Randall Cobb

Randall Cobb

    To ease the transition from the weighty cultural subjects usually covered here to the lighter pop culture topic under consideration, I deliberately avoided using the nickname of the above-named, lest you recognize him too quickly and be shocked. To further slide into this short post I will say that it was a recent article in the New Yorker that prompted this essay, although I don’t think they have mentioned “Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb in quite a while.

   There is, however, a recent article about Chuck Wepner, about whom there is a new movie. It is called, imaginatively enough, “Chuck.” Apparently the marketing people lost the battle to have it titled “The Bleeder” (Wepner was known as the “Bayonne Bleeder”) and as a result they are likely to lose at the box office. Upon reading the piece, I immediately began asking myself “Who was the other, more famous indestructible boxer, who was also very funny and often on the Carson Show?”

    You have learned about my poor memory so you will have guessed that I couldn’t come up with his name. I did remember that the fellow I couldn’t name appeared in the film Raising Arizona and I found among the cast listed - Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb. I think Mr. Cobb is an interesting character and that perhaps the movie "Chuck" should have been about him.

    If you recognize the names “Wepner” and “Cobb” you probably know more about them than I do. You also likely have access to the Internet and can quickly learn more about either of them if you wish to do so. To save you time and keeping with my goal of offering bespoke information packages, here is what is really interesting about ‘Tex’ Cobb.

Mr. Cobb and Mr. Cosell

    Cosell called the fight between Larry Holmes and Cobb in 1982. It was a brutal fifteen round battle; so brutal in fact that Cosell announced that he had had enough and was done with the sport. About the announcement, “Tex’ apparently said that causing Cosell to retire was “his gift to boxing.” About the fight, ‘Tex’ contended that Holmes had only won the first 15 rounds and that he doubted if there would be a rematch since he didn’t think that Holme’s hands could take the abuse.

Mr. Cobb and Mr. Dexter

    Pete Dexter is a well-known writer and at one time was a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. In the early 1980s one of his columns offended some folks in the Gray’s Ferry area of Philly and he took Tex along with him to a bar to discuss the issue with those offended. This also turned out to be a brutal event, one involving  bats and crowbars, although ‘Tex’ got only a broken arm. But, “Mr. Dexter's leg was broken, his back was fractured in three places, and cuts on his scalp required 90 stitches. After that he was no longer interested in late nights in bars in search of column material.”

Mr. Cobb and Sports Illustrated

    In an article in Sports Illustrated in 1993, it was alleged that Cobb had fixed a fight and shared cocaine with his opponent. Mr. Cobb filed a libel suit, asking for $50 million in compensatory damages and $100 million in punitive ones.

    He won and the federal jury in Nashville, Tenn. awarded him $8.5 million in compensatory damages and $2.2 million in punitive damages.

   The fight continued, however, and 2002 he lost the battle with the U.S. Supreme Court and did not get the $10. 7 million.

Mr. Cobb and Temple University

     I will conclude with this surprising bit of good news. In 2008 Mr. Cobb graduated magna cum laude from Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in sport and recreation management.  

    I will leave you here. Let us hope that Mr. Cobb has not succumbed to either Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or dementia pugilistica and the he still possesses his sense of humour. For a demonstration of that see this YouTube video.

    You may be interested in him at this point and attempt your own search. If so, I will warn you that, although there is lots of information about his boxing career and his movies and TV appearances, there is very little to be found about his current situation and whereabouts. I don’t think the Texan is any longer in Philadelphia and it may be that he is not in need of any publicity.

Sources:
As noted, there is plenty of information, much of which is repetitive and some of which is spurious. In terms of the information provided above: The quotation about the Dexter incident at Gray's Ferry is taken from, "Write What You Know: Reflections of a Wayward Soul" by Eric Konigsberg, NYT, Oct. 14, 2009; the Philadelphia Daily News is a good source and Mr. Cobb's graduation is noted in "Sheepskin for 'Tex' Cobb'," by Dan Gross, Jan. 24, 2008. The litigation over the libel suit is found in many sources in 2002. See, for example:
"Supreme Court Turns Down Libel Slugfest," Entertainment Industry Litigation Reporter, Oct. 11, 2002.