Minnesota Boxing
Hall of Fame - Old Timers

Expectations were high and anticipation was running

at a fever pitch for the upcoming bout in the St. Paul

Auditorium. The date was Friday, April 18, 1936, and

Jack Gibbons, the marvelous athlete from St. Paul, was

matched against Fred Lenhart of Tacoma, Washington.

They had fought once before, on October 1, 1935 in

Seattle and Lenhart won on points. The rematch was

scheduled for Gibbons’ home town and the prefight

stories in the St. Paul Pioneer Press wondered if the

auditorium (referred to as the “new’’ auditorium despite

its presence for several years) could accommodate an

anticipated record crowd.


“10,000 May See Gibbons-Lenhart Bout Tonight”

the headline teased. Another story indicated that

the auditorium could accommodate only 11,000.

The record at the “new” auditorium was 10,360 for the

Jack Dempsey / Art Lasky exhibition there in 1931.


Would the Gibbons-Lenhart rematch surpass that

figure? Would there be seats enough to handle any late

arriving patrons? Would some fans be turned away?

As it turned out, 9,000 patrons watched Lenhart

outpoint the St. Paul fighter for the second time. The

Twin Cities crowd had seen Lenhart two months earlier

when he knocked out Oscar Rankins at the auditorium

in a teaser to the rematch against Gibbons. Lenhart

and Gibbons would fight a third time, in late July at

Lexington Park that year, and Gibbons would win that

match on points.


It was the fight against Rankins, however, that changed

Lenhart’s life. Various stories indicated that he fell in

love with this area of the country, loved it so much that

he summoned his wife and family from their home in

Washington and they relocated in White Bear Lake.

Lenhart became a Minnesotan, fighting 12 of his last

15 fights in the Twin Cities, Hibbing or Duluth, winning

the state heavyweight title despite his status as an

actual light heavyweight. He also held the Washington

heavyweight title and the Colorado light heavyweight

crown.


He fought some of the top names in the sport at the

time, winning and losing against Slapsie Maxie

Rosenbloom, a light heavyweight champion, before

finishing their three-fight saga with a draw. He was

knocked out in California by Art Lasky, who was

inducted into the Minnesota Hall of Fame last year.

Lenhart weighed 177 pounds for that bout, two

pounds over the light heavyweight limit. Lasky,

a true heavyweight, had trained down to 199.

Lenhart fought in an era when fighting frequently

was the norm. He defeated Floyd White on points in

his first fight on February 12, 1926. He was knocked

out by Tiger Jack Fox on June 24, 1938, in the last of

his 136 fights. His record was a stunning 101-22-13,

with 32 knockouts.


In Ring Magazine’s annual rankings in 1937, Lenhart

was 10th among the world’s light heavyweight fighters.

There apparently was something about the Minnesota

tundra that caught his fancy and he settled down in

White Bear Lake, forming a partnership in a tavern

known as Lenhart and McGill’s, later Lenhart’s Shingle

Shanty when he took it over himself, still later the Fred

Lenhart Tavern, and then simply Lenhart’s Bar.

“It had a restaurant connected to it and three apartments

upstairs,’’ recalled Lenhart’s son, Steve. “We lived

right next door. Eventually we tore down that house

and lived in one on the opposite side. We had that

entire corner.’’


Naturally, Steve grew up with plenty of stories, living

as he was in such close proximity to the tavern. “People

would come out of the bar and if they scuffled in the

alley, all that was necessary was to come out with a

deer rifle and they scattered quickly.’’


Despite his second occupation as a professional fighter,

Fred Lenhart, Steve said, was in fact a gentle man. “All

he had to do was threaten to get the belt, but he never

spanked us, never laid a hand on us. He was a very well

mannered man. Everyone liked him as far as I know. ‘’

Lenhart was a volunteer fireman in White Bear Lake for

many years. “A siren would go off at the fire department

and dad would tell his buddies to watch the bar.

He’d take off for the fire department two blocks away

and jump on the fire truck.’’


Lenhart’s boxing days were well behind him by that

point, but Steve recalls watching fights on television

while seated next to or across from him. “It was fun

to watch him watch them (the televised fighters),’

’ he said. “He’d be in his chair watching and bobbing

and weaving.’’


In an article after Lenhart’s death in 1987, Pioneer Press

columnist Don Riley penned the following:

“Raised in an earthen house on the Saskatchewan

prairie, Freddie told me why he entered the ring:

“I was hungry,’’ he said. “It was fight or become a bum.

The depression made a lot of us fighters.’’


Lenhart was born in what is now the Czech Republic

before relocating to he northwestern United States,

before that to Canada. Later, after some time in the

United States... “he volunteered for the National Guard,

but he had no birth certificate,’’ Steve said. “They were

dirt farmers.’’ There was also a period, later, when Fred

Lenhart acted as a sheriff. He was working on the

ALKAN Highway, as a truck driver,’’ Steve said. “The local sheriff in the area he was in had quit and dad was asked if he wanted to be sheriff.’’


Lenhart had a dark, swarthy complexion and high

cheekbones and was sometimes mistaken for a Native

American, a mistake he didn’t seem to mind. On more

than one occasion he responded to the assumption by

saying it didn’t bother him in the least, that he regarded

America’s tribal people as great fighters.


Lenhart clearly belonged to that category himself. With

well over 100 fights to his credit and the ability to fight

with some of the best of his time, he also belongs in the

Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame.

Fred Lenhart
Born: July 31, 1907
Died:April 1, 1987
Bouts: 136
Won: 101
Lost: 22
Draws: 13
KO’s 32

Induction: 2016