Historic Article: Pat Emerick talks about her fight in 1949 Against JoAnn Hagen for a Championship Boxing Title

Full Copyrights:  Women’s Titlists, Circa 1949
The Press-Courier – April 12, 1972, page 8

In an article published on April 12, 1972, a woman with 10 children talks about her past boxing experience and claim that she was a former boxing champion from a November 1949 fight.  Her name was Mrs. Lancaster, of Lancaster, Tennessee.  When this article was published she was 42 years old.

Copyrights: AP Press – posted for Historical purposes only.

Mrs. Lancaster [fight name: Pat Emerick] talks about her boxing career that began when she was a 19 year old ticket seller, in South Bend, Indiana.  She said that in 1948, she had decided to get into boxing, at a suggesion of a promoter.  She said that she trained with a punching bag, sparring and running five miles a day along a railroad track near the University of Notre Dame.

On her boxing record, she claimed that she was 18-1 with her first fight as a pro resulted in a loss.   She said that the title match she had in November of 1949, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, she fought against  (the now deceased) Joann Hagen, 5’7″, 150 lbs.

Her first fight turned out to be the only one she lost in 18 tries.

The title match in November of 1949 at Council Bluffs, Iowa, against the woman who held the women’s championship, 5’7″  150 lb. Joann Hagen.  She was 5’4, 124 lbs.

Mrs. Lancaster Described her fight as follows: “I went at her with a combination attack—left jabs to the head and hard rights to the body.  Girls can be beaten with body punches.  After three rounds of all the punches I could throw, Miss Hagen was finished; couldn’t answer the bell for the fourth round.  They gave me the championship on a TKO.”

Mrs. Lancaster ran into a few problems not normally encountered by boxers of the opposite sex.  Once she said the referee stepped between her and the opponent (who was biting) each time she got ready to deliver a telling blow.  “I found out the referee was kind of sweet on her, ” Mrs. Lancaster said.

Even though men were among her sparring partners, Mrs. Lancaster said, “We were not tough like men, and we never claimed to be.”

Her fights were in Indiana, Nebraska, and Iowa.  The girl boxers didn’t make much money.  Her take in the title fight was $250, before deductions.

Mrs. Lancaster’s ring career ended in September 1950, when I was seriously injured in an auto accident in Michigan City, Indiana.

“My doctor said I had survived only because of my excellent condition,” she said.

Mrs. Lancaster refused permission for a leg amputation and after seven operations and 13 months in hospitals, walks with a left leg she can’t bend.

Pat Emerick (aka: Mrs. Lancaster) was inducted into the International Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame in 2019, in Brisbane, California.  www.iwbhf.com for more information and photos.