Bucky Lawless by Rob Snell

[Mofo2]

Name: Bucky Lawless

Birth Name: Thomas William Lawless

Born: 1908-03-03

Birthplace: Auburn, New York, USA

Died: 1966-06-19 (Age:58)

Nationality: US American

Hometown: Syracuse, New York, USA

Boxing Record: click

Managers: Joe Netro, Harry Anderson

Published approx 1998

Thomas "Bucky" Lawless always loved Auburn, and Auburn loved him. He lived at 46 Perrine St with his sister, Carol Prystal. Bucky had two other sisters, Margaret Fahey and Elizabeth Price, and a half-brother, Bernard Lawless. They are all dead.

His nephews are Tom Prystal of 51 Lansing St., who was a former star athlete at Mount Carmel High, and Ted Prystal, who now lives in Virginia, and a niece, Carol, who lives in Nashville, Tenn.

Bucky graduated from Holy Family School, and was a communicant of Holy Family Church. Bucky fought as a top-ranked welterweight and middleweight in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was known as "The Terror." He possessed a hair-trigger, left-hand punch, with quick hands and .clever boxing ability, and almost always was the aggressor in his bouts.

Bucky had the distinction of defeating eight former world champions during the peak of his career, although he was never a title holder himself. He defeated Jackie Fields, Young Jack Johnson, Vince Dundee, Freddie Steele and Gorilla Jones. He defeated Jones in five of their

seven bouts.

In his fight with Young Jack Johnson, who was the welterweight champion at the time, Bucky weighed in at 148 pounds, one pound over the limit, so the fight was considered non-title. Johnson weighed in at 147 pounds. Bucky won the 10-round decision before 11,240 fans in Chicago. On three different occasions, Bucky defeated world champions, but each time he

was over the weight limit In 1931 Bucky was feted with a parade of 100 cars that advanced from the five points to the Elks Club on Dill street. There a reception was held in his honor, with hundreds in attendance, and hundreds turned away. The hall couldn’t hold the multitude of fans who showed up to honour Bucky.

Bucky died on June 20 1966 at the age of 58..He brought fame and publicity to the city of Auburn; and he gave boxing everything he had. Bucky is in the Auburn Hall of Fame, but he most certainly deserves to be installed info the Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota.