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Men That Gave Jack Dempsey Pause & An Education by Mark Hatmaker

 


There is often more to combat than meets the eye.

It is the milieu that forms the athlete.

The social environment.

The vocations and avocations of the individual.

Today we primarily make the milieu the training, the limited gym time we can muster.

In the past, the milieu was, well, life, the chosen occupation[s] of the athlete often aided, abetted, and bolstered the combat overlay.

Some milieus were more conducive to combat overlays than others.

More feared.

Among them lumberjacks, gandy dancers, and muckers.

A mucker was a miner or canal worker whose job was to man a shovel.

Good muckers, like good lumberjacks or good timber beasts had whole body power and coordinated technique that translated into whiplike action of the body as a whole.

Shoveling then is not the afternoon shoveling we do now in our yard work.

Tree-Felling then is not the winter weekend wood-splitting we do now.

Jack Dempsey on Mucker Milieu

Mr. Dempsey, among many occupations, came up as a mucker. He loved mining. He loved the men he worked with. He loved the work. He loved the courage it gave him to work in the shafts. He loved, well, the milieu.

He loved it enough to waver between his early barnstorming boxing desires and mining/mucking work.

He also respected the hell out of what a good man could make out of himself with good ax technique, good shovel technique.

How much so?

Even in his early days fighting on the fearsome “Come to scratch” circuit of town-to-town matches, mine yard scuffles, barrooms, smokers, impromptu outdoor bouts, he seldom expressed fear or concern in his reminisces—he primarily expressed nothing but good will about the men he fought.

But the earliest expression of worry that gave Dempsey pause, was when he heard one single detail about an upcoming opponent.

He often heard a boxer was more experienced than he, much larger than he.

He makes no mention of worry in these instances but what did give him pause…

Well, let’s go to Mr. Dempsey in his own words…

“George Copelin, Bernie told me, was not only a good fighter but had earned a reputation as one of the best ore shovelers around. This was almost enough to make me change my mind [about the fight.]”

Dempsey expressed this same caution about lumberjacks.

It wasn’t fight prowess that bothered him.

It was being rated a good axe man or a good shoveler.

From Milieu to Combat Expression

Anyone familiar with Dempsey’s style and instruction is aware of The Dempsey Roll and The Falling Step.

Well, where do we think these came from?

The milieu of the lumberjack and the mucker, that’s where.

His lived experience, the milieu.

The Falling Step gets its name from, well, Timber Beast Fallers who used a Felling Ax to fall trees.

[For lumberjack informed nitty-gritty work weapons work see our Battle-Axe Secrets.]



Rising up and into body shots with a forward “unbalanced” momentum, well that is a Shovel Roll.

The Milieu of the Lumberjack and the Mucker was one of technique, efficiency, not mere willy-nilly grunt work with tools.

We see this respect and admiration persist today in Lumberjack Competitions, in the past we saw the same respect for Muckers in the days of non-mechanized mining and canal digging in Mucker Competitions.

Lumberjacks and Muckers knew how to use their entire bodies to express snapping power.

They often translated this educated milieu-power to the scuffle, and lumberjacks and miners are one scufflin’ bunch! [We’ll provide some first-hand accounts of some this scuffling’ love throughout the month of May to free newsletter subscribers.]

In The Black Box Brotherhood volume “Timber Beast & Mucker Rail Fighting” we will look at a curious fighting “game” of the Timber Beasts & Muckers that was all about one shot power from the get-go.

A johnny-from-the jump KO “game” that is chockfull of milieu-built technique and street ready from the word go.

It is all one-shot power axe-tempered and shovel educated.

An arsenal of forearms, wrists and fists.

A battery of elbows and head-butts.

[We’ll leave the low-line tools out this time, needless to say, the arsenal was copious and mean. Another day, Crew, another day.]

“Timber Beast & Mucker Rail Fighting” covers the “Game” rules, the mechanics of Falling and Shovel Rolling, 19 tactics from the historical record, and Two Drills to school these beasts [one solo, one partner.]

To get going with what built Dempsey, what gave Dempsey and men like him pause, well, see here.

Resources for Livin’ the Warrior Life

The Black Box Store

The Rough ‘n’ Tumble Raconteur Podcast



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