Barrett, Jack (Jack C.)

Jack Barrett (Gerstenhaber), born on July 9, 1903, was the sixth child of nine in an Austrian Jewish family. His family immigrated to America to escape political persecution and financial instability. Jack's mother was pregnant with him when his father left for America. The rest of the family soon joined him and two of his youngest siblings were born in America. Jack quit school at fifteen to provide for his family. His early jobs included helping the milkman deliver milk to sellling newspapers at his father's newsstand. Out of curiosity, Jack became a street fighter and wanted to learn how to box. His six siblings used the bathroom so frequently that he took showers at the gym. When Jack saw fighters practicing in the gym, he wanted to use such skills to defend himself from thugs. Jack's older brother Sam encouraged him to become a fighter. Jack believed honesty was an important virture probably due to his Judaic beliefs. He used other boxer's names so that his father would not find out about his secret passion. Willy Gibbs, Jack's old fighter manager gave Jack his first name, "a moniker that stuck". He changed his last name from Gerstenhaber to Barrett. In Jack's professional career, there were twenty-four wins and two losses. In the first of the losses, Jack was severally injured and had to hide scars from his father. The second loss was a devastating blow to Jack's early career. When Jack's father discovered his secret and the bruises from the second loss (the calilflower ear was obvious), his dad forced him to quit fighting for good. With the money saved from his earnings, Jack opened a gym on 116th Street and Third Avenue after his fighting retirement. He devoted all his time to his fighters and invested wisely. Jack had fighters work without a fee and made Jack their manager. He was the first to introduce a paper contract to insure fighters' rights and their returns of investment. By 1928, Jack had six boxers in training in star bouts. Chester Rico and Humberto Zavala were Jack's fighters during his entire career. Jack was able to manage fighters because he knew which fighter had the greatest potential. He tested prospective boxers if they had "the heart" to fight and knew the outcome of a fight and knew the outcome of a fight by the boxer's body language. He also memorized fights round by round for each boxer. Barrett married Bea Siegel, a pharmacist, on January 4, 1942. Her family did not approve of Jack and his profession. Bea and Jack met at her pharmacy. She took care of Jack's perscriptions for his fighters. In World War II, Jack's boxers were drafted; some boxers who stayed in occupied countries in the Armed Forces were Al Roth, Pete Kennedy, Augie Arellano, Jim Elliot and Joe Bowman. Tami Mauriello was one of the few fighers who was not drafted. Jack's official retirement from boxing is unknown. He moved to Florida and died on November 26, 2001. He left three children and seven grandchildren.