Albert Young (September 28, 1877 – July 22, 1940) was an American

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

who competed in the early twentieth century. He won a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

boxing at the 1904 Summer Olympics At the 1904 Summer Olympics, seven boxing events were contested, with the sport making its Olympic debut. The competitions were held on Wednesday, September 21, 1904 and on Thursday, September 22, 1904. Contestants in lighter weight classes could ...

. Young was born in

Lauterecken Lauterecken () is a town in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Lauterecken-Wolfstein, to which it also belongs. Lauterecken bears the nickname ''Veldenzstadt'', after the comital family t ...

, German Empire in 1877.

Amateur career

As an amateur boxer, Young captured the Olympic Gold Medal at 148 pounds, in the 1904 Olympic Games in St. Louis. Young was one of only four boxers, all Americans, who competed in this weight class. 85% of the athletes in total were Americans. Young defeated Harry Spanger in the final to win the gold medal.

Olympic Results

*Defeated Jack Egan (United States) points *Defeated Harry Spanger (United States) points

Life After Boxing

After he had quit boxing, became a promoter in his native San Francisco starting in 1906. Young initially worked at the Association Club, a small club where many Bay Area boxers got their start, before advancing on to bigger shows. In 1923, Young moved his promotional operations to

National Hall National Hall is a former venue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, located at 1222–24 Market Street, between Twelfth and Thirteenth Streets. It was one of the most popular venues in the city, site of concerts, lectures, meetings, and political spee ...

, where he continued promoting entry level bouts. After 10-round bouts were legalized at the start of 1925, Young would feature higher quality bouts, usually with a 10-round main event, while still maintaining his role as the starting place for young Bay Area boxers. During the 1920s, Young was also involved at the Golden Gate Arena in San Francisco. Once the great depression hit, Young struggled to stay afloat, like many fellow promoters. He would promote much more sporadically during this period. Young would continue promoting until his death in 1940 at

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Young who suffered from anemia and ulcers, died after several unsuccessful blood transfusions. Many of the

blood donation A blood donation occurs when a person voluntarily has blood drawn and used for blood transfusion, transfusions and/or made into biopharmaceutical medications by a process called Blood fractionation, fractionation (separation of whole blood com ...

s, came from former fighters that Young had promoted. He was survived by a wife and a daughter.

References

External links

BoxRec profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Albert 1877 births 1940 deaths Welterweight boxers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing Boxers at the 1904 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States American boxing promoters American male boxers Medalists at the 1904 Summer Olympics