by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, December 3, 2021.
Here’s a headline you’re not likely come across in today’s world: “Good Sport at Smoker Held by Knights of Columbus.” The article that followed, in the January 6th, 1933, edition of the Portsmouth Herald, explained, “the smoker held by Exeter Council, Knights of Columbus, on Wednesday night furnished plenty of good sport for an audience of about 220 men, which filled the K of C hall to capacity.” A ‘smoker’ was a party or event for men only, or at least considered suitable for men only. The entertainment might include a speaker, some music, a few exhibition boxing or wrestling matches and a novelty event. The humorous highlight of the evening for this smoker was a boxing match with, “three youngsters in the ring, each blindfolded and with a spoon in one hand and a boxing glove on the other hand. Each was required to tap his spoon on the floor, and each located his opponents by the sound alone, swinging for that spot where he judged him to be.”
Boxing became popular in Exeter, as in the rest of the country, in the early decades of the 20th century. Amateur boxing organized through the Amateur Athletics Union of the United States in 1888, but things really took off when the Chicago Tribune began sponsoring Golden Gloves competitions in 1926. During the darkest days of the Great Depression boxing provided an outlet for pent-up frustrations of everyday life. It required little capital outlay – just a pair of gloves. Exeter boxers were mentioned in the Herald as early as 1928 when “Red” Tardiff fought a match in Portsmouth. The Exeter News-Letter has far fewer notices of boxing or wrestling unless it was a large affair in town.
It might have been because these sports were a bit too low brow, given the violence and possible connections to gambling. Editor, John Templeton, didn’t seem to have been much of a fan. His reporting read like a mild checkers game. Here’s one of the few notices from November 1933: “In the feature wrestling bout before a large crowd in the Town Hall, Wednesday night, Jack Burns, of Nebraska, defeated Billy Moore, of Chicago. In a preliminary bout “Scratch” Toland, of Exeter, lost a close decision to Freddie Picard, of Merrimac, Mass.”
The Portsmouth Herald, on the other hand, was more inclined to up the drama as in details for a match held a few months previous in April. “Everything was going along nicely in the third fall when Referee George Ryerson warned Foley against the excessive use of the strangle hold. When Referee Ryerson stepped in to stop the bout, Foley stepped up and knocked him out. The police stepped in, and the crowd followed. The bout was stopped and when Referee Ryerson recovered, he declared the bout a no-decision go.”
Throughout the 1930s, events held in Exeter were either at the Town Hall or Knights of Columbus Hall. Reginald “Scratch” Toland is mentioned so frequently, he’s due a bit more discussion. Born in Exeter in 1910, the youngest of 10 children, he was an athlete from childhood. In town, he is slightly more well known for his part in the 1964 UFO sighting – he was one of the police officers on duty that night. But his contribution to local sports was notable. Along with wrestling and boxing, he played softball and founded Exeter Little League. He told fellow officer, George Dufour, that his boxing was not particularly great – he kept himself in condition by running from Exeter to East Kingston to endure bouts against George’s dad, Joseph Dufour. Dufour was a hard hitter, Toland did his best to deflect and stay on his feet. After service in World War II, Toland participated as referee.
Like Toland, most of Exeter’s boxers trained on their own. If there were clubs, according to Dufour, they were loosely arranged and managed. Boxing was the sport of the working man. Most of the teenagers and young men in the photo worked in the local shoe shops and most were the children of immigrants.
Jimmy Freeman, an Exeter boxer, made it to the Golden Gloves sectionals in 1949 along with Howard Brown of Epping. “One thousand individuals – and maybe more – had surged into the gymnasium at the Portsmouth Junior High School by 7:45pm on Saturday night,” boasted the Herald. “Freeman’s height and superior reach gave him the advantage” as he won the bout. In the next stage, several weeks later, Brown won his match, but Freeman did not. “Jimmy Freeman,” wrote the News-Letter, “Exeter entry in the Golden Gloves amateur boxing tourney in Manchester last Saturday night in the 126-pound class, lost a close decision in the finals. Brown’s victory was noteworthy in that it was only the third bout in which he has participated. The boys went to Manchester under the handling of ‘Scratch’ Toland and Charles Knight.”
The days of boxing and wrestling at the Exeter Town Hall seems to have ended in the mid-1950s. George Dufour remembers a few events held in the basement of the Ioka. Widespread televised boxing became more popular than live matches. Toland took a job with the Exeter Police Department and kept a variety store on Lincoln Street, his love of athletics, however, never took a fall.
Barbara Rimkunas is curator of the Exeter Historical Society. Support the Exeter Historical Society by becoming a member! Join online at: www.exeterhistory.org
Image: Photo: Exeter Boxers, c. 1930s. Standing L – R: Scratch Toland, Joseph Dufour, Frank Tardiff, George “Fred” Williams, George Summerfield, John Burke, Charlie Carr. Kneeling L – R: Angelo Pecconelli, Omer LaPage, Ernest Bernier, Shorty Lyons, Daniel “Bobby” Shannon, Raymond “Pep” Desroches