pugilist

Bob Diry (aka Bob Deery) had a brief career as a middleweight boxer in the U.S., losing six of seven verified bouts in 1913 and 1914 (BoxRec page.)

whyaduck: thank you for the additional information about Bob Diry. We will update the photo information and reload the description.

Other Bain/LOC photos of Bob Diry, posted on Flickr in May, 2010: And in August, 2010:

On December 15, 1913, Diry, a middleweight, was knocked out by George Ashe in the third round of a contest at the National Sporting Club, in Brooklyn, New York. Diry was from Ireland, where his name was spelled "Deery." Although he had won a fight in November, this was his second loss in a row, and he would endure three more knockouts in 1914 before he hung up his gloves for good. Diry's boxing record: boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=73885&cat=boxer New York Times story, December 16, 1913 (NYT says he was a German, and had won several fights, but the record contradicts that statement): query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9807E...

Hi Wystan. I tend to believe the Diry was indeed German, not Irish, as another NYT link credits him as the German middleweight champion (see his boxrec.com bio). The only source I'm finding that says he's Irish is the info at the top of his boxrec.com record, but I believe that's an error, and I'm also going to guess that whoever compiled his "official" record there got most if not all of the results and info from the same NYT links we're seeing.

Is that Theodore Hardeen the brother of Houdini? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Hardeen Similar face, chin dimple: www.akahoudini.org/htdocs/content.php?aSecID=3&aSubID=74

Yes, I think that you're right, pennylrichardsca. The man on the top right in this photograph is Houdini's brouther, Hardeen. Any idea what might have brought these chaps together?

This is from the same photo session as

Notes to that picture suggest it is in connection with Willie Ritchie's World Lightweight Boxing Championship bout in London in 1914. That photo appears to be dated 6/14.

Emil Thiery *note misspelling* was Ritchie's manager at the time. See short bio of Ritchie, born Gerhardt (sometimes reported as Geary) Steffen in San Francisco, at books.google.com/books?id=aA2LO_DGdu4C&pg=PA206&l...

This newspaper account of June 30, 1914 announces the coming bout in London. "Ritchie, who has his brother, Henry Steffen [*note H'y abbreviation in Bain caption], and Emil Thiery his manager, as constant companions, is training in a northern suburb of London."
news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19140630&i...

Still a mystery why Hardeen is in the party, but he must have been connected to the event in some way. It seems likely that this photo session was before Ritchie left the U.S. for London, as he is seen accepting the bout.

Hi, I'm an admin for a group called Wir haben`s schwarz auf weiss ONLY THE BEST IN B&W ♥ ♥ ♥, and we'd love to have this added to the group!

"Assuming an Irish name was not unusual in that era of boxing; there were Jewish fighters with Irish names too; and Jim Flynn, the only man who ever knocked out Jack Dempsey, was actually named Andrea Chiariglione. One reason for the name changes is that there were not enough Irish fighters to satisfy the large number of Irish fans." -- Pete Hamill, "Why Sinatra Matters" (Boston: Little, Brown, 1998), p. 58.