Sammy Gallop had a knack for attracting people, an ability to draw their attention when he entered a room, a magnetism that was hard to define but was undeniably present. Maybe the best explanation for that charisma can be found in his role as Duluth’s boxing promoter for so many years It is possible that he never made a dime from his promotions, but that did not prevent him from promoting professional and amateur boxing for more than two decades in an effort to keep the sport alive and vibrant in his hometown. He loved the Sweet Science and at some point must have known that would have to be satisfaction enough. Perhaps it was that willingness to give without expecting a return that made him so endearing to people, so attractive to the crowd that invariably gathered around him.
A column by Arno Goethel in the Duluth News-Tribune raised that very issue prior to a fight card in the Zenith City in March of 1959:
“Sammy Gallop has taken much more punishment as a boxing promoter than he ever did as a boxer,’’ Goethel wrote. “For several years now Gallop has been the foolhardy, ulcer-ridden owner of the professional boxing franchise in Duluth. We can’t recall him ever winding up in the black.’’ Gallop promoted boxing in Duluth, amateur and professional, during the 1950s and 1960s, and made constant adjustments so that he could afford to keep promoting.
The late Scott LeDoux, a Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame member himself, was still an amateur, with only three fights under his belt, when Gallop switched from a large more expensive Duluth arena to a smaller one in order to salvage the show. Years later, after Gallop’s death, LeDoux recalled how Sammy had persuaded him to keep his chin up while fretting over an upcoming bout. LeDoux acknowledged that it was Gallop who got him started in the sport and that his words provided the resolve needed in his first couple of fights. Duluth News Tribune columnist Bruce Bennett quoted LeDoux:
“I was scared. Sammy gave me this advice:
‘Keep your chin down, your butt off the canvas and you’ll come out all right.’ “I’ve always remembered that. Sammy was one of those guys, kinda like my wife, who was always nervous about my fights. They’d pick out the highest spot in the arena, the farthest they could get from the ring, for a seat to watch.’’
So Sammy Gallop not only loved boxing, he cared about the participants, certainly those he helped develop. It is unlikely that he ever retreated to the crow’s nest of an auditorium to watch a fight, however. He was the Minnesota welterweight champion at one time. He could handle just about anything boxing had to offer, including it’s financial setbacks.
The only fights that broke even or made money for Gallop were those that included Glen Flanagan, a member of the World Boxing Hall of Fame as well as Minnesota’s . Flanagan fought some 10 times in Duluth and was the necessary draw to make a card successful. Flanagan was not the state’s only Hall of Fame fighter who fought in Duluth under Gallop’s promotion. Mel Brown and Danny Davis, who join the 2015 class with Gallop, fought there a number of times as well.
Gallop took over the boxing franchise in Duluth on June 13, 1949, the same day his son, Craig, was born and began promoting almost immediately. Several years later, after Craig had taken an interest in boxing himself, having boxed in the Golden Gloves, he recalls his father saying about LeDoux, his heavyweight protege: “He has to learn how to shorten up his punches, so that the people in the front two rows don’t need to duck.’’ That sense of humor was another reason Gallop attracted people to his side. He always had a one-liner to lighten the day. What many people didn’t know was that Sammy Gallop’s good nature and quiet, pleasant personality came despite the pain he felt each day from the consequences of tropical illnesses he acquired while serving in the South Seas during WW II. It wasn’t ulcers tied to boxing promotion but something quite different that troubled his stomach.
“My dad didn’t go a day in his life (after WW II) without vomiting,’’ Craig said. “He came back from the service with a number of jungle diseases and was really sick. He was in a VA hospital for a year and they botched the stomach surgery he needed. Then (in 1971) he died of cancer.’’ Despite his maladies, Gallop continued his support of boxing, digging into his own pocket even when it came to amateur bouts to provide day money for the young amateurs to buy a meal while they were in his town.. “I remember young boxers from the Twin Cities saying that my dad gave them twice as much as they got anyplace else,’’ Craig recalled. “He didn’t only want to promote boxing, he wanted to see it flourish.’’
Gallop owned the Kasbar Night Club in Duluth, and that became the meeting place for not only boxers but all athletes from the Iron Range. “What was interesting about him was that he wasn’t loud or outspoken,’’ Craig added, “but he had a magnetism to him when he walked into a room. People wanted to talk to him, to just be around him.’’
Sammy Gallop was born in Duluth, on January 28, 1911, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants. He married his wife, Pearl, in 1942. Six months later he was drafted and spent the next 3 ó years in the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines. Sam and Pearl Gallop had two children, Craig and Jeanne.
His interest in boxing was likely sparked at a young age, which probably spawned his generosity to young, aspiring fighters. “He came from a very poor background,’’ Craig said. “Boxing kind of lifted him out of the abyss of poverty into a a middle class life.’’ His dedication to that sport, despite relentless obstacles, has lifted him into the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame.
