Gene Tunney

Truth is stranger than fiction and Gene Tunney's story really does read like fiction. The boy from a working-class Irish family was raised in New York's Greenwich Village then worked as a clerk until he joined the US Marine Corps and served in France until the Armistice. Tunney's fighting took place in the boxing ring and he returned home as champion of the American Expeditionary Force. His old job gone, he became a professional boxer and set his sights on Jack Dempsey, famed and feared heavyweight champion of the world. In 1928 he retired as undefeated champion and a millionaire to marry a beautiful heiress to the Carnegie steel fortune. As successful in business as boxing, Tunney became a captain of industry. His circle of friends included the President and such writers as Thornton Wilder and George Bernard Shaw. This is his amazing life story.