While working on my podcast episode 119 on Theo Dash Hardeen, I stumbled upon an article that appeared in the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader on June 28, 1928. The article mentions how Hardeen had boxed in that very city 30 years earlier. I had never heard of that. I knew Houdini had a little bit to do with boxing, amateur as it was. Here now was an example of Theo boxing. This would have been the time period between when he stopped working in the Brothers Houdini and before he went to Europe to tour as Hardeen, 1895-1899 time frame.
He would not have gone by the name Hardeen, because it hadn't even been created yet. What he went by I am not sure. But clearly the reporter knew exactly who he was, remembering him vividly.
The photo at the top of the page, also got me thinking. We see a number of people in this imagine, among them on the far lower left is Leonard Hicks, a protege of Houdini. And the upper right is Hardeen. But standing next to Hicks is Willie Ritchie, a light weight prize fighter. This is not the first example of Hardeen or Houdini for that matter in the company of a boxing champ.
Below is the article from the newspaper!
An interesting side note, a relative of Hardeen's, his great grandnephew is also a boxer. https://www.wildabouthoudini.com/2016/08/chris-hardeen-in-ring.html
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