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Hi all - Douglas Yeo, former trombonist with the Boston Symphony, and a good friend, is researching the life of John M. Kuhn, who played Sousaphone with many of the great concert bands, including Sousa's.

We happened upon a photo showing Kuhn helping Jack Dempsey play an upright bell Sousaphone, but we are not aware of the source of the photograph, or the context. All we had was a date - 1927.

Do any of you happen to know? I told Doug I would send this out to the tuba chat rooms I frequent. Thanks for any help you can provide!

I put it up in a boxing forum and will report back if anything comes of it.

-T. J.

T. J. Ricer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 30, 2022 3:24 pm I put it up in a boxing forum and will report back if anything comes of it.

-T. J.

Thanks so much! What we have learned so far is that Dempsey set up a training camp in Ojai, CA, called Soper's Ranch. Since the photo has a handwritten note (vertically on the side) saying "Dempsey Camp," we're guessing that the photo is at that location. But why Kuhn and whatever band he was with make the trip up that way is still not clear - although there was tons of publicity about Dempsey's Camp, as he prepared to fight again.

A quick Google search suggests that, if it was 1927, he was either preparing to fight Jack Sharkey on July 21st or preparing to attempt to regain the heavyweight championship from Gene Tunney September 22. He beat Sharkey, but again lost to Tunney (to whom he had lost the title in September of 1926) and subsequently retired.