By Amy O’Hair
In 1930, San Francisco boxer Frankie Campbell died in a bout with Max Baer, who went on to great fame and wealth. The stark truth of that horrible death was subsequently twisted and buried. Author and fellow researcher Catherine Johnson has finally published her thoroughly documented account, Then The World Moved On: The Brutal Truth Behind the Max Baer-Frankie Campbell Fight.
Frankie Campbell had local ties, which is how I got to know Catherine during her research work. Campbell, born Frank Camilli, moved with his Italian-born parents to a little house in Sunnyside in 1910; subsequently the family lived on Diamond Street in Glen Park. Later in the century, Sunnyside barber (and local historian) Ron Davis would tell his patrons about Campbell, as a neighborhood legend, as well as about Frankie’s brother Dolph Camilli, a Major League Baseball player.
Catherine tells the origin story of the Camilli family, and how the two brothers finally escaped their abusive father’s house on Diamond Street. The boys had a rough-and-tumble childhood in a rough-and-tumble town. Each launched himself into a sports career, but Frankie’s highly promising life in boxing was cut short just as he was on the cusp of national greatness. I won’t give away the plot, but Catherine’s work upends the usual account of the tragic fight with Max Baer.
Along the way, this story gives a deep and detailed picture of the development of the sport in San Francisco, which was considered a goldmine of boxing talent in the early twentieth century. Frankie Campbell’s life is a real San Francisco story—from his immigrant roots and his upbringing in working-class neighborhoods, to his golden dreams for renown that were tempered by a surprising humility and an unshakeable integrity. Continue reading “The Truth Behind Frankie Campbell’s Death in the Ring: New Book by Catherine Johnson”