Pat McMurtry had a wonderful career in the ring. As a boxer, he climbed as high as fifth in the world heavyweight ranks. He is remembered particularly as a participant in the two fights that drew the largest boxing crows in Tacoma history.

On July 13, 1956, Pat McMurtry battled and won a 10-round decision over former champion Ezzard Charles at the Lincoln Bowl. Charles was in the twilight of his career. Indeed, he fought just two more times and lost them both. Nevertheless, this was a big win for McMurtry.

Two months later, Pat was at it again. This time he took on Willie Pastrano at the Lincoln Bowl while 11,000 people watched. Pastrano was seven years away from winning the light heavyweight title against Harold Johnson. Pastrano won the 10-round bout, established McMurtry's reputation as one tough guy, pushing him up in the rankings.

Pat McMurtry and his younger brother Mike got their boxing start at the Starlight Athletic Club on Market Street in Tacoma. The gym was on the top floor of the building, situated over a butcher shop, a grocery store, and a bakery. Homer Anderson, McMurtry's manager, owned the building along with Kelley's Gym at Ninth and Commerce. "Kelley's was dingy, lighting was poor, the wood was rotten, and there was always the smell of wintergreen from the rubdowns the guys got," Mike McMurtry remembers.

"That was when boxing was boxing, not like the carnival it is today," Pat McMurtry said. "I started when I was six years old. Dad put gloves on us. Every Christmas we got a pair of boxing gloves. That was the known package under the tree. When my parents were first married, my dad told my mother that they were going to have two sons and they both were going to fight. That is what he got. Mike had 214 amateur fights and lost seven, and I had 105 and lost two."

Mike McMurtry got hurt in his first professional bout, against Ken Kass, and never boxed again. Prior to that, the younger McMurtry boxed for Gonzaga and Idaho State. He won the 1954 National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) heavyweight boxing title, went into the Marines after college, and in 1959 had the fight against Kass at Seattle's Sick's Stadium as a preliminary to his brother's main event. Three days later, the doctors found a blood clot in Mike's brain and operated. "I'm paying for it, no question about it," Mike admitted later on. "If you get hit around the head- I don't care what anybody says- it will take its toll." But in the next breath, Mike McMurtry also acknowledged that "If I had to do it all over, I would do the same damn thing."

One of Pat McMurtry's big highlights came when in 1958 he fought and beat George Chuvalo at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Chuvalo, who was the Canadian heavyweight champion at the time, rarely hit the canvas, but he did that night. "I was the first to put him down," Pat McMurtry admits proudly. "Referee started the count, but George jumped right up. Chuvalo was very tough but a nice guy."

"Tacomans could boast of Pat McMurtry, a legitimate title contender and potential heavyweight champion. He was homegrown- one of Tacoma's own- starting with his hard-nosed, blue-collar roots of Tacoma's South Side. His fans had known him since his early amateur days in the 1940s, often watching his bouts in person or following his career through the sports pages of the Tacoma News Tribune and the region's other dailies. In an era before major-league sports arrived in the Pacific Northwest, McMurtry was arguably the region's biggest sports star."


Click on a photograph on the left or click on "Start Exhibit" from the top menu to browse through our photograph collection. Click on "Search this Exhibit" to search for a specific person, team or sport.

We are actively looking for artifacts that will allow us to exhibit and interpret our sports heritage. If you have Tacoma- Pierce County sports memorabilia you would like to donate, please contact Marc Blau, President of the Shanaman Sports Museum, at (253) 848-1360 or at blaumarc@qwest.net.