Sammy Luftspring

Luftspring was born in May 1916 to Jewish parents of Polish descent and raised in St. John's Ward, a low class residential area of Toronto that was home to both Jewish and Italian immigrants. His father attempted to make a living as a bootlegger prior to prohibition, and the family struggled to raise six children under difficult circumstances. Luftspring began his boxing career in 1932 out of Brunswick Talmud Torah, a local Toronto Jewish community and recreational centre. Throughout his career, he wore a Magen David on his trunks. Over the next four years, he fought 105 times (attaining a record of 100–5) and captured Golden Gloves Tournaments in various weight classes ranging from bantamweight to welterweight.{{cite web |url=http://www.cshof.ca/hm_profile.php?i=299 |title=Canada Sports Hall of Fame – Honoured Members: Profile |publisher=Cshof.ca |date= |access-date=January 20, 2011}}

By 1933, he was the Ontario amateur lightweight champion and regarded as one of the best amateur boxing talents.

In 1933, he was involved in the infamous Toronto Christie Pits riot. A wild street brawl first broke out at Christie Pits Park following tensions that occurred during a series of amateur softball games between two rival teams. The riot continued for six hours, and eventually attracted 10,000 locals, mostly spectators. The initial antagonists were a group of young Jewish and Italian men on a local team who started a fight when a Gang unfurled a Swastika, a symbol that had been displayed the previous day and on other occasions by the local Swastika Club, a group of Canadian Nazi sympathizers.{{cite web |url=https://thetyee.ca/Culture/2016/07/26/Canadian-Boxers-Spurned-Berlin-Olympics/ |title=Hawthorne, Tom, The Canadian Boxers Who Thumbed Their Noses at Nazis |publisher=The Tyee |date=July 26, 2016 |access-date=January 20, 2019}}

File:Sammy Luftspring 1937.JPG

Luftspring was named to Canada's Olympic team for the 1936 Berlin Olympics. At the encouragement of his parents, he refused to attend the Games in protest over the poor treatment Jews were receiving in Nazi Germany. He made his views on the subject public in a letter to the Toronto Globe. In the letter, he protested that "the German government was treating its Jewish brothers and sisters worse than dogs". He even went as far as to say that "the German government would exterminate Jews if they had the opportunity".{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details.php?content=2007-02-08 |title=Speaker Series – The Nazi Olympics |publisher=Ushmm.org |access-date=January 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070902092258/http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details.php?content=2007-02-08 |archive-date=September 2, 2007}}

Luftspring and another boxer, Norman "Baby" Yack, attempted to participate in an alternate event being hosted that summer, the People's Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.{{cite web |url=http://www.jewsinsports.org/Olympics.asp?sport=olympics&ID=549 |title=Uc_Hilal : Jews In Sports |publisher=Jewsinsports.org |date= |access-date=January 20, 2011}} The Spanish Civil War broke out prior to the Games' opening ceremonies. The event caused the cancellation of the People's Olympics. By the time Luftspring found out about the cancellation, he had already reached Dieppe, France.

Luftspring, disappointed at not having a chance to compete, returned to Toronto.

Luftspring began to box professionally in the fall of 1936. A year later, he fought Gordon Wallace for the Canadian welterweight championship. He lost to Wallace in a 10-round decision at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

He married his wife Elsie in 1938 at Toronto's McCaul Street synagogue.{{cite web |url=https://www.geni.com/people/Sammy-Luftspring/6000000001566448952 |title=Sammy Luftspring – Boxer |website=Geni, Sammy Luftspring |date=14 March 1915 |publisher=Geni |access-date=January 20, 2011}}

In 1938, Luftspring knocked out Frank Genovese before a Toronto crowd of 10,000 in the 13th of 15 rounds to win the Canadian welterweight championship. Genovese was down at least three times in the final rounds for counts of 9."Luftspring Cops Title", The Windsor Star, Windsor, Ontario, Canada, pg. 19, 4 October 1938 The fight was his first in Canada under the management of French-American Al Weill, who had managed the exceptional welterweight Lou Ambers. Genovese and Luftspring's rivalry was extremely competitive and one of the dominant story lines of Toronto boxing in the late 1930s.

That same year, he was ranked as the third best welterweight boxer in the world. He was subsequently offered a chance to fight world champion Henry Armstrong in 1940.

Luftspring lost to Greek American boxer Steve Makamos, a Middleweight contender, on February 14, 1940, in a ten-round split decision in Toronto. Makamos led in the early fighting, and a late rally by Luftspring in the closing rounds was not enough to gain the decision."Luftspring Defeated by Washington Boy", The Ottawa Journal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, pg. 14, 20 February 1940

In a fight at New York's Bronx Colliseum on May 27, 1940, against Steve Belloise, Luftspring received an eye injury in the fourth round from a looping right punch that unintentionally caught his left eye with the thumb of the glove.MacCabe, Eddie, "Sammy Luftspring Writes a Book", The Ottawa Journal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, pg. 61, 29 October 1975 The medical diagnosis was a detached retina, an inoperable condition, that resulted in nearly complete loss of vision. The fight was intended to be a tune up for a potential championship bout against Armstrong. The injury forced Luftspring to quit boxing and ended his contention for the world welterweight title.Happened in Round 4 in "Belloise Wins Split Verdict", The Ottawa Journal, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, pg. 17, 28 May 1940

Details of his career record are unclear. Different reports have him winning 50 of either 55 or 56 pro bouts.{{cite web |url=http://www.cshof.ca/accessible/hm_profile.php?i=299 |title=Canada Sports Hall of Fame – Honoured Members: Profile |publisher=Cshof.ca |access-date=January 20, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225101846/http://www.cshof.ca/accessible/hm_profile.php?i=299 |archive-date=February 25, 2011}} More detailed records list him as 32–8 with 14 knockouts.{{cite web |url=http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=45804 |title=Sammy Luftspring – Boxer |publisher=Boxrec.com |date= |access-date=January 20, 2011}}

Luftspring struggled to establish himself immediately after boxing. He became a taxicab driver and then a representative for a liquor company.[http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/00/oct5-00/sports/sports.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050509230732/http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/00/oct5-00/sports/sports.htm|date=May 9, 2005}}

He began refereeing on occasion at the end of his boxing career, and within five years finally established himself as a respected Toronto referee who would eventually oversee 2,000 bouts. Some of the prominent and memorable fights he refereed between 1941 and 1984 include:{{cite book |last1=Silver |first1=Mike |title=Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing: A Photographic History |date=Mar 4, 2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781630761400 |pages=199–200}}

• September 15, 1958 – The Canadian heavyweight title match between George Chuvalo and James J. Parker at Maple Leaf Gardens.
• October 1, 1965 – The WBA heavyweight title match between George Chuvalo and Ernie Terrell at Maple Leaf Gardens.
• January 27, 1970 – A bout between Humberto Trottman and Clyde Gray at Royal York Hotel in which an upset Trottman, thinking Luftspring was interfering with his style, took a swing at him. Luftspring responded with a bare-knuckle left hook off the side of Trottman's head, forcing Trottman's manager to race into the ring and intervene.{{cite web |url=http://www.canoe.ca/Slam020411/box2-sun.html |title=CANOE - Canadian Online Explorer - Canada's news, sports, entertainment, finance and lifestyle site |website=www.canoe.ca |access-date=3 February 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120724164245/http://www.canoe.ca/Slam020411/box2-sun.html |archive-date=24 July 2012 |url-status=usurped}}

Nearing the end of his prolific refereeing career around 1981, he began work as a boxing judge though 1991, judging nearly 100 bouts.

Luftspring, along with three partners, Harry Eckler of the baseball hall of fame, Joe Krol of the football hall of fame and their friend Lou Cadsby, opened the Mercury Club in 1948, a dining establishment on Dundas Street, near Bay Street, in Toronto.Mercury club opened in 1948 in Dulmage, Jack, "Between Whistles", The Windsor Star, Ontario, Canada, pg. 24, 23 May 1964 It was a successful club, which featured popular performers such as Henny Youngman, Vic Damone and Tony Bennett. Luftspring helped to host and operate the club, which had its peak years in the 1950s and 1960s, while simultaneously working as a referee. He subsequently ran other nightclubs such as the Tropicana.

After a lengthy illness, Luftspring died at Toronto East General hospital on September 27, 2000.{{Cite web |title=Sammy LUFTSPRING Obituary (2000) - Toronto, ON - The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/theglobeandmail/name/sammy-luftspring-obituary?id=41831124 |access-date=2024-08-27 |website=Legacy.com}} He was buried at the Interment Slipia Synagogue Section of Dawes Road Cemetery in Toronto."Luftspring Dies", Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, pg. 80, 29 September 2000

• 1933 – Ontario Amateur Lightweight Boxing Champion
• 1936 – Named to the Canadian Olympic Boxing Team (Elected not to compete)
• 1938 – Canadian Welterweight Boxing Champion
• 1985 – Inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame

{{s-start}}

|-

| align="center" colspan=8|4 Wins, 3 Losses

|-

| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Result

| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Opponent(s)

| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Date

| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Location

| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Duration

| align="center" style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3"|Notes

|-

| {{yes2}}Win

| Frankie Genovese

| Jan 5, 1937

| Toronto

| 10 Round TKO

|

|-

| {{yes2}}Win

| Johnny Jadick

| Feb 3, 1937

| Toronto

| 8 Round UD

| Former Jr. Welter Champ

|-

| {{no2}}Loss

| Gordon Wallace

| Apr 2, 1937

| Toronto

| 10 Rounds

| For Canad. Welter Title

|-

| {{no2}}Loss

| Frankie Genovese

| Apr 30, 1937

| Toronto

| 10 Rounds

| Non-title

|-

| {{yes2}}Win

| Frankie Genovese

| Oct 3, 1938

| Toronto

| 13 Round TKO

| Won Canad. Welter Title

|-

| {{yes2}}Win

| Steve Makamos

| Feb 19, 1940

| Toronto

| 10 Rounds SD

|

|-

| {{no2}}Loss

| Steve Belloise

| May 27, 1940

| Bronx, NY

| 8 Rounds

| Eye injury ended career

{{S-end}}

• List of select Jewish boxers

• Call Me Sammy – Sammy Luftspring with Brian Swarbrick, Prentice-Hall Canada Ltd., 1975—{{ISBN|0131126490}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{boxrec|id=45804}}
• [http://www.boxrec.com/officials.php?official_id=3487 BoxRec Referee Profile]
• [http://www.cshof.ca/hm_profile.php?i=299 Canadian Sports Hall of Fame Profile]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050509230732/http://www.cjnews.com/pastissues/00/oct5-00/sports/sports.htm Sammy Luftpring's Obituary: Canadian Jewish News]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Luftspring, Sammy}}

Category:1916 births

Category:2000 deaths

Category:Jewish Canadian sportspeople

Category:Jewish boxers

Category:Boxers from Toronto

Category:Canadian male boxers

Category:Welterweight boxers

Category:20th-century Canadian sportsmen