Description
Homer Smith
Name: Homer Smith
Born: 1895-05-28
Hometown: Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA
Birthplace: Van Buren, Arkansas, USA
Died: 1971-05-01 (Age: 75)
Record: 45-33-2
33 KOs 15 KOs
Division: heavy
Bouts: 93
Career: 1911-1929
Debut: 1911-12-10
Per the April 24, 1927 Spokane Spokesman-Review newspaper, Smith had traveled 300,000 miles in 15 years of boxing. He had been to France, Germany, Belgium, England, Hawaii, Cuba and Spain. He had met Firpo, Harry Wills, Jack Sharkey, Harry Greb (who had just died), Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson, Willie Meehan, Bartley Madden, and many others.
Homer Smith was born May 28, 1893 on a farm near Kalamazoo, Michigan and died on May 6, 1971 in Pawpaw, Michigan. Buried in Glendale Cemetery. Death was caused from an abdominal aneurysm. He lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Grantwood, NJ and Ypsilanti, Mi. He also rented in south Dearborn, Michigan for two years while he worked as a plant protection employee at the Rouge plant for the Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, Mi. during World War II. One summer, his son, H. James Smith worked in the steel mill. The son seldom saw his father because they worked different shifts even though they slept in the same living quarters in Dearborn. At the age of 18, Homer Smith went into professional boxing. He journeyed approximately 300,000 miles for his 187 fights He fought as many as 14 fights in one year. He received $0.75 for his first professional fight. The biggest purse for fighting he received was $5,100. He was paid $218 for the Jack Dempsey fight. Homer Smith was an accomplished boxer, who would often comment that of all of his achievements, his proudest was “I fought the 3 greatest heavyweight boxers of all time. Jack Dempsey, Jack Sharkey and Jack Johnson.”
