Jimmy Lennon Sr. (April 13, 1913 – April 20, 1992) was a ring announcer for

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

and

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

matches.

Early life

Lennon sang as a young boy in church and later formed a singing group, The Lennon Brothers, with his brothers in

Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the city of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, when it was annexed b ...

. He also served the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

effort by becoming a commissioned civil instructor as a butcher and cook. At age 17, Lennon was planning to go to college and become an English professor, but his father Herbert Lennon became ill and died at age 44. This left Jimmy and his 19-year-old brother John Henry to work and support the large surviving family. He worked at multiple jobs singing and performing at sports events, athletic, patriotic, and police events in and around Los Angeles.

Announcing career

Lennon first became a ring announcer in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

at the Ocean Park Arena, while working there as the regular singer of "

The Star-Spangled Banner "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...

". The regular ring announcer at the time was unavailable so the event coordinator asked Lennon if he would fill in as ring announcer. At the time Lennon was wearing a tuxedo, which he also wore for his first announcing job. His boss liked Lennon's performance so well, he hired Lennon as the regular fight announcer. He was a stickler for details, a prime example being his painstaking effort to pronounce tongue-twisting names correctly. “A man is entitled to the dignity of his own name,” he once told the Los Angeles Times.

Other media

Lennon appeared in 75 productions, including ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: My St ...

Rocky III ''Rocky III'' is a 1982 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Rocky II'' (1979) and is the third installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. Along with Stallone reprising the title rol ...

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

California Split ''California Split'' is a 1974 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Altman and starring Elliott Gould and George Segal as a pair of gamblers and was the first non-Cinerama film to use eight-track stereo sound. Plot In Los Angeles, a fr ...

Tough Guys ''Tough Guys'' is a 1986 American action comedy film directed by Jeff Kanew and starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Eli Wallach, Charles Durning, Dana Carvey and Darlanne Fluegel. It is the eighth film of Touchstone Pictures, and the final fi ...

Kid Galahad ''Kid Galahad'' is a 1962 American musical film starring Elvis Presley as a boxer. It was released by United Artists in August 1962 and opened at #9 at the American box office. ''Variety'' ranked it #37 on its list of the top-grossing films of 1 ...

The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...

'', and ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was conc ...

''. Lennon was the character of a

Jakks Pacific Jakks Pacific, Inc. is an American company that designs and markets toys and consumer products, with a range of products that feature numerous children's toy licenses. The company is named after its founder, Jack Friedman, who had previously fou ...

action figure released in 2007, depicting his ''Rocky III'' appearance. He was the uncle of the

Lennon Sisters The Lennon Sisters are an American vocal group made up of four sisters. The quartet originally consisted of Dianne (aka DeeDee; born Dianne Barbara, December 1, 1939), Peggy (born Margaret Anne, April 8, 1941), Kathy (born Kathleen Mary, Augu ...

vocal group on ''

The Lawrence Welk Show ''The Lawrence Welk Show'' is an American televised musical variety show hosted by big band leader Lawrence Welk. The series aired locally in Los Angeles for four years, from 1951 to 1955, then nationally for another 16 years on ABC from 195 ...

''.

Personal life

After ten years of heart problems, Lennon was admitted to St. John's Hospital in

, where he died in ER on April 20, 1992. Private funeral services were first attended by family and friends in Santa Monica, followed by a larger public open-casket service and burial. Lennon was survived by his wife, Doris, and four children: Scott, Robin Thomas, Kim Fitzgerald and Jimmy Jr., who is also a boxing ring announcer.

Championships and accomplishments

*World Boxing Hall of Fame **Hall of Fame *Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards **

Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame The Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Fame is a professional wrestling and mixed martial arts hall of fame that recognizes people who make significant contributions to their professions. It was founded in 1996 by Dave Meltzer, editor of t ...

( Class of 1997)

Selected filmography

*''

Killer McCoy ''Killer McCoy'' is a 1947 American drama film about a boxer starring Mickey Rooney. It is a remake of '' The Crowd Roars'' (1938). The picture was directed by Roy Rowland with a supporting cast featuring Brian Donlevy, Ann Blyth, James Dun ...

'' (1947) - Ring Announcer (uncredited) *''

State of the Union The State of the Union Address (sometimes abbreviated to SOTU) is an annual message delivered by the president of the United States to a joint session of the United States Congress near the beginning of each calendar year on the current conditio ...

'' (1948) - Reporter (uncredited) *''

Fighting Fools ''Fighting Fools'' is a 1949 comedy film starring The Bowery Boys. The film was released on April 17, 1949 by Monogram Pictures and is the thirteenth film in the series. Plot The Bowery Boys, led by the notorious Slip Mahoney, are helping out at ...

'' (1949) - Ring Announcer (uncredited) *''

Alias the Champ ''Alias the Champ'' is a 1949 American crime film directed by George Blair and written by Albert DeMond. The film stars Robert Rockwell, Barbra Fuller, Audrey Long, James Nolan, John Harmon, Sammy Menacker and Joseph Crehan. The film was rel ...

'' (1949) - Ring Announcer *''

Fighting Coast Guard ''Fighting Coast Guard'' is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Joseph Kane and written by Kenneth Gamet. The film stars Brian Donlevy, Forrest Tucker, Ella Raines, John Russell, Richard Jaeckel, William Murphy and Martin Milner. The fil ...

'' (1951) - Announcer (uncredited) *''

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

'' (1951) - Announcer (uncredited) *''

Racket Girls ''Racket Girls'' (also called ''Blonde Pickup'' and ''Pin Down Girls'') is an American film noir crime film, directed by Robert C. Dertano and released in 1951 by Screen Classics. Plot Umberto Scalli ( Timothy Farrell) is a small-time gangster who ...

'' (1951) - Himself *'' The Ring'' (1952) - Ring announcer Aragon fight (uncredited) *''

Champ for a Day ''Champ for a Day'' is a 1953 American crime film directed by William A. Seiter and written by Irving Shulman. The film stars Alex Nicol, Audrey Totter, Charles Winninger, Hope Emerson, Joseph Wiseman and Barry Kelley. The film was released on ...

'' (1953) - Fight Announcer (uncredited) *''

City of Bad Men ''City of Bad Men'' is a 1953 American Western film directed by Harmon Jones and starring Jeanne Crain and Dale Robertson. Plot A heavyweight championship fight between "Gentleman Jim" Corbett and Bob Fitzsimmons is coming to Carson City, Nev ...

'' (1953) - Fight Announcer (uncredited) *''

World in My Corner ''World in My Corner'' is a 1956 American film noir drama sport film directed by Jesse Hibbs and starring Audie Murphy and Barbara Rush. It was one of the few non-Westerns Murphy made in his career. Plot Tommy Shea (Audie Murphy), a boxer from J ...

'' (1956) - Ring Announcer *''

'' (1962) - Fight Announcer (uncredited) *''Joe Frazier vs. Eddie Machen'' (1966) - Himself *''

Hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

'' (1972) - Announcer *'' Let's Do It Again'' (1975) - Fight Announcer *''Train Ride to Hollywood'' (1975) - Himself *'' The One and Only'' (1978) - Ring Announcer in New York (uncredited) *''

Matilda Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroughbred racehorse * Matilda, a dog of the professional wrestling tag-team The ...

'' (1978) - Ring announcer *''

Movie Movie ''Movie Movie'' is a 1978 American double bill directed by Stanley Donen. It consists of two films: ''Dynamite Hands'', a boxing ring morality play, and ''Baxter's Beauties of 1933'', a musical comedy, both starring the husband-and-wife team of G ...

'' (1978) - The Announcer (segment "Dynamite Hands") *'' The Main Event'' (1979) - Announcer *''

'' (1980) - Ring Announcer - Second Robinson Fight and Dauthuille Fight *''Thomas Hearns vs. Pipino Cuevas'' (1980) - Himself *'' Body and Soul'' (1981) - Ring Announcer *''

'' (1982) - Title Announcer *''Delta Pi'' (1984) - Ring Announcer *''

'' (1986) - Himself

References

*''Briefly, Ring Announcer Lennon Dies After Long Illness'', Daily News of Los Angeles, April 21, 1992. *''L.A. Ring Announcer Jimmy Lennon Dies; Boxing: He was the popular voice at Southland bouts for more than four decades'' Los Angeles Times, April 21, 1992.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Jimmy 1913 births 1992 deaths Professional wrestling announcers