John Patrick Kilbane
American, 1889 - 1957
Kilbane fought 1904 World Bantamweight champion Jimmy Walsh in a World Featherweight Title match on May 21, 1912, at the Pilgrim Athletic Club in Boston, Massachusetts to a twelve-round draw decision. They had previously fought in a non-title match on May 30, 1911, in a 12-round draw bout in Canton, Ohio, that was characterized as "full of clinches", with neither man "doing much hard work."
In October 1917 - while still World Featherweight Champion - Kilbane became a lieutenant in the U.S. Army — assigned to Camp Sherman located near Chillicothe, Ohio — training U.S. soldiers in self-defense during World War I.
After losing the featherweight title in 1923, Kilbane won at least two exhibition bouts, and then retired from boxing.
Kilbane would referee boxing matches after retiring from boxing, as well as operating a gym, serving in the Ohio Senate and acting as Clerk of the Cleveland Municipal Court.
Kilbane was such a popular prizefighter in his day that his name appeared in print as a verb. An unsigned commentary in the sports pages of the New York Times on May 16, 1912, reported on an episode involving Detroit baseball player Ty Cobb, who the day before, in a game between the Detroit Tigers and the New York Yankees, had gone into the stands after a heckler. The commentary said, "The famous baseball player from Detroit, Ty Cobb chased after a heckler during a game with the New York Yankees and 'Johnny Kilbaned' him right where he stood...and in so doing stopped the profane and intolerable language dead in its tracks, along with the heckler himself". Kilbane was a distant relative of the Irish boxer John Joe Nevin, the footballer Darren Fletcher, the wrestler Giant Haystacks and the Irish footballer Kevin Kilbane. His family was originally from Achill, County Mayo, Ireland.
He died on May 31, 1957, in Cleveland, Ohio.
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Last Updated8/7/24
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