Jack "Kid" Lester (2 May 1891 – 1916) was an American heavyweight boxer.

Biography

He was born in

Calumet, Michigan Calumet ( or ) is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County, in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, that was once at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula. Also known as Red Jacket, the village includes the C ...

as Jack Jubeck on May 2, 1891 to

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

parents. He was raised in

Cle Elum, Washington Cle Elum ( ) is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, Kittitas County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 1,872 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. About by car from Seattle, Cle Elum is a popular area ...

. Lester's record was fairly unspectacular, though his knockout ratio in winning bouts was fairly high. His first manager was Harry Burns, but in 1910, ex-boxing champion Tommy Burns took Lester on. Tommy Burns sent Lester to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in 1911 to gain fight experience, and in September that year he beat

Bill Lang Bill Lang (born William Lanfranchi; 6 July 1882 – 3 September 1952) was an Australian professional boxer who held the national heavyweight title. He was also an Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football ...

, the Australian heavyweight champion, by points. While in Australia Lester and Burns's relationship became strained and Lester dropped Burns for Hugh MacIntosh. Lester spent the entirety of 1912 in Australia, but by March 1913 Lester was back in the States and fighting in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Towards the end of his career he lost two matches to Light Heavyweight champion

Jack Dillon Ernest Cutler Price (February 2, 1891 – August 7, 1942) better known as Jack Dillon, was an American boxer who held the Light Heavyweight Championship of the World. Dillon was often referred to as "Jack the Giant Killer" for his ability to han ...

. He died in 1916 at the age of 26.

Professional boxing record

References

Best of Times, movie 1986

External links

boxrec.com
Jack Lester biography

Jack Lester record 1891 births 1916 deaths Boxers from Michigan Heavyweight boxers People from Calumet, Michigan Sportspeople from Michigan American male boxers People from Cle Elum, Washington {{US-boxing-bio-stub