The Courage of Billy Miske
We all know boxers are uncommonly brave and determined men. But I defy you to find a braver fighter than Billy Miske. T
he St. Paul Thunderbolt started at 19 as a middleweight. He drew with a young Harry Greb. As he matured he grew into a light heavy and finally a heavyweight. Miske had wins over HOFer's Battling Levinsky, Kid Norfolk and Gunboat Smith and he went the distance with Jack Dempsey and got a draw.
About this time in 1918 Miske is diagnosed with Bright's disease. At the time that is a term for a series of always fatal, untreatable kidney diseases. The symptoms include massive inflammations, debilitating back pain and restricted breathing. The doctors give him five years to live if he takes it easy.
But Miske owns a car dealership that is deeply in debt. Unwilling to declare bankruptcy saying he will not deprive a man of his due, Miske swears his manager to secrecy and continues in the ring. His performance begins to decline and now he loses to Norfolk and Greb and draws with Levinsky. But he wins enough to get a shot at Jack Dempsey's heavyweight crown. He is knocked out in three two years after the diagnosis. Somehow Miske rights himself and, while his schedule slows begins a new winning streak. But by early 1923 it is all over. Miske has fought 30 times since his diagnosis but is now basically an invalid and can only struggle to get out of a chair.
By the fall of 1923 Miske is flat broke. So he calls his manager Jack Reddy and asks him to get him a fight so he can provide a Christmas for his wife and three children. Reddy knows what is going on and says he might get killed in the ring. Miske responds "What's the difference?" Reddy says if Miske shows him he can train, he'll get him a fight. Miske says there is no way he can train but he might have one fight left in him. Reddy gives in and sets up a fight with Bill Brennan. Now Brennan is fading too, but he is no pushover. He has challenged Dempsey for his crown and defeated Miske in the past. Brennan will be killed in a shooting in six months.
On November 7 Miske somehow fools a doctor and gets into the ring in Omaha and in an inhuman display of guts knocks out Brennan in four rounds. Reddy waives his managers cut and Miske takes his $2400 purse and gives his family a wonderful Christmas.
The day after Christmas, Miske calls Reddy and tells him to come and get him that he's dying. On New Year's Day 1924, one week after Christmas, and less than two months after his last fight, Billy Miske passes away at 29.
