*From Sue TL Fox book she was writing: WOMEN’S BOXING: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT!
So who WAS the first female boxer to receive the FIRST-EVER boxing license in the sport? Did it really happen in 1975?
Written and copyrighted by Sue TL Fox/Strictly from reduplicating this research. All Rights Reserved.
In July of 1975, 34-year old Caroline Svendsen, of Virginia City, Nevada, waited anxiously to see if she would be approved a boxing license to fight as a professional boxer. At the time, from what most people knew about the sport, Svendsen’s undertaking to obtain her boxing license was something that no other female had ever done in the history of the sport.
On July 10, 1975, the Nevada Athletic Commission held their monthly meeting that took place at the Frontier Hotel, in Las Vegas. On this day the commission members were set to approve or disapprove Svendsen’s boxing license. The commission also had a report from three physicians to get their medical opinion about possible injuries that Svendsen could possibly incur if she boxed. The also needed to discuss the criteria that would be used if they permitted a female bout. Svendsen, a construction worker and a part-time cocktail waitress had applied for her license just a week before this meeting took place.
Svendsen needed the license for a tentative four-round bout that her manager, Ted Walker was trying to make for her. Walker wanted her to fight on a September 19th boxing card, that was being held in Virginia City, Nevada. (NevadaState Journal).
Upon learning that the commission approved her application for the license that day on July 10th—she was ecstatic and told the news media that she felt like it was Christmas day, and that she was about open up her presents. From this day forward—-Svendsen would be accredited as the first woman in the sport to ever get a boxing license in the United States.
“The first two women ever to be licensed to box professionally in the United States continued workouts Thursday in preparation for a four-round exhibition match in this historic bout” the AP reports stated throughout the nation just one day before her first fight. (midland newspaper)
Source: [The Midland Reporter-Telegram, Friday, September 19, 1975. -3C]
Source: [Nevada State Journal, dated July 10, 1975, Nevada State Journal, page 5, Reno, Nevada]
On September 19, 1975, Svendsen entered the ring for the first time—but surprisingly not in a sanctioned bout, but a scheduled four-round exhibition. Her opponent, Jean Lange, a last-minute replacement who fought Svendsen, was stopped in the first round by KO.
On October 15, 1975, after Svendsen had fought Lange, journalist Gerry Smith of the North Hill News wrote the following: “Caroline Svendsen’s chances are you have never heard of her. Well, neither has Muhammad Ali, until this first woman ever licensed to box professionally in the United States scored a first-round knockout victory over her female adversary, a meat cutter [Jean Lange] from Los Angeles.” And…so–the history was set in stone with not only the example demonstrated for readers in Ms. Smith’s report, but in multitudes of articles that have been circulated throughout the years and to this day, with Svendsen listed as the first-ever female to obtain a boxing license. This very significant “History First” has been well-documented for over 35 years–with apparently never being challenged—until now.
[Source: North Hill News, October 15, 1975, Warrendale, Pennsylvania, page 4]
In 1998, at the time when I was documenting the history on WBAN, I also played a part in spreading the inaccuracy of who had actually received the first boxing license in the history of the sport. I, along with others stated that Caroline Svendsen was the first woman to ever receive a boxing license.
In 2000, I had an opportunity to interview retired boxing promoter Bill Dickson, about Svendsen. Dickson was the original promoter in the 1970’s who was responsible for putting women’s boxing on the map in the state of Nevada in that era of the sport.
Dickson confirmed that Svendsen was managed by Ted Walker, of Carson City, Nevada. Dickson told me that Walker had originally brought up the idea to him about having women boxers on his cards.
Dickson said with dismay, “I have to admit, that I was not crazy about women’s boxing at the beginning.”
Dickson reaffirmed to me that Svendsen getting a boxing license and fighting in Virginia City was the beginning of the women’s boxing in Nevada. According to Dickson, Svendsen received enough public exposure to get other women interested in the sport.
In fact, I knew what Dickson was saying firsthand, as Svendsen is the very reason why I had became a professional boxer. I saw Svendsen’s second fight with Jean Lange on the local news, when she was fighting at the ExpoCenter, in Portland, Oregon in October of 1975, in the “First-ever” female bout that took place in the state of Oregon.
Unfortunately—-Along with this inaccurate historical marker for the sport of who really received the first boxing license – I began to unravel other inaccuracies in the history of the sport.
So then…who WAS the first female in the history of the sport to receive a boxing license?
When I began to question the accuracy of the first woman to ever receive a boxing license, I first made contact with some of the 1940-1960’s female boxers. I began to see that there may be a problem with giving credit to Svendsen for being the first female to receive a license. After speaking with some of the past boxers, that included Phyllis Kugler and Barbara Buttrick, I felt there may be a possibility that it could have actually happened much earlier in the sport.
But in early 2011, WBAN received an interesting email from a man in California who wanted to know if I would be interested in buying some original documents and photographs of the past 1920’s female boxer, Jeanne La Mar (AKA: Jean La mar, The Countess Jeanne La Mar, The Countess, Jeanne Vina Lamar.), of France.
In the set of documents that this man from California sent to me—there was a particular document of interest. If, indeed, the document was authentic—and it was a true original application filled out by La Mar, then we were at least able to bring back a boxer in 1922 who had attempted to apply for a boxing license.
The document in question was an application for a New York boxing license. The heading of the form stated the following, “New York State Athletic Commission License Committee. Chapter 714, Laws of 1921. (Form 9) 4-30-21-3000. Application for Boxer’s License, Fee $5.00. La Mar filled out the application on June 22, 1922, with her signature, Jeanne La Mar, 5 West 74th Street., age 26, date of birth, April 14, 1896. Normal weight: 125. Ring weight: 112-118. Place of birth: Paris, Married: Yes, Citizen: American. Name and address of manager: under own management.
After researching old newspaper articles to substantiate the application for a boxing license by La Mar, I found the following…
In an April 13, 1923, an article in the Sandusky Register, with headliner, “Girl Boxers Must Beat Boxing Officials Before they can Battle in Ring”. La Mar wanted to fight Ida Schnall on May 12, 1923. Schnall at the time was an all-around star athletic who had previously challenged La Mar to a fight for the featherweight world championship.
“Jeanne La Mar of Pittsburgh and Ida Schnall of Brooklyn wanted to fight on May 12. But before they can meet in the ring it is expected that they’ll run into opposition aplenty with the New York State Boxing Commission. Officially the commission has given no ruling on the proposed bout. On good authority, however, it is stated that a permit for a ring battle between the two girls will be denied on the grounds that it would be detrimental to boxing, ” stated in the Sandusky Register.
An extensive research project conducted by retired police officer by Terry Graham and Sarah Jo Rausch on the life of La Mar published on WBAN on September 26, 2005, Graham wrote, ” Her [La Mar] boxing career back east never really had a chance to get started, she was unable to get a boxing license in New York.”
[Source: WBAN, Women Boxing Archive Network, September 26, 2005, author Terry Graham and Sarah Jo Rausch, URL: http://www.womenboxing.com/NEWS2005/news092605lamarflashfrompast.htm]
But…during my research on La Mar, I uncovered what I believe is the first boxing license ever given to a female boxer. In the Charleston Daily Mail Newspaper, dated September 23, 1923, page six, they wrote the following, “Jeanne La Mar, female bantamweight granted a license to box in New Jersey, is still waiting for her challenges to various other women to accept.”
The Denton Record-Chronicle, dated July 10, 1923, displays a dressed-up La Mar looking down at her New Jersey License, headlined with, “She Gets License to Fight.” Under the photo it’s quoted, “It isn’t every woman that has a license to fight—and it isn’t every woman that needs one. Miss Jeanne LA Mar claims the female bantam and featherweight titles of the world. Here she is with the first boxing license issued to a woman by New Jersey.”
