Early Days
Boxing tournaments were first held in the
Old Red Gym, and then shifted to the
Stock Pavilion.
1933-1960 The NCAA Years
Unbeaten and untied 1935, 1938, 1939, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947 and 1948
Unbeaten with a single draw: 1933, 1934 and 1949
Eight NCAA team championships
The two most influential men in UW Boxing:
George F. Downer, athletic publicity director for Wisconsin until his death in 1941.
Known as the “father” of intercollegiate boxing at Wisconsin.
He was the first to see the possibilities of boxing as a successful intercollegiate sport at Wisconsin,
and turned his vision into reality when he organized the first university team in 1933.
John J. Walsh, who was the head boxing coach at Wisconsin for 17 years.
Other Choaches
Vern Woodward, Gene Rankin,
Omar Crocker
Another boxer, Woodrow Swancutt NCAA champion in 1939 and 1940 at 155 pounds,
gained world-wide fame as he piloted the super-fortress “Dave’s Dream” in the atom bomb tests
at Bikini.
