Various Articles recounting the life of Sam Langford:

1880 Langford, Sam

born 12 Feb. 1880 in Weymouth, died 12 Jan. 1956 in Cambridge, Massachusetts

birth date cited as 4 March 1886 in Canadian encyclopedia, 1st edition. Held the Welsh middleweight crown, heavyweight crowns of England, Spain and Mexico

Source: Canadian encyclopedia, 1st edition

"1919...perhaps the best boxer was the aging Sam Langford, but he was black, and after the Jeffries-Johnson catastrophe in Reno, Richard had sworn he would never again promote an interracial match."

Source: Jack Dempsey: the Manassa mauler by Randy Roberts, Louisiana State University Press, p.51

"...Sam Langford, who after Johnson was perhaps the best black heavyweight during the first quarter of the twentieth century, fought Sam McVey fifteen times, Joe Jeannette fourteen times, Jim Barry twelve times, Jeff Clark eleven times, and Harry Wills twenty three-times."

ibid. p.141

"J.J. Shubert...barred Allen from using Shubert Alley... Guarding the alley, Shubert doorman Sam Langford dutifully enforced the edict. Allen and Langford, the great black prizefighter from Boston, were friends, and their friendship transformed the situation into a game. Whenever Allen saw that Langford was busy, the comedian sprinted across forbidden pavement. Usually he didn't make it, but if he did, the would shout upward at Lee's turrey office: "Hey Lee, tell Jake I did it. I used Shubert Alley."

Langford always felt sheepish allowing Allen to violate the alley, and apprehensive as Allen passed by. Meanwhile, Allen learned that the Astor family were joint owners of the shortcut. A few nights later, he appeared in the alley and began hopping towards its sentry.

"Now, I don't want no trouble, Fred," Langford said. "You know you're not supposed to be in here."

Allen paused, teetering on one foot. "I'm only using one foot, Sam, so I'm using half the Alley," he said. "Tell Jake it's Astor's half."

He hopped on through, and J.J. lifted the ban within a few weeks.

Source: Fred Allen: his life and wit by Robert Taylor. Little, Brown and Company. p.138

nicknamed "Boston Tar Baby", fought almost 300 bouts, many not recorded; among opponents were Jack McVey, Jack Johnson, Stanley Ketchel, Joe Jennette, Young Peter Jackson, Joe (the original) Walcott, Jack Blackburn: held Negro heavyweight title losing it in 1919 to Harry Wills; ranked by Ring Magazine among to 10 all-time heavyweights; stood 5'5" with 84" reach; 252 recorded bouts, 99 won by KO, 37 by decision, 1 on foul, 31 draws, 19 lost on decision, 4 by KO, 59 no decision, 2 no contest. Member of Canadian, U.S.Boxing, Nova Scotia & Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.

Source: Canadian Sports Hall of Fame

Arrived in Boston in 1902. Ran away from Weymouth because "My pa was always lickin me". Hired by fight manager Joe Woodman to sweep up the old Lennox Athletic Club. Fought Jack Johnson in 1906. Had more that 600 fights. Won Mexican Heavyweight Championship in 1923 in Mexico City.

Source: Time magazine obituary, Jan. 23, 1956, p.41-42

Son of Walter (farmer) and Charlotte (Robart) Langford. Married, had a daughter. Birth year given as 1886

Source: Nova Scotians at home and abroad, p.235

"Notable sportsmen, too, of past and present vintage have, through their achievements done more for black pride and dignity than have some organizations and leaders. Among the notables in the first generation of sportsmen in boxing alone, the giants were ... Sam Langford... "

Source: Peoples of the Maritimes: Blacks / Bridglal Pachai. Tantallon, N.S. : Four East Publications, 1987. p.53, Photo of Langford on p.55

Wife and daughter also mentioned by Belle Langford-Barnes. According to her, they visited Weymouth about 1913-1914, with family & another boxer named Coleman. They put on a boxing exhibition. Cites father as Bob Langford, with stepmother named Priscilla. Brothers named Walter, Amos, and Charles (Charles became a Pentecostal minister and moved to western Canada).

Source: Traditional lifetime stories, v.1, p.20-25

Daughter Charlotte Wade of Cambridge Mass., attended dinner honoring Sam & other Nova Scotia black boxers, Oct. 19, 1988.

Birth date cited as 1886 in Sweat and soul. Sweat and soul has many pictures of Sam at various stages of his career & retirement. Memorial plaque in Weymouth cites his birth date as March 4, 1883. Wife's name was Martha Burrell, living at the time of his death in 1956

Source: Sweat and soul

Father a sailor on a windjammer, lived on a farm near Weymouth, cut trees and hauled them into town by oxen to sell. 4 boys, 3 girls. Went to jail in Digby at 10 or 12 yrs old for 15 days for stealing eggs. Father wouldn't pay $15 fine, wanted to teach Sam a lesson. Lived with brother Charlie in New Hampshire when he was about 16 (prior to boxing career). Father's name Bob

Source: MacLeans, Feb. 15, 1955

1908 Of a local nature-"Samuel Langford of Weymouth, knocked out Jim Barry, of Chicago, in the second round at Armory A.A., at Boston Monday night"

Knocked out quickly-"Boston, April 8-Sam Langford, of Boston, knocked out Jim Barry, of Chicago, in the second round last night. The fight was a good one while it lasted, but in the middle of the second round Langford floored Barry twice and he was unable to continue"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Apr 10, 1908

1909 Of a local nature-"Sam Langford, the pugilist, formerly of Weymouth, has challenged Johnson, the heavyweight champion"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Jan 8, 1909

1910 Weymouth-"Sam Langford, the pugilist, arrived home from Boston Friday to visit his aged father. He was accompanied by his sparring partners, Mr. Davis, Mr. Western and Mr. Gates. They left for Boston last Saturday"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Oct 7, 1910

1915 Sam Langford won-"New York, June 8. Sam Langford, of Weymouth, N.S., had the better of Jim Johnson, of Philadelphia, in eight out of ten rounds in their bout in Brooklyn tonight. Langford punished Johnson severely in nearly every round after the third. Langford weighed 192 pounds, Johnson 220 pounds"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Jun 18, 1915

1915 Langford again in the field-"The charge of assault brought against Sam Langford, the heavyweight pugilist, was dismissed in Roxbury court, on Tuesday. Martha Langford, the complainant failed to appear and Sam was given his liberty"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Dec 24, 1915

1916 Sam Langford defeats Jim Johnson. St. Louis, Mo., Dec. 13-"Sam Langford, of Weymouth, Nova Scotia, knocked out Jim Johnson, of New York, in the twelfth and final round of a boxing contest here last night. After Johnson had been counted out he got up and demanded he be allowed to fight some more. His seconds and manager persuaded him to take off his gloves and admit he had lost the fight. Johnson weighed 225 pounds and Langford 191"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Dec 15, 1916

1917 Langford defeated-"Sam Langford, formerly of Weymouth, N.S., was beaten by Bill Tate, of New York, in a 52 round prize fight in Kansas city, on Friday. Both men are negroes"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Feb 2, 1917

1919 Local & general-"Billy Hooper, Negro middleweight, was knocked out by Sam Langford, Negro heavyweight, of Weymouth in the fourth round of a scheduled ten round bout at Columbus, Ga., on Thursday night"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday May 9, 1919

1931 Sam Langford given second KO-"Judge Michael J. Murray had a large audience on emarning last week, in Municipal Court, at Boston, when Sam Langford stood at the bench and admitted that he had been knocked out for the second time in his life.

The ring veteran laughed as he said that the K.O. was administered by an automobile and not by fists.

Langford was the complainant against Joseph Ziskin, a West End businessman. He said he was knocked down by the machine driven by Ziskin recently, and was quite badly shaken up, but he was back on his feet by the count of nine.

'I was struck when my back was turned', Sam told Judge Murray, 'and I can feel the pain yet. The auto knockout was the second in my career.'

Langford told Judge Murray that his eyes have failed him, that he is almost blind, but the good people of the West End look out well for him when he is crossing the streets.

Judge Murray said that a man is not bound to stay in bed just because his eyesight is failing him. 'Pedestrians have rights on the streets which motorists are bound to respect,' he said. 'The man driving an automobile in city traffic today has no right to consider that every pedestrian before him is capable of making a 10-foot leap to safety in an emergency.'

(Sam Langford, born in Weymouth Falls, made a greater name for himself in the boxing game in the United States than any other person from the old home town. He was one of the greatest, best known and most picturesque boxers in America during the years before the war. Many people well remember when Sam used to step from the train at Weymouth with his retinue of trainers and sparring partners-the centre of an atmosphere of prosperity. Many a time admiring American tourists have traveled up the Sissiboo to view the little old home where Sam was born-but that was in the days when the whole sporting world know the 'Boston Tar Baby')"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday May 29, 1931

1932 20 years ago-"Sam Langford, the Nova Scotia pugilist, defeated Sam McVey in a 20-round bout at Sydney, N.S.W. McVey protested against Langford using the kidney punch in the second round and the police interfered and had them barred. Both men put up a savage fight and after the seventeenth the pace began to tell. Langford was in the better condition at the end. There were 15,000 spectators who cheered the decision and were delighted with the hard fought battle.--(Editor's Note-Sam Langford is a native of Weymouth Falls)"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Apr 15, 1932

1934 "The following was copied from Bystander's column, of 'old fashioned ideas by an old fashioned person' in the April 5th issue of the Yarmouth Light: 'One day our Weymouth born colored girl (we did not high-hat her with'maid') told us that her cousin Sam Langford, was coming to visit her, and although his name then did not carry the fame and romance of later years, yet to our gang that was an event. He came and he conquered our child minds. We invited a few of our favored pals in to shake hands and the rest we made stay out of the yard and as we stalked in and out of the house with pouter pigeon chests most of the day, we were the envy of the community. I was always entertaining the greatest people of the land-Larry Semon, Prince Tinymite, Aunty Patti, Deacon Rogers and many other famed persons, and I felt it too, quite vividly. But old Sam Langford was the greatest of my heroes then"

Source: Weymouth courier (Digby weekly courier), Friday Apr 13, 1934

1934 MGT column: "Seeing a little article in the Courier lately concerning Weymouth's once celebrated son, Sam Langford, I was reminded of a little incident in our family years ago. All children like to brag about their parents, and ours were no exception. One day I happened to overhear them talking with another boy who boasted a policeman father. We had nothing so grand in our household, and our boys were quite speechless for a while but after a litthe thought on the subject one of them said, 'Well, anyway, our mother went to school with Sam Langford, the prize fighter' and did our stock go up? Phoo!"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday May 18, 1934

1935 'Tar Baby' nears end of this trial. "Flat out on his back, old Sam Langford, who went out of Nova Scotia to dominate another generation of boxing men, is in Neurological Hospital in New York, awaiting the most important decision of his life.

It isn't a referee's decision the Negro fighter from Weymouth awaits such as in the early years of the century, when, little heavier than a welter, he could trim about any man in the ring. Rather, he must bide his time until Dr James W. Smith, an eye specialist, decides some time within a month whether Shuffling Sam ever can see again.

The 'Tar Baby' isn't impatient as he lays in bed with a bandage swathing the eyes that were operated on earlier in the week. It is the first really white bed Ol' Sam has occupied in a long time. These last years he a has been roaming Harlem's narrow streets, wholly blind in the left eye and nearly so in the right.

The Nova Scotian, who was given a wide berth by many heavyweights of 25 years ago, absorbed a bad punching about the head from Fred Fulton in 1917 and his eye trouble started. Sam was near the end of his fistic trail then. When the Black Terror was in his prime, Fulton would have been little more than a pushover..

In 1924 Sam was taken to French Hospital and Dr Smith operated to draw together a muscular fold in the retina of this 'good' right eye. The operation was believed a success. But over the next eleven years Sam's seeing' eye again lost its sight.

Broken, but still smiling, he was steered back to the hospital by friendly hands, and Dr Smith performed another operation"

Source: Weymouth courier, Friday Apr 5, 1935

1935 Boston Tar Baby has his sight restored. "They took the bandages off Sam Langford's right eye on Wednesday of last week, and for the first time in five years the one-time terror of the ring saw the world about him. The dusky battler called the 'Boston Tar Baby', though he came from Weymouth, couldn't find works to express his feelings. He just lay on his cot in the Neurological hospital repeating 'It's wonderful-just wonderful'

Some one asked the old fighter if he could see well enough to 'duck a pass'. 'Just lower that shade a little and come on' he drawled like a delighted school boy, 'I'll try to make it.'

'I can see a good as when I was champion of Mexico. I can recognize people now. I went down to Mex' in 1922 with this here left eye completely gone and the right just seeing shadows. It was a cataract. They matched me up with Kid Savage for the title. I was bluffing through that I could see but I gave myself away. They bet awful heavy on the kid when the word got round. I just felt my way around and then, wham, I got home. He forgot to duck and so I was heavy weight champion of Mexico"

Source: Weymouth courier, Friday May 3, 1935

1935 Sam Langford in serious condition-"Sam Langford, one of the leading Negro heavyweight fighters 20 years ago, remained in a serious condition in a New York hospital, after being struck by a taxicab in Harlem, N.Y., recently. He received intestinal injuries.

Langford, 48, has been virtually blind since he fought Fred Fulton in 1917. He was born at Weymouth, N.S."

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Nov 22, 1935

1935 Sam Langford gets job thro' New York's mayor. "Sam Langford, the 'Boston Tar Baby', who boxed the best of them between 1902 and 1923, called at the New York City Hall a few days ago at Mayor LaGuardia's invitation, confessed that he was broke and went away with a job.

The mayor invited the interview after reading that Langford he'd been struck by an automobile several weeks ago as he was crossing a Harlem street. Sam put in two weeks in Harlem Hospital. On the day he called on the mayor he was wearing the same overcoat he had worn when the accident occurred. The coat had a huge rip in it, but Sam was healed. With a wide grin he said the doctor couldn't do much for the coat.

Langford is 49 years old and admits that is old as boxers go. His sight is almost gone, and he was taken into City Hall on the arm of a friend. In his prime he was 5 feet 6 ½ inches tall, weighed 200 pounds, and as one record has it, 'was built more or less on the lines of a square block of wood.'

After inquiring about his health, the mayor told him to report to the 369th Infantry Armory at Lennox Avenue and 143rd Street, near his home. Langford was vague about the details of the job, but there was no doubt that he was glad of it.

Langford began boxing when he was 16 years old, and won his first fight in 1902. His last fight was on Oct. 19, 1923, when he knocked out Fireman Jim Flynn, in three rounds in Mexico City. When Jack Johnson became heavyweight champion after beating Jim Jeffries, he refused to fight Langford for the title"

Source: Digby weekly courier, Friday Dec 6, 1935

1938 Here and there with G.R.T.

"Joe Louis is the thirteenth of his race to hold the world's title of champion, but the colored boxer, who is universally hailed as the greatest fighting man, white or black, never held a championship. His name, Sam Langford and when fight fans and sports writers gather to reminisce they can talk for hours about his ring career and how Sam when only a boy of 19 knocked out Joe Gans, the master fighter at the peak of his career, and how he later put away such well known fighters as Griffo, Ketchell, Godfrey and Jeff Clark, and how he hammered Jack Johnson so hard that Jack would never make another match with him. Sam Langford, of Weymouth, Nova Scotia, (and not of Weymouth, mass., as some writers have claimed), but Sammy Langford of Weymouth Falls, who as a kid swam in the old Sissiboo River and picked gooseberries along its banks, and barefooted it time and time again down to the 'Bridge' for a half-gallon of molasses and three cents worth of saleratus, raiding Billy Baker's apple orchard on the way and as opportunity presented itself, finally growing up to be a first-class fighting man.

Born of fighting stock, fighting was of course, in his blood. The Langfords would as soon fight as eat and eating by a Langford was to be considered lightly. They were men of great strength and muscle, developed thro' hard work in the logging woods in the winter, stream driving in the spring, stevedoring and tossing cordwood into the holds of schooners sailing out of Weymouth during the summer.

Harry Carr, a well known Los Angeles writer on sports and 'what have you' topics who passed away a couple of years ago, was the first to dub Sam as the Boston Tar Baby. Harry was surprised to learn from me that Sam was not a natural-born citizen of the United States, and before he would believe me I was obliged to give him Sam's pedigree dating back to the time when his great grand father, a former slave arrived in Weymouth, N.S., and tied up at my great grandfather's boat landing on the Sissiboo River in the summer of 1793. Langford, who had escaped from his master, Captain Langford, of Shrewsbury, New Jersey sailed all the way to Nova Scotia in one of the captain's boats which he had 'borrowed' for the trip, and was given refuge by some of the ex-slaves of Col. John Taylor, formerly of New Jersey, and one of Weymouth's early settlers.

Alas for Sam! his career is all behind him. Blind and destitute at last reports, and unable to get a dollar's worth of help from those who once fell over themselves to shake his [illegible] record as a pugilist is still bright in the minds of fight fans and writers who still maintain that he was the greatest fighter ever."

Source: Digby weekly courier, Jul 22, 1938

1948 'Sam Langford School' to be built in Weymouth Falls'

School to be built & named in honor of Sam Langford. $400 already raised. Community Group, an adult educational and recreational organization doing the groundwork. Campaign committee members: Rev J.E. DeWolf, Ralph Jarvis, Elmer Jarvis, George Langford, Miss Irma Jarvis, Mrs Johnson, Mrs Beulah Jarvis. Account set up at the Royal Bank in Weymouth. Relatives pleased, said Sam Langford, blind and living in New York would also be pleased.

Source: Digby courier, June 24, 1948

1948 Speaks on adult education

Meeting of Community Group of Weymouth Falls at St Matthew's Hall, Friday, Nov. 12. Campaign to raise $10,000 for the 'Sam Langford School' launched. 3000 letters to be sent out with pamphlets on the life of Sam Langford.

Source: Digby courier, Nov 18, 1948

This information was compiled through the efforts of Rosemarie Pleasant