By John F. McKenna (McJack): Jones called Beau aside one day and told him that he had collected $2,500 from fellow members at Augusta National to help him prepare for a career in boxing. The club owner and sportswriter Grantland Rice were two of the people donating money for Jack.
Beau did some caddying while he trained for his first pro fight.
Beau Jack had qualities that no trainer can teach. Heart, guts and quick hands that seemed to speed up as the fight progressed. He was a promoters and a trainers dream come true.
“Beau Jack was an action packed fighter and he threw punches non stop,” says Nigel Collins – editor in chief of The Ring. Nigel also adds that “Jack became an iconic figure.” In his first two years Beau Jack achieved a record of twenty seven wins, four losses and two draws. On December 18, 1942 Jack knocked out Tippy Larkin to win the Lightweight Championship of the World. Three years prior Beau Jack had been a shoe shine boy, now he was at the very pinnacle of fistic success.
Beau Jack became the happy go lucky mascot of Bobby Jones and his friends. His outlandish costume consisted of a yellow check coat, peg top pants, pork pie hat, purple tie and yellow shoes. He was a high energy character and lots of fun to be around. His colorful manager Chick Wergeles stated that Beau Jack loved to fight whether there was money involved or not. The Madison Square Garden fight crowd quickly adopted Jack as one of their own. Beau was quoted as saying that the fight crowd loved him because “They found out that I fight every second of every round and that I never give up!” He headlined a record 21 fight cards at Madison Square Garden and he would bring sellout crowds to their feet with flurries of jabs, right hooks and an occasional bolo punch.
Boxing historian Bert Sugar is quoted as saying that “Beau Jack was a crowd pleaser without equal-even more than Ali.” Sugar went on to say that “Beau Jack was tremendously popular with fans and he was good for other fighters too.”
His drawing power made a lot of money for other fighters. White fighters would routinely duck black fighters unless the fix was in, but every fighter wanted to fight Beau Jack because they would make more money fighting him.