Not Sure What To Call This Thread

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Very short piece on this fight on Mar 18, 1938.

BUT...found a first ever photo of Mr. Parker! Not much though. Mainly see Wildcat.

Sat, Mar 12, 1938, Sixth District Gazette, Barre, VT - Camp Charles M. Smith, Waterbury, Vt. will stage a fight card on Friday the 18th. The third boxing card of the season there at Camp Smith. Included in that card, Hub Parker, 161lbs from Newport will square off against Wildcat Spendolini, 160 lbs from Fort Ethan Allen. A notice in this Sixth District Gazette states this "Main Event" to be five rounds.

Sat, Mar 19, 1938, The Caledonian-Record, St. Johnsbury, VT - At the CAmp Smith Theatre in Waterbury Friday night, Hub Parker lost a decision to Wildcat Spindolini. A decision that was unpopular with the fans and all in attendance apparently except for the judges.

Mon, Mar 28, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Announces that Hub Parker stated that he would not box in Vermont rings, "retiring" from fighting at least in Vermont. No reason(s) given for this decision though he apparently intends to keep fighting noted in the Mar 29th Newport Daily Express.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Mon, Apr 04, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Hub Parker received a letter from a Hardwick promoter with the opportunity to fight at a match at Harwick or North Troy on April 15 to battle K.O. Kasper of Burlington for the middleweight title of Vermont. Well, that changed Parker's mind about "retiring" from fighting in Vermont.

Sat, Apr 16, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Friday night at the Hardwick Gym Hall Johnny (K.O.) Kasper, 156 lbs, Burlington, put his Vermont Middleweight Title on the line against Hub Parker, 160 lbs, Newport In a scheduled eight round bout. Parker was considered the underdog in this bout, so it's outcome came as a surprise to many in attendance. Parker ended the last half of the fight but dropping Kasper four times from the fifth round on. This was after many felt that Kasper had dominated the first three rounds. In the seventh round after heavy pressure put on Kaskper in the fifth and sixth rounds. From The Caledonian-Record account of the fight, it noted with a right to the body, Parker sent Kasper down for the count and KO victory for Parker.

[Waltercito]

Interesting. Again, none of this fights is in Parkers Boxrec. BUT there are two fights against Kasper and "KO" Spendolini in 1939, both KO wins for Hub.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by Waltercito

Interesting. Again, none of this fights is in Parkers Boxrec. BUT there are two fights against Kasper and "KO" Spendolini in 1939, both KO wins for Hub.

Yep there's another Spendolini fight in April 1938 I found. Post on that.
Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Look what I found!! So confirms the info on the Find a Grave Site. Mistake on this article though is says Spartanburg, N.C. and it's South Carolina.

Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Thu, Apr 21, 1938, The Hardwick Gazette, VT - Announcement made that "Promoter" Hub Parker and matchmaker Earl Larrabee had put together a five bout program that an "enthusiastic" crowd of 200 enjoy in Hardwick on Friday April 15th. Parker was part of the fight card in his bout against K.O. Kasper. Mention this article as it notes Parker being the Promoter of the bout.

Sat, Apr 30, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Friday night at the Hardwick Gym Hall, Middleweight "Wildcat" Spendolini, Fort Ethan Allen fought the full scheduled 8 rounds in the Main Event against Hub Parker, only to loose the decision to Parker by a large margin.
Record: W9(KO 6) / L9(KO 1) / D4

Talley up of Parker's record to date. Also included a photo of Spendolini.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Sat, Jun 11, 1938, The Brattleboro Reformer, VT - Hub Parker was scheduled to fight "lefty" Montero of Greenfield, Mass at the Cummunity Hall Arena, but Parker failed to show up, arriving just as the fight ended with Stanley Boardagray, Turner Falls, Mass substituting for Parker. Parker said he had car trouble on the way to Brattleboro.

Sat, Jun 25, 1938, The Brattleboro Reformer, VT - At the Brattleboro Community Hall Arena, in a fight billed for the Middleweight title of Vermont, Terry Rogers, 167 of Amherst, Mass. surprised the fight crowd winning a decision over Hub Parker, 166 of Newport taking Parker's title in the 6 round fight. Parker did manage to drop Rogers for a count of nine in the second round, but he fought it seemed too defensively throughtout the bout, loosing rounds by points. Record: W9(KO 6) / L10(KO 1) / D4

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Tue, Jul 19, 1938, The Caledonian-Record, St. Johnsbury, VT - Hub Parker has been signed by Tony Ovitt of Island Pond to fight Jack "Tiger" Flowers of Buffalo N.Y. at Dover, N.H. on July 22nd. The Newport Daily Express reported on this fight saying that Tiger Flowers was considered a leading middleweight in the East. Only reference found to the results of this fight were in the Aug 12, 1938 The Newport Daily Express which mentioned Parker loosing by TKO to Flowers in a fight that Parker probably should not have taken.
Record: W9(KO 6) / L11(KO 2) / D4

Wed, Jul 20, 1938, The Caledonian-Record, St. Johnsbury, VT - Reports that Hub Parker's fight with Tiger Flowers would probably be his last in Vermont/New Hampshire area.Parker has signed a contract with Al Levigneault of Connecticut, arranging to get Parker a New York license to fight in Connecticut and western New York.

Sat, Aug 13, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Promoter Hub Parker's boxing card Friday night to be held at Gaines Park, in which in the Main Event he was to take on Jack Humphries of St. Johnsbury ws not much to end up going to as only one bout of fivescheduled ended up being fought. Jack Humphries failed to show up for his fight with Parker. There was reporting such a small fan turn out that some of the fighters were holding out fighting because they would not get paid what was planned to pay them for their respective bouts.

Wed, Aug 24, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - 400 fight fans showed up at Island Pond, Vt and saw was part of the fight card, Kid Morrissette of Island Pond take the Vermont middleweight crown from Hub Parker winning the 6 round bout by decision. Morrissette pretty much had the fight from the get go battering Parker around while Parker never managed to land many good blows himself against Morrissette. Record: W9(KO 6) / L12(KO 2) / D4

Sat, Sep 17, 1938, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Harry Winters of Danby was outpointed by Hub Parker in six rounds, watched on by a crowd of about 500. The fight card that included four other bouts was set at Danby Four Corners, VT under the promotion of Walt Haley per the Sep 13, 1938 Newport Daily Express. Record: W10(KO 6) / L12(KO 2) / D4

Sat, Dec 10, 1938, Burlington Daily News, VT - Announcement made that boxing is to return to Burlington after it being absent for a "long Period". A 5 bout match is scheduled to take place in the Memorial Auditorium on Friday, Dec 16th, promoted by Terry Ovitt of Island Pond. On that card will be Hub Parker up against Young Gokey of St. Albans. In BoxRec, this fight is listed and for Dec 16th, 1938. They list Gokey by his first name Harold.

So looks like we're now up to where BoxRec starts listing fights for Parker again.

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Sat, Dec 17, 1938, Burlington Daily News, VT - At Memorial Auditorium, Hub Parker, 158 of Newport, stopped Harold Gokey, 158, St Albans in the first round. Found no record of how many rounds it was scheduled for.
Record: W11(KO 7) / L12(KO 2) / D4

A fight card listed in the Barre Daily Times, Feb 1, 1939 announces a fight card that includes Hub Parker, 160 lbs vs K.O. Spendolini 159 lbs. This is Wildcat Spendolini. Interesting thing is this card posting by the Barre Daily Times notes that Parker has Won 25 fights and Lost 2 with 38 KOs ??? Spendolini they say has Won 27, Lost 4 with 32 KO's??

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Fri, Feb 03, 1939, The Barre Daily Times, VT - At the Barre Armory on Thursday night, 600 fans were on hand to see the first boxing show in Barre in five years. Hub Parker, 160, Newport took on K.O. Spindolini, 153 of New Britain, Connecticut in a 10 round main event. Besides 7 pounds under Parker, Spindolini was supposadly fighting with a bad shoulder. The first couple rounds there was not much action. In the third, Parker began connecting with some lefts and then a cross right caught Spindolini and sent him down for a count of nine. Fourth thru the seventh rounds were spent with each fighter able to make some connecting punches. Then in round eight, Parker connected with a left and countered quickly with a right to Spindolini's chin sending him down to the canvas. Account says the referee didn't even bother to count as it was obvious Spindolini was out and the fight over. The Burlington Daily News of Feb 03 account of the fight put the crowd size for the show at about 900. Record: W12(KO 8) / L12(KO 2) / D4

Wed, Feb 15, 1939, The Barre Daily Times, VT - Fight card announcement for Thursday, Feb 16th at the Barre Armory which includes Hub Parker, Newport, 168 lbs vs Johnny (K.O.) Kasper, Burlington, 168 lbs in the 10 round Main Event.

Fri, Feb 17, 1939, The Barre Daily Times, VT - Thursday night, at the Barre Armory, about 700 fight fans were enjoying a good boxing desplay put on by Johnny Kasper against his opponent, Hub Parker for the first three rounds of thier scheduled 10 rounds. This account and at least two other newspaper accounts put Kasper at a 9 pound fight weight less than Parker. The card announcement on the 15th put them both at 168? Kasper was out boxing Parker for those first three rounds when in the fourth, with Kasper still dishing out punches connecting on Parker, Parker moved towards the rope and then turned and brought a hard "rabbit punch" on Kasper's neck and followed that with a left to the body and then a right to the chin that dropped Kasper to the canvas for 10 count by Referee Saldi, and KO victory for Parker. W13(KO 9) / L12(KO 2) / D4

See attached a full photo finally of our man, Hub Parker! This from the Feb 25th, 1939 The Newport Daily Express.

[Waltercito]

This guy could very well be related to Wildcat Spendolini, if it isn't the man himself:


https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...l-j-spendolini

[Rocco Del Sesto]

Originally Posted by Waltercito

This guy could very well be related to Wildcat Spendolini, if it isn't the man himself:


https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...l-j-spendolini

That Find a Grave is a Great site to reference to. I think pretty certain that K.O. Spendolini is Wildcat Spendolini. The Caledonion-Record of Feb 3, 1939 account of the Spendolini / Parker fight references him as Wildcat. Also believe there were some references in some prefight articles and the Caledonion-Record Feb 3rd, mentions this was the third meeting of Spendonlini and Parker.

Rocco

[Rocco Del Sesto]

This is a fight Not accounted for in BoxRec.

Fri, Feb 24, 1939, The Newport Daily Express, VT - A six round bout between Hub Parker and Fort Ethan Allen middleweight, Joe Sprano on as part of the matchups at the Newport Armory being set up by promoter Dave Sisco. Its scheduled to take place the coming Monday.

Tue, Feb 28, 1939, The Newport Daily Express, VT - Joe Sprano, 158 from Fort Ethan Allen appeared a bit apprehensive as he appeared in the ring at the Newport Armory show, Monday night against Hub Parker, 155.
Parker pranced Sprano around the ring looking for an opening for his right, doing this for the first minute of the first round. Then finally, Parker rushed in on Sprano and connected first with a left and then followed up with his right. Sprano went down and didn't get up. KO victory for Parker in a minute and 55 seconds!
Record: W14(KO 10) / L12(KO 2) / D4

[Waltercito]

Originally Posted by Rocco Del Sesto

That Find a Grave is a Great site to reference to. I think pretty certain that K.O. Spendolini is Wildcat Spendolini. The Caledonion-Record of Feb 3, 1939 account of the Spendolini / Parker fight references him as Wildcat. Also believe there were some references in some prefight articles and the Caledonion-Record Feb 3rd, mentions this was the third meeting of Spendonlini and Parker.

Rocco

Yes. We have to figure out his first name to be certain.