“Tiger” Ted Lowry passed away last Monday, June 14th at 90 years old.
Ted Lowry’s boxing career began in 1940, when he was 18-years-old, and ended in 1955. (He reportedly knocked out three opponents in one night.) He is the only fighter to twice last the ten-round distance with undefeated heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano. During World War II, which “interrupted” his boxing career, Lowry was a member of the all-Black 555th Parachute Battalion–which became known as the “Triple Nickles.”
Ted did not get the breaks he deserved during his lengthy career. The fact that he never fought in Madison Square Garden says it all. But he was never bitter. The only time he ever came close to an expression of anger was when he recalled an experience in the Army while assigned to a base in the Southwest that also housed German prisoners of war. The busses that ferried soldiers and prisoners around the base required black soldiers to sit in the back but allowed the German POWs to sit up front.
He had 144 pro fights, fought Marciano in 1949 & 1950. See stats at> BoxRec
