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Fallen & Forgotten: The Ernie Schaaf Story
By Patrick Coleman
A Boxer is Buried
The train from New York carrying Ernie Schaaf’s body was filled with disbelief and sorrow. His mother and sisters spent most of the five hour trip despondent. Occasionally, Lucy would try to provide comfort to her daughters, but she spent most of the trip in silence - heartbroken. The only solace the family could hold onto were the words from Ernie’s doctors saying that if he had lived, he would have been crippled. A fate no one in the Schaaf family could imagine of their "Honey Boy."
The train arrived in Boston’s South Station at 10 p.m. Awaiting the Schaaf family was virtually an empty building with just a few members of the press. The family followed the casket carrying Ernie as it was wheeled out of the station. Ernie’s body would spend the evening at the Francis Flaherty Funeral Parlor in Somerville while Lucy and her family would be driven back to Wrentham by the personal chauffeur of Johnny Buckley.
Ernie’s father returned from New York by car with his son-in-law.
From the moment Ernie was taken to the Polyclinic Hospital after the fight through his trip back to Massachusetts, Johnny Buckley took control of the things he could, like making arrangements for travel, dealing with the press, to following up on details for the funeral. At times he was almost paralyzed with grief appearing to be a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Despite the sorrow he felt, Buckley stayed strong enough to care for Ernie's family in the final days until he was buried.
On the morning of February 15th, Ernie’s body arrived in Wrentham. Eighteen year old Earle Stewart, working at the Bennett Gas Station in Wrentham’s Wampum Corner, saw the car carrying the fighter’s body drive by heading towards his mother’s house -- the house her son bought for her with his winnings from boxing. The next day Stewart would write in his journal, “hundreds of cars passing all day to Schaaf’s.”
The small town of Wrentham became a magnet for boxing’s elite who made the trip to pay their respects to one of their fallen. So many flowers were sent to the Schaaf family that four cars were needed to carry them all in the funeral procession. The largest arrangement was a seven-foot cross of white flowers sent by Primo Carnera.
Carnera, devastated by Ernie’s death, sent word that he was overcome with grief and could not attend the funeral. “Due to my upset condition I could not attend the funeral of your son but my heart and soul are there with all of you, ” Carnera wrote Lucy.
A priest from East Providence, Rhode Island served as his representative as well as a concelebrant during the funeral mass.
Lucy, never blamed Carnera and provided comfort to him in the form of a telegram. She wrote, "Kindly be assured that I do not consider you in any way responsible for the death of my boy. I feel toward you like I would have wished your mother to have felt toward my Ernie if you had met with some misfortune during your bout with him. I thank you for your offers of sympathy and for your expression of admiration for Ernie."
The day of the funeral, Stewart would again jot down in his journal how the Wrentham American Legion assembled near the gas station and that thousands attended the service. One paper listed the number of attendees at 5,000 while another had it around 3,500. There were more than 150 cars in the procession and people spilled out of all the entrances to St. Mary's Church. Never in the history of Wrentham, had there been a funeral of this size.
Rev. Walter Mitchell, the pastor during Ernie’s days in Wrentham who enjoyed the fighter’s presence at Mass-- particularly during the hymns --would now serve as the celebrant over his funeral. In attendance were family, friends and representatives from the different groups Ernie was connected to during his short life.
The three men that had the responsibility of guiding Ernie's career were all in attendance -- Sharkey, Buckley and Schlossberg. There were members of the boxing community including Jimmy Johnston, the promoter of the last fight, members of the Red Sox front office including Ernie’s friend, Bob Quinn, the president of the club. Other boxers paid their respects too including Boston fighter Jim Maloney, a man Ernie beat twice, Johnny Wilson, a one time middleweight champion of the world, and boxing referees.
Ernie was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Foxboro, the town next to Wrentham. At the grave, a Navy funeral detail paid tribute to the sailor firing volleys. Buckley had arranged for Ernie to be buried in a steel case. With Ernie’s death, his family had no reasons to stay in Massachusetts and already had thoughts of returning to his birthplace -- Elizabeth, NJ. “Their only ties to Boston were Ernie,” Buckley would say.
In the days following his death, once again Ernie’s original manager proved to be one looking out for his ex-fighter. When Ernie signed with Schlossberg, the manager took out a life insurance policy on the boxer for $10,000. After his death, he turned it over to Lucy.
As Buckley predicted, Lucy and several of Ernie’s siblings would eventually move back to Elizabeth, New Jersey. His father stayed in Massachusetts as did his sister Marian Daly. A month after Ernie’s death, she had a baby boy. She named him Ernie Schaaf Daly. The remains of the fallen fighter were moved five years later to Newark, NJ. His final resting place is Mt. Olivet cemetery in a family plot he shares with his mother Lucy.
Ernie Schaaf Daly never met his uncle. By the time he was old enough to understand the stories of his boxing uncle, very little was said. Occassionally, his mother would mention something about her brother but it didn't have any real significance for Daly."He was an uncle that died unfortunately as a prize fighter," Daly says. “I was aware of how good he was. I never heard anyone say anything bad about him.”
In Wrentham, there are few traces that Ernie lived there. The cottage on Lake Archer has been razed, but the home he bought his mother still stands and looks much like it did when Lucy called it home. In New York, the Muldoon-Tunney trophy still stands in Madison Square Garden, not the sight of Ernie’s death. That building was closed in 1968. The trophy, while it has no mention of him by name, bares his resemblance and depicts his classic stance and powerful boxer's physique.
In June of 1933, Carnera would face Sharkey just as planned. The fight would end with Sharkey being knocked out in the 6th round making Carnera the heavyweight champion. Later, Sharkey would say he thought he saw a vision of Ernie in the ring moments before he was knocked out. Sharkey would never win the title again, but through careful management of his money was able to retire to Epping, NH and live to the age of 91, spending his days fly fishing.
Carnera would lose most of his money and have a second career as a wrestler. He would die at the age of 60 from diabetes and liver disease.
Ernie Schaaf was a young man with great promise as a fighter. His dream of winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World was within his reach. He had hoped to care for his family through the financial rewards winning a title would bring but, despite his talent and drive, his life was cut short needlessly. Boston sports writer Doc Almy summed up Ernie’s passing poignantly with these words:
"Death, though defied for days by youth, physical well-being and medical skill, has socked its meager triumph—has stilled the brave heart of Ernie Schaaf, champion boxer—ex-sailor, beloved son and brother- a he man.”
Ernie Schaaf was 24 years old.
http://www.wrenthamtimes.com/the_ernie_schaaf_story/a-boxer-is-buried.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Schaaf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Carnera
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/Zdk1uxvYSMQ
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen F. @ ltc wayne LTC Wayne Brandon @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ maj william Maj William W. 'Bill' Price @ capt tom Capt Tom Brown @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. SrA Christopher B. @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ ssg david SSG David Andrews @ ssg robert SSG Robert Webster Sgt Randy Wilber @ sgt jim SGT Jim Arnold SGT (Join to see) SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SGT (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski @ cpl dave CPL Dave Hoover
By Patrick Coleman
A Boxer is Buried
The train from New York carrying Ernie Schaaf’s body was filled with disbelief and sorrow. His mother and sisters spent most of the five hour trip despondent. Occasionally, Lucy would try to provide comfort to her daughters, but she spent most of the trip in silence - heartbroken. The only solace the family could hold onto were the words from Ernie’s doctors saying that if he had lived, he would have been crippled. A fate no one in the Schaaf family could imagine of their "Honey Boy."
The train arrived in Boston’s South Station at 10 p.m. Awaiting the Schaaf family was virtually an empty building with just a few members of the press. The family followed the casket carrying Ernie as it was wheeled out of the station. Ernie’s body would spend the evening at the Francis Flaherty Funeral Parlor in Somerville while Lucy and her family would be driven back to Wrentham by the personal chauffeur of Johnny Buckley.
Ernie’s father returned from New York by car with his son-in-law.
From the moment Ernie was taken to the Polyclinic Hospital after the fight through his trip back to Massachusetts, Johnny Buckley took control of the things he could, like making arrangements for travel, dealing with the press, to following up on details for the funeral. At times he was almost paralyzed with grief appearing to be a man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Despite the sorrow he felt, Buckley stayed strong enough to care for Ernie's family in the final days until he was buried.
On the morning of February 15th, Ernie’s body arrived in Wrentham. Eighteen year old Earle Stewart, working at the Bennett Gas Station in Wrentham’s Wampum Corner, saw the car carrying the fighter’s body drive by heading towards his mother’s house -- the house her son bought for her with his winnings from boxing. The next day Stewart would write in his journal, “hundreds of cars passing all day to Schaaf’s.”
The small town of Wrentham became a magnet for boxing’s elite who made the trip to pay their respects to one of their fallen. So many flowers were sent to the Schaaf family that four cars were needed to carry them all in the funeral procession. The largest arrangement was a seven-foot cross of white flowers sent by Primo Carnera.
Carnera, devastated by Ernie’s death, sent word that he was overcome with grief and could not attend the funeral. “Due to my upset condition I could not attend the funeral of your son but my heart and soul are there with all of you, ” Carnera wrote Lucy.
A priest from East Providence, Rhode Island served as his representative as well as a concelebrant during the funeral mass.
Lucy, never blamed Carnera and provided comfort to him in the form of a telegram. She wrote, "Kindly be assured that I do not consider you in any way responsible for the death of my boy. I feel toward you like I would have wished your mother to have felt toward my Ernie if you had met with some misfortune during your bout with him. I thank you for your offers of sympathy and for your expression of admiration for Ernie."
The day of the funeral, Stewart would again jot down in his journal how the Wrentham American Legion assembled near the gas station and that thousands attended the service. One paper listed the number of attendees at 5,000 while another had it around 3,500. There were more than 150 cars in the procession and people spilled out of all the entrances to St. Mary's Church. Never in the history of Wrentham, had there been a funeral of this size.
Rev. Walter Mitchell, the pastor during Ernie’s days in Wrentham who enjoyed the fighter’s presence at Mass-- particularly during the hymns --would now serve as the celebrant over his funeral. In attendance were family, friends and representatives from the different groups Ernie was connected to during his short life.
The three men that had the responsibility of guiding Ernie's career were all in attendance -- Sharkey, Buckley and Schlossberg. There were members of the boxing community including Jimmy Johnston, the promoter of the last fight, members of the Red Sox front office including Ernie’s friend, Bob Quinn, the president of the club. Other boxers paid their respects too including Boston fighter Jim Maloney, a man Ernie beat twice, Johnny Wilson, a one time middleweight champion of the world, and boxing referees.
Ernie was buried at St. Mary's Cemetery in Foxboro, the town next to Wrentham. At the grave, a Navy funeral detail paid tribute to the sailor firing volleys. Buckley had arranged for Ernie to be buried in a steel case. With Ernie’s death, his family had no reasons to stay in Massachusetts and already had thoughts of returning to his birthplace -- Elizabeth, NJ. “Their only ties to Boston were Ernie,” Buckley would say.
In the days following his death, once again Ernie’s original manager proved to be one looking out for his ex-fighter. When Ernie signed with Schlossberg, the manager took out a life insurance policy on the boxer for $10,000. After his death, he turned it over to Lucy.
As Buckley predicted, Lucy and several of Ernie’s siblings would eventually move back to Elizabeth, New Jersey. His father stayed in Massachusetts as did his sister Marian Daly. A month after Ernie’s death, she had a baby boy. She named him Ernie Schaaf Daly. The remains of the fallen fighter were moved five years later to Newark, NJ. His final resting place is Mt. Olivet cemetery in a family plot he shares with his mother Lucy.
Ernie Schaaf Daly never met his uncle. By the time he was old enough to understand the stories of his boxing uncle, very little was said. Occassionally, his mother would mention something about her brother but it didn't have any real significance for Daly."He was an uncle that died unfortunately as a prize fighter," Daly says. “I was aware of how good he was. I never heard anyone say anything bad about him.”
In Wrentham, there are few traces that Ernie lived there. The cottage on Lake Archer has been razed, but the home he bought his mother still stands and looks much like it did when Lucy called it home. In New York, the Muldoon-Tunney trophy still stands in Madison Square Garden, not the sight of Ernie’s death. That building was closed in 1968. The trophy, while it has no mention of him by name, bares his resemblance and depicts his classic stance and powerful boxer's physique.
In June of 1933, Carnera would face Sharkey just as planned. The fight would end with Sharkey being knocked out in the 6th round making Carnera the heavyweight champion. Later, Sharkey would say he thought he saw a vision of Ernie in the ring moments before he was knocked out. Sharkey would never win the title again, but through careful management of his money was able to retire to Epping, NH and live to the age of 91, spending his days fly fishing.
Carnera would lose most of his money and have a second career as a wrestler. He would die at the age of 60 from diabetes and liver disease.
Ernie Schaaf was a young man with great promise as a fighter. His dream of winning the Heavyweight Championship of the World was within his reach. He had hoped to care for his family through the financial rewards winning a title would bring but, despite his talent and drive, his life was cut short needlessly. Boston sports writer Doc Almy summed up Ernie’s passing poignantly with these words:
"Death, though defied for days by youth, physical well-being and medical skill, has socked its meager triumph—has stilled the brave heart of Ernie Schaaf, champion boxer—ex-sailor, beloved son and brother- a he man.”
Ernie Schaaf was 24 years old.
http://www.wrenthamtimes.com/the_ernie_schaaf_story/a-boxer-is-buried.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Schaaf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primo_Carnera
Additional video footage :
https://youtu.be/Zdk1uxvYSMQ
@ col mikel COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Stephen F. @ ltc wayne LTC Wayne Brandon @ ltc frank LTC (Join to see) @ maj william Maj William W. 'Bill' Price @ capt tom Capt Tom Brown @ capt marty Maj Marty Hogan SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas @ tsgt joe TSgt Joe C. SrA Christopher B. @ msg andrew MSG Andrew White @ ssg david SSG David Andrews @ ssg robert SSG Robert Webster Sgt Randy Wilber @ sgt jim SGT Jim Arnold SGT (Join to see) SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth SGT (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski @ cpl dave CPL Dave Hoover
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Posted 7 y ago
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Wow, what a sad story SGT John " Mac " McConnell. Thanks for the video share too! Good morning my friend in Texas, have a great day!
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SGT John " Mac " McConnell
Stay warm brother ! Gonna dip in the 20's here tonight... Have a great day TSgt Joe C. .
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