Western Squash- 2024/25

 About a month ago I noted that the Western University Squash Team won the OUA Championship for the 41st time -- in a row. For those of you who don't follow such events on Instagram, X or Facebook, here is what the team has been up to over the past few weeks.

   They left Niagara-on-the-Lake after the OUA event and travelled down to New Haven to play Yale on what was "Senior Day" at that institution. The Bulldogs are very tough this year and they won every match against Western. Yale then went on to the 2025 CSA Men's National CollegiateTeam Championship where they lost to the University of Pennsylvania which won the national title and the Potter Cup for the second straight year.
   Western also was in the U.S., CSA National Team Championship in Philadelphia and they went on to defeat Franklin and Marshall to win the Hoehn Cup. The Hoehn Cup is for the teams ranked from 13th to 20th. Western was ranked at No.13 and they won every match against Franklin and Marshall.
    Just over a year ago, I offered a history of UWO/Western's participation in the U.S. Collegiate Championships and it can be viewed  here.  It is great to read about a Western team that has had such success over such a long period.

   A series of photos are provided below. The first one was found at Franklin and Marshall when they reported about the loss to Western. The others are all found on the website of the College Squash Association. Unfortunately, there were no captions. 
  (I have no connection to the team, but I did play a lot of squash at UWO (the intramural, lower-level kind) and anyone who did will remember fondly Jack Fairs. Congratulations to Coach Chris Hanebury for continuing the tradition.)

The Bonus:
   The Championship was held at the Arlen Spector US Squash Center in Philadelphia, which looks like a fabulous facility. Although Spector was a squash player, you probably recognize his name because he was a Senator from the state across the lake from us.

UWO SQUASH AND THE U.S. COLLEGIATE SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS

  This post is about the University of Western Ontario (now known as "Western University") and squash, the sport not the gourd. It is also a tribute to the coach of the squash teams at that University, Jack Fairs, who passed away in August, 2021. 

   Over the years, the men’s squash teams at UWO/Western were very good and still are. They have won every Ontario University Athletics Men’s Championship over the last forty years. In the recent one in February, they won again without dropping a match. They also play in the “Big Leagues” which is what this post is about. It is a rare thing for any Canadian university to compete against U.S. universities and to do so regularly and at the highest level. That Western has done so and won, is unique. Just how unique the accomplishment is, was noted in a Globe & Mail article back in 1994, where this is found (the source is provided at the end of this post):

“ IMAGINE the hoopla that would surround a Canadian university basketball team if it reached the Final Four of the NCAA championships. Or if a football team crushed all its Canadian opponents consistently for more than a decade and then headed south each year for a bowl game.
Preposterous?
   Perhaps, but the University of Western Ontario's men's squash team has been doing the equivalent of just that and more for the past 20 years. And doing it more quietly and with less recognition than you'd expect from such an accomplishment.”

U.S. Intercollegiate Squash

   The “Ivy League” universities are generally found high in the academic rankings, but typically do not do so well in the athletic ones. That is not the case with squash. Until around the turn of this century, when Trinity College began recruiting aggressively and globally, the Ivies dominated in the collegiate squash rankings. Over many years you will find variations of a statement indicating the supremacy of the Ivies in collegiate squash competitions. In an article in 2011 about the arrival of Trinity, Paul Wachter notes in, “Squashing the Ivies” that, “no school outside the Ivy League had won the Potter Cup, given to the men’s national champion in college squash, since the U.S. Naval Academy’s surprise victory in 1967.” Another Ivy (Penn) just won that national championship in 2024 and this statement was made: “For the first time in program history, the University of Pennsylvania are crowned National Champions (Potter Cup)! There have only been five Potter Cup champions in the CSA, Harvard University, Princeton University, Trinity College, United States Naval Academy and Yale University.”  A similar statement is found on the website of the College Squash Association and it is provided below. Apparently everyone agrees that prior to the arrival of Trinity, the Naval Academy was the only non-Ivy to win the collegiate national title in squash. I disagree. UWO won the title twice. 

Where’s Western/UWO?

  I recall reading the 2011 article by Wachter which appeared in the New York Times Magazine and remember thinking that an egregious error had been made. Two, in fact. Apart from the Naval Academy, the very non-Ivy league University of Western Ontario has won the U.S. national squash title twice - in 1977 and 1980. When I quickly went searching for proof I found that the author, Paul Wachter, likely supported his claim by using the CSA data, where, in fact, UWO is not listed among the national champions. I then went looking for a list which I remembered and which may have been provided by  the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Association (NISRA) the precursor of the CSA and could not find it and have not found it on the Internet Archive or elsewhere. But, I did finally find UWO somewhere. UWO is listed under "Six-Man Trophy", under "Past Champions" on the website of the College Squash Association. 

   My memory is not good and I will declare an interest in that I knew Jack Fairs and sometimes sold squash rackets out of my office, to help him raise gas money to go play with the Ivies (and Trinity) in New England and elsewhere. I am not incorrect, however, in writing that UWO won two U.S. national titles in squash.

   At first I thought that UWO might have been erased because having another non-Ivy name spoiled the symmetry of the squash rankings. Plus, in a “national” championship, perhaps such an exclusion can be justified because the school is from another nation. Apparently, however, a new distinction developed based on the number of players on the team and one will find UWO listed twice as the winner of the “Six-Man Team Trophy” on the CSA website. I remain confused about the relationship between the size of the teams and the national title, but will provide the information you need to sort it all out. I don't think there were two national champions in 1977 or 1980, based on team size. UWO won the title in both years. 
   After typing all of that I realized that there is a simpler solution which explains why UWO does not appear as the national champion. According to the CSA, prior to 1989, the national champion was the team with the best record, not the winner of the National Team Championship. Simply put, UWO won the National Team Championships in 1977 and 1980, but the national champions were Princeton and Harvard, both of whom were beaten by UWO. 

Sources:

   You were likely not reassured by the last few sentences and are also confused. For those reasons I will follow the usual format of this blog and provide information from those less confused and more knowledgeable. I will begin with the College Squash Association description and their list and a simulated one provided by me, which I think is not totally inaccurate. I then offer original sources in support of the assertion that the University of Western Ontario won two US intercollegiate squash championships, in 1977 and 1980. Additional information about UWO squash and Coach Fairs follows.

                             Potter Cup (A Division/National Championship)

 "The top eight teams in the nation compete in the “A” division of the men’s National Team Championships for the national title and the Potter Cup. The Potter Cup is named for Art Potter, the United States Naval Academy’s longtime coach. Potter, who started coaching at Navy in 1950, coached the midshipmen to national team titles in 1957, 1959, and 1967. Until Trinity won its first title in 1998, Navy was the only non-Ivy League school to win a national nine-player team championship. Potter was inducted into the College Squash Hall of Fame in 1990.
   The records below list the national nine-player team champions. From 1942 to 1988, the title was based on dual-match records, with the team with the best record becoming the national champion. Since 1989, the title has been based on performance in the National Team Championships, with the team winning the “A” division becoming the national champion." [ the information above is from the CSA and a link provided. The table on the right below is my fabrication.]

      NATIONAL TEAM CHAMPIONS/POTTER CUP WINNERS (COACH): 1967-1997

College Squash Association (CSA) List              Revised List From a Canadian Perspective

1967: United States Naval Academy (Art Potter)  1967: United States Naval Academy (Art Potter)
1968: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby).            1968: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1969: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby).            1969: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1970: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)             1970: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1971: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby).            1971: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1972: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby).            1972: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1973: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby).            1973: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1974: Princeton University (Bill Summers).         1974: Princeton University (Bill Summers)
1975: Princeton University (David Benjamin).     1975: Princeton University (David Benjamin)
1976: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby).            1976: Harvard University (Jack Barnaby)
1977: Princeton University (David Benjamin).     1977: University of Western Ontario (J. Fairs)
1978: Princeton University (David Benjamin).     1978: Princeton University (David Benjamin)
1979: Princeton University (Norm Peck).             1979: Princeton University (Norm Peck)
1980: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1980: University of Western Ontario (J. Fairs)
1981: Princeton University (Norm Peck).             1981: Princeton University (Norm Peck)
1982: Princeton University (Bob Callahan).         1982: Princeton University (Bob Callahan)
1983: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1983: Harvard University (Dave Fish)
1984: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1984: Harvard University (Dave Fish)
1985: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1985: Harvard University (Dave Fish)
1986: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1986: Harvard University (Dave Fish)
1987: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1987: Harvard University (Dave Fish)
1988: Harvard University (Dave Fish).                 1988: Harvard University (Dave Fish)
1989: Yale University (David Talbott).                 1989: Yale University (David Talbott)
1990: Yale University (David Talbott).                 1990: Yale University (David Talbott)  
1991: Harvard University (Steve Piltch).              1991: Harvard University (Steve Piltch) 
1992: Harvard University (Steve Piltch).              1992: Harvard University (Steve Piltch)
1993: Princeton University (Bob Callahan).         1993: Princeton University (Bob Callahan)
1994: Harvard University (Bill Doyle).                1994: Harvard University (Bill Doyle)  
1995: Harvard University (Bill Doyle).                1995: Harvard University (Bill Doyle)
1996: Harvard University (Bill Doyle).                1996: Harvard University (Bill Doyle)
1997: Harvard University (Bill Doyle).                1997: Harvard University (Bill Doyle

                                        1977

1977 - UWO Wins U.S. Intercollegiate Squash Championship

"Squash Team Captures U.S. College Title"

   A screen shot of the article in Western News about UWO's capture of the U.S. Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Championship in 1977 is provided below. Western News has been digitized and the article can be read by clicking on this link: Western News, March 10, 1977, p.2.

"U.S. Collegiate Squash Champs!"

   That is the headline in The Gazette on March 11,1977 (p.16.) A screen shot of the issue is provided below. Unfortunately, The Gazette has not been digitized. The poor picture is from my printed copy of The Gazette. 

    The article is a long one with considerable detail about all of the matches. I will provide here the first three paragraphs and the concluding two:

   "The United States Naval Academy located in historic Annapolis, Maryland was the site of the 1976-77 United States Intercollegiate Squash Racquets Championship. 

   It was the twenty-eighth holding of this peerless display of intercollegiate squash, with the quality of play consistent with the team rosters, which was headed by top United States ranked, Princeton, perennially tough Harvard, powerful University of Pennsylvania, Pacific Coach [sic] champion University of California (Berkley) [sic] and the No. 1 Canadian team -- the University of Western Ontario Mustangs.

   The Intercollegiate team tournament format can be confusing. Essentially there are "A", "B", and "C" classifications, producing, of course, six finalists. Each team is permitted two entries in each of the classifications and scores a point for each victory attained by one of its team members. In addition, all first round losers play in a consolation tournament with each match worth a half-point to victory. The institution winning the most points is declared the Tournament Team Champion and receives the Potter Trophy.

   When the dust was settled, Western was in first place with 25 points. Princeton second with 22, Penn third with 20 and Harvard fourth with 18 1/2. It was the first time that a Canadian university won the Potter Trophy since the 1950 inception of the event....

   [ the conclusion]

   When the hostilities subsided on Sunday, Western had 25 points and the National Intercollegiate Squash Championship. Coach Fairs described the victory as "a total team effort. No one can be singled out for special distinction -- to win everyone had to turn in a creditable performance. It is a victory that all of us will savour forever."

   Although highly regarded, Western was only generally regarded as an outsider to win behind Princeton, Penn and Harvard." (The Gazette, March 11, 1977, p.16.)

"Western Ontario Wins Squash Title" 

  (Special to The Washington Post)

   ANNAPOLIS, March 6 - "Western Ontario University of London, Ontario, won the team championship today at the National Intercollegiate Squash Racquets tournament at the U.S. Naval Academy. Mike DeSaulnier [sic] of Harvard won the individual title, defeating defending champion Phil Mohtadi of Western Ontario, 3-0." (The Washington Post, March 7, 1977.)

   Desaulniers, from Montreal, was an exceptional player. As the article above indicates, however, Mohtadi was the top player in the U.S. in 1976. Here is a portion of an article about Mohtadi's win. UWO finished in third place in 1976.

 "Western Player Wins U.S. College Crown," 

"Phil Mohtadi, 19-year-old University of Western Ontario freshman, won his first U.S. intercollegiate squash-racquets singles title at the Williams College courts yesterday.

  Seeded second, Mohtadi defeated third-ranked Tom Page, a 19-year-old Princeton University freshman from Philadelphia, 15-8, 15-6, 15-8....

   The six-member-team title went to Princeton with 29 points followed by Penn, 27 and Western 25." (The Globe and Mail, March 9, 1976, p. 34.

                                         1980

1980 - UWO Wins U.S. Intercollegiate Squash Championship

“Western Ontario Wins Six-Man Team Title"

Squash News, April, 1980, p.18. The entire article is reproduced below.

     Western Ontario's coach Jack Fairs carried the six-man team trophy for the Intercollegiate Squash Championship north of the border. They ended the host Penn team 30-28. The favored teams, Princeton and Harvard, finished third and fourth with 24 and 22 points respectively. Yale and Navy tied for fifth with 18 ½ points.

Western Ontario also won in 1977. Other than that, the trophy which was started in 1956, has been kept between Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Penn and Williams.

Team totals are compiled by scoring one point for each entrant, one point for each match won, and half a point for each consolation win. If a player draws a bye and wins the next match he gains two points. If he draws a bye and then loses, he gets no points. 

Western Ontario’s strength was that all the entrants reached at least the quarterfinals. Number one, John Lennard, lost in the quarterfinals to Jim Huebner; 

Number two Gajenera Singh, lost in the quarterfinals to Michael Desaulniers; number three, Murray Shaw, won the B tournament; number four, Fred Reid, lost in the B semifinal; number five Dennis Hisey and number six David Cox, both reached the C semifinal.

The runner-up Penn team had number five, Pat Murray, and number six, Eben Hardie, both in the C final, as well as number one, Ned Edwards in the A final.

A record 32 teams participated, which attests to the growth of squash in colleges.

     The intercollegiate association in their annual meeting exclusively endorsed Manta racquets and Manta in return is funding an effort by the intercollegiate association to promote squash in colleges which do not have a team.

Six-Man Team Totals

1. Western Ontario        30
2. Penn                          28
3. Princeton                   24
4. Harvard                      22
5. Yale                           18 1/2
     Navy
7. Stony Brook               17 1/2
8. Washington                16
9. Trinity                         15 1/2
10. Tufts                         15
       California
       Army
13. Dartmouth                13 1/2
14. Williams                    13
15. Fordham                   12 1/2
16 Columbia                    11
17. Franklin & Marshall.  11
18. Wesleyan                  10 1/2
19. Amherst                     10 1/2
20. Toronto                       9 1/2
21. M.I.T.                          9
22. Bowdoin                     8 1/2
      Vassar
       Lehigh
25. Rochester                   8
26. Cornell                        7 1/2
27. Hobart                         7
28. Colgate                       6
      Stevens
30. George Washington.   3
31. Stanford                       2 1/2
32. Michigan                      1 1/2

   The caption of the poor photograph above reads: " The Victorious Six Man Team from the University of Western Ontario: #6 Dave Cox, #5 Dennis Hisey, #4 Fred Reid, #3 Murray Shawl, #2 Gajenera Singh, #1 John Lennard" (left to right.)
   The same issue of Squash News contains, on the cover page, a picture of John Lennard, the winner of the "Skillman Sportsmanship Trophy," Coach Fairs of the winning team and Murray Shaw, the B winner. The title of the article: "Desaulniers Defeats Edward To Take Intercollegiate Crown," (Vol.3, No.1, April, 1980.)

   "Western Squash Team Wins U.S. Crown"

   As you will see from the picture below, that is the title of an article found in The Gazette on March 11,1980. The piece, a long and thorough one, is unsigned. The first two paragraphs and the last one are provided below.

PHILADELPHIA -- A battalion of 185 aspirants from 32 North American universities hustled into Philadelphia, The City of Brotherly Love, to do battle for the six-man team championship of the United States and for the coveted Commander E.M. Potter Trophy that is awarded to the winner of the prestigious event. Playing their best squash of the year the underdog Western Mustangs stunned the packed galleries that thronged the expansive Ringe Squash Complex at the University of Pennsylvania by wrestling from the squash powers of Princeton, Harvard, and Yale, the most aspired-after title in the intercollegiate squash competition. Western's win kept their unbeaten 1979-80 tournament record intact having previously won the Ontario Open Team Championship, the Ontario Open Singles, the OUAA Championship and the Canadian Open Singles. 
   The record of the Mustangs in the U.S. Intercollegiates is an enviable one. In addition to this year's title victory, the Mustangs were second in 1976, champions in 1977 and third in 1978 and 1979. The 1980 Mustang Championship Team was comprised of John Lennard, Gajendra Singh, Murray Shaw, Fred Reid, Dennis Hisey and Dave Cox....

   In an interview with The Gazette, Coach Fairs saw the victory this way: The win was one of the most gratifying of my coaching career. It was an uphill struggle all the way. Our personnel entered the tournament with a high resoluteness which resulted in a very energetic brand of attacking play. This helped to lower the stress that is so prominent in such a national championship. Particularly high demands were made on the two freshman members of the team, Fred Reid and Murray Shaw -- and they more than rose to the occasion. In addition, it was particularly rewarding that John Lennard was the first recipient of the John Skillman Sportsmanship Award. The victory is a major landmark in Western squash history. Traditions live on. The outstanding victory will undoubtedly influence the further course of Western squash in a positive way. 

Post Script:

  Unfortunately things did not develop in a positive way. The squash team did not have courts on campus on which to play and the financial support was limited. In 2002, this letter is found in the London Free Press, June 1, 2002.

“Squash at Western Deserves Better Fate.”

   "In reading the stories on Western’s restructuring of its men’s

And women’s athletic teams, I was shocked to see one item.

  Men’s squash –Category 3, (self-funded, limited services.)

  Category 3 – not even second-class citizens!

   Certainly coach Jack Fairs and the young men who have represented

Western so well, both in Canada and the U.S., deserve a much

better fate. A look at the records would explain why.

   Of the last 32 OUA squash championships, the Mustangs have won

28 of them, including the last 19 in a row.

   The Mustangs have twice won the U.S. intercollegiate squash

championships (1977,1980).

   Two of the Mustangs, Phil Mohtadi in 1976 and Scott Dulmage in 1989, 

were crowned singles champion at the U.S. intercollegiate championships.

   A four-time All-American, Mohtadi was inducted into the U.S. intercollegiate

squash hall of fame in 1999.

   Retired from Western’s faculty of kinesiology in 1989, Fairs has continued as 

the Mustang’s highly successful squash coach. It’s an impressive record, one 

that will be difficult to match and one that should not be ignored." 

Bob Gage  London

(Bob "Scoop" Gage was a London journalist who died in 2009. For a profile, see this Western essay.)

  Even with limited resources, the team plays on and after winning the OUA championship, travelled to the U.S. one in Philadelphia last week. The current coach, Chris Hanebury, was named OUA "Coach of the Year." Congratulations to the coach and the team. 

The 1994 Globe and Mail article is this one: “Western Thrives Without Fanfare: SQUASH DYNASTY / One Canadian University Consistently Succeeds Against the Best U.S. Schools,” Mark Kearney, The Globe and Mail, Dec. 29, 1994, P.C7

Jack Fairs - much has been written about him.

For obituaries see: "Remembering Beloved Coach Jack Fairs," Western Communications, August 20, 2021 and "John Fairs", London Free Press, Sept. 4, 2021.  

"In Memoriam - Jack Fairs," Squash Canada, Sept. 1, 2021.
In it you will find links to the Canadian Squash Hall of Fame and the Ontario Squash Hall of Fame and a few others.

"Legendary Coach Jack Fairs Passes Away at 98," College Squash Association, Aug. 31, 2021.

Satan In Cincinnati

The Devil is in the Details

[Additional proof that stupidity and silliness were around before this century and prior to the invention of the Internet]

   While waiting in a line recently I noticed the logo above that you will recognize and remembered the other one which you probably don't. For years it was the trademark of the Procter & Gamble Company which is based in Cincinnati. Supposedly it represented the man in the moon and the cluster of stars stood for the 13 colonies. In the 1980s, however, it looked sinister to some, particularly if you stared at the logo in a mirror and saw 666 in the curls of the moon man's beard. This symbol of Satanism and the sign of the Antichrist was found throughout households on products ranging from Pampers to the box of Ivory Snow and clearly there was reason for concern.  The Satanic rumour spread quickly and people were urged to boycott P&G, which apparently many at the competitor Amway thought was a great idea. The switchboard in Cincinnati was receiving 5,000 queries a month about the logo and although P&G fought hard and spent a lot of money, it was ultimately abandoned.

Sources: [for those who think I make stuff up]
   Most of what you will want to know is found in the Wikipedia entry for P&G under "Logo Myth".

"P&G Drops Logo: Cites Satan Rumors: Man in the Moon Loses Job" Sandra Salmans, New York Times, April 25, 1985.
"P&G Trying to Exorcise the Devil Rumor," Pamela Moreland, Los Angeles Times, Jan. 22, 1982.
"Rumor in Minnesota Says 'Moonies' Run Procter & Gamble,"Lawrence Ingrassia, The Wall Street Journal, Mar. 26, 1980.

I could go on. The marketing nightmare lasted into this century: "Amway Loses Appeal in Case With Rival P&G," The Globe and Mail, Oct. 2, 2001.

There are also rumours about the Siren in the Starbucks logo, but I will leave it to you to find them. If you go to Snopes and search for Starbucks you will see they have suffered a number of their own marketing nightmares.

Post Script: (the spot reserved for editorializing)
Peeing in Philly: 
Among the  Starbucks marketing problems there is the one that arose in Philadelphia when two black men were arrested in a Starbucks for doing nothing. They were waiting for a friend and asked to use the bathroom. As an elderly white guy, I would probably not have been arrested, but I don't think they would have let me use the facilities. Perhaps the Starbuck's staff overreacted to the black men's request just as Starbucks overreacted in their response to the bad publicity. They said that they now would treat anyone who walked in as a customer even if they did not buy anything (as if there were already not enough of them sitting there using their laptops.) And, they closed stores for employee training which, one imagines, might have upset many of the employees who were already 'woke' and some of whom would have been 'of colour'. Bad ideas, both of them.
"Mandatory Implicit Bias Training Is a Bad Idea: It's All the Rage. And It's Seriously Counterproductive," Lee Jussim, Psychology Today, Dec. 2, 2017.
  As an old white guy with an aging bladder, I admit I am likely to benefit from all of this and look forward to the elimination everywhere of signs such as this one.

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.