When Jack Dempsey and Jess Willard took to the ring in Toledo in July of 1919 for the heavyweight championship, the event was a "Superbowl" of boxing at the time. A giant wooden 80,000 seat arena at Bayview Park was the setting on that blistering hot July day that drew more publicity than it did fans.
But for those who did brave the sweat and the sunburns, the ringside action was probably worth it because they got to witness one of the most legendary fights in history. A brutal one-sided three round affair that saw the gold field brawler, Jack Dempsey pummel the taller and much heavier Jess Willard into a wobbly and stumbling heap.
Local boxing expert Matt Lewandowski said it was one of the most brutal 90 seconds in boxing history.
"Dempsey knocked Willard down 7 times in the first round, knocked out his teeth, broke his ribs, it was a bloody type fight," he explained.
Another aspect in the history of that bout was the the ringside bell. It malfunctioned somehow and no one seemed to hear it clearly, if at all. It confused Jess Willard at the start of the fight who wasn't sure if the fight was underway.
But now 100 years later, as Toledo is ready to celebrate the anniversary of the match, there is a search underway to find that unruly ringside bell. Where is it? No one knows for sure because there are too many of them.
"We found out there were many bells," saidd Toledo History Museum Director Brent Schmidt who was surprised their research has been turning up a glut of bells.
"There are many bells over the years that people claim were from the Willard Dempsey fight."
One that was recently loaned to the museum for a timely exhibit to observe the Dempsey-Willard anniversary is just one of six bells that have turned up thus far to claim the "title" as the famous clanger.
The one at the Toledo History Museum was donated by a member who said this bell was for many years affixed to the wall at the B & M bar on Summit Street in Point Place.
The story is told that after the fight, it was given to the Toledo Fire Chief at the time by Dempsey's manager and the fire chief gave it to some of the firemen.
"He gave it to his fireman after the fight and they drove around ringing the bell through neighborhoods and then went to the B and M bar, ran up a bar tab and used the bell to pay the tab."
It's a good story, but proving it is not easy to do. And it's not the only bar in the city that claimed to have had the Dempsey Bell on the wall.
In east Toledo, on Oak Street there was a tavern called the Green Oak Tavern that was run by the family of Lucas County Clerk of Courts Bernie Quilter. He says the bell was given to his father Barney Quilter.
Barney Quilter, a long time state lawmaker from Toledo, before entering politics entered the ring as a boxer. He was a champion golden gloves fighter. Bernie Quilter, says that as a young man while working at the family bar,
" An individual walked in with him at the tavern and said Barney I'm going to give you the Dempsey Willard Bell. It was displayed at the Green Oak Tavern for years and when we sold it, my dad took it to his basement and displayed it, and now I have it," Quilter said.
Mounted on all old plank of wood, the bell is proudly displayed on a wall in Quilter's basement bar. As to its history and who gave it t his father, Quilter says he only knows what he has been told by the family and the story has always been that it was the bell from the Dempsey Willard fight of 1919. And yes, it does ring.Even malfunctions sometimes, says Quilter.
But does it or the other bell ring with the truth of authenticity?
And that's the question that echoes around these clangers that all are claiming a special place in boxing history.
WTOL has found the story and photos of yet another bell that was given to Jack Dempsey in Toledo by Toledo promoter and former mayor Addison Q Thatcher. This particular bell had an inscription on its face and a date. The whereabouts of that bell today are unknown.
And there is also a recent photo of a vintage boxing bell that appeared on Facebook last week that asserts its provenance at the famous ringer, it even carries a letter of authenticity signed by Jack Dempsey. But was it really the "one and only"? Not according to a tavern in Reno Nevada which claims it has the coveted bell hanging on its wall. They claim it was a gift from Dempsey himself to the owner of the bar many years ago.
As with all of competing bells, proving their claims is tricky if not impossible for there are no apparent photos of the original bell that was ringside at Bayview Park on that day.
With the 100 year anniversary date of the fight quickly approaching on July 4, who knows what other bells are out there, how many will surface and which one will finally ring true?