine fight of the year]] in 1931.
* Inducted into the International Boxing Hall Of Fame in 1996.http://www.ibhof.com/pages/about/inductees/oldtimer/stribling.html
 
 
▲==Professional boxing record==
▲All information in this section is derived from [[BoxRec]],<ref>https://boxrec.com/en/proboxer/12052</ref> unless otherwise stated.
===Official record===
{{BoxingRecordSummary
Line 87 ⟶ 60:
|nc=2
}}
All [[newspaper decision]]s are officially regarded as “no"no decision”decision" bouts and are not counted toin the win/loss/draw column.
{|class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="text-align:center"
|-
Line 447 ⟶ 420:
|4 (15)
|Nov 18, 1929
|style="text-align:left;"| {{small|Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, LondonnLondon, England, U.K.}}
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Both fighters down in the third. Carnera down from low blow in 4th.<br>This bout was probably fixed}}
|-
Line 3,023 ⟶ 2,996:
|nc=2
}}
Record with the inclusion of [[newspaper decision]]s toin the win/loss/draw column.
{|class="wikitable mw-collapsible" style="text-align:center"
|-
Line 3,383 ⟶ 3,356:
|4 (15)
|Nov 18, 1929
|style="text-align:left;"| {{small|Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, LondonnLondon, England, U.K.}}
|style="text-align:left;"|{{small|Both fighters down in the third. Carnera down from low blow in 4th.<br>This bout was probably fixed}}
|-
Line 5,957 ⟶ 5,930:
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135325500 Palmer-Stribling Fight Round by Round, ''The Referee'', (Wednesday, 6 July 1932), p.11.]
* [http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article135325491 Was Always Palmer's Master, ''The Referee'', (Wednesday, 6 July 1932), p.12.]
 
 
==External links==
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[[Category:Road incident deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:World boxing champions]]
[[Category:PeopleSportspeople from Thomas County, Georgia]]
[[Category:American male boxers]]
[[Category:Motorcycle road incident deaths]]
[[Category:Boxers from Georgia (U.S. state)]]
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