A LOOK AT “THE NEBRASKA WILDCAT”
By Roger Zotti
Ace Hudkins was a blond thunderbolt in his heyday….His one thought was to get at his opponent and tear him to pieces. Ace fought as a lightweight and middleweight and, though never a champion, he could lick 99 percent of the guys who thought they were champions. [He] probably drew more money in a year than all the present champions put together, bar Joe Louis.
Damon Runyon
It’s Cinematic What Kristine Sader hopes readers take from her intriguing book Ace Hudkins: Boxing with the Nebraska Wildcat is, she told the International Boxing Research Organization Journal, “an appreciation for the time, the 1920s, and for the man, Ace Hudkins. I wanted it to be an enjoyable book, almost like a scrapbook. Fun and informative.”
Kristine explained that “I tried to think cinematically while I was writing the book. I would ask myself, ‘How would this scene look in a movie?’” (For me, reading Kristine’s book was like seeing a documentary unfold with each turn of the page. Her cinema technique worked!)
She cited documentarian Ken Burns as “a terrific influence in the way he presents history in an entertaining way, and that movies like Seabiscuit and Cinderella Man influenced my book, too, and I believe movies like Hooper will influence the next book I am writing, which is a continuation of the Hudkins brothers’ work in Hollywood providing stuntmen, horses, wagons, and wranglers for movies.
About twenty or so years ago, Kristine said, “the seeds of this book were planted. That was when I was out to dinner with my Dad, and I told him that his family’s stories sounded like they would make a great book. They were such great characters and had such a large part in movies and early westerns on TV.”
His answer: “’Well, maybe you should write it.’ It took me time to make it a priority. Slowly I started having interviews with people such as Gene LeBell (wrestler, stuntman, and actor in Raging Bull and Rocky, among many other projects). I include portions of Mr. LeBell’s interview in my first book, and I am also including portions in the second book on which I am currently working.”
Kristine added: “I chatted with my cousin Rich Brehm (Head Wrangler on Wagon Train who worked on Around The World In Eighty Days, and did transportation for Scarface, among many other projects), and then Robert Fuller (Laramie and Wagon Train actor). I later talked with Clint Walker (Cheyenne), James Drury (The Virginian) and other greats of the time whose interviews will be included in the second book.
“I was making progress when my dad passed in 2013, and at first it was hard to get back into writing the book, but I found renewed determination when I decided to write it as a tribute to my Dad’s family and to my Dad himself.”
Ace, the Challenge, and Learning Ace Hudkins was Kristine’s great-uncle. He was “a well-known boxer during the 1920’s who,” she wrote, “worked his way up to the top of the boxing world and knew many interesting and famous Hollywood personalities. How did he get from Lincoln, Nebraska, to the big time in Hollywood? What did it take? I think it is a story about family, brotherhood, and, well, the American Dream coming true.”
As she wrote her book—which contains “anecdotes about people such as Charles Lindbergh and Rudolph Valentino, who were included in the varied list of Ace’s friends and acquaintances”—Kristine learned “that writing isn’t talking about writing. Writing is writing. ‘A writer, writes.’ “Billy Crystal said that in Throw Mama From The Train, and it’s true! It really means if you want to write, it takes sitting down and writing.
“You may not always be inspired,” she continued, “and it might get tiring, especially toward the end, but a book will never be finished unless someone finishes writing it. That might mean it is never as good as you would like it to be. Sometimes that means just stopping and writing the end.”
Stephen King is one writer who influenced Kristine. “It’s not because my book is scary,” she said, “although the image of Ace coming at opponents haunted many of them for years. I am influenced by King because of his craft. He is a grand storyteller and that is what I want to do . . . I LOVED the way he included song lyrics in his books when I first started reading them in middle school. If I could get the rights I would include many more song lyrics in my book, as I think they help to set the time, place, mood and tone.”
Many other writers have influenced Kristine, too, but “I am most influenced by movies,” she said. “Though the book is about a boxer in the 1920s and in honor of my Dad, as I said, I tried to write it like a movie. If you like Rocky, Chicago, or Cinderella Man, I think you will like this book, which I hope comes off as entertaining. Please keep up with me on Facebook, Twitter, or my website (https://www.kristinesaderwriter.com/).
The Book Kristine’s lively coverage of Ace’s fights with Ruby Goldstein and Mickey Walker are among the highlights of Ace Hudkins: Boxing With The Nebraska Wildcat. Against the highly regarded, hard-hitting, undefeated Goldstein, who later became one of boxing’s greatest referees, Ace was a 4-1 underdog. Though floored in the opening round, in round four Ace connected. Mike Silver, in Stars in the Ring: Jewish Champions in the Golden Age of Boxing, put it like this: “Goldstein never saw the sweeping left hook that landed on the point of his chin, [and] he was counted out for the first time in his career.”
(The bout was scheduled for six rounds because both fighters were under twenty-one years of age. The venue was Brooklyn’s Coney Island Stadium, the year 1926. The twenty-year-old Hudkins was two years older than Goldstein.)
Ace fought middleweight champion Mickey Walker twice, and in their first fight—which took place at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, in 1928, with a large crowd in attendance—Walker won the decision. So disputed was the verdict, however, that Ace was soon known as the uncrowned middleweight champion. (Kristine quotes a clipping from Ace’s scrapbook: “Whenever you see ten or fifteen thousand fans say the decision was ‘rotten,’ put it down as being just that and nothing else.”)
Their second fight took place in 1929, at Wrigley Field, Los Angeles, and Walker, who perhaps underrated Ace the first time they fought, won a clear-cut decision.
Ace stopped fighting in 1932 and according to boxrec.com compiled a record of 64-16-12 (25 KOs) during his ten-year boxing career.
In retirement Ace still had some of the “wildcat” in his bones: His everyday existence was filled with ups and downs, but Kristine believes that “In the later part of [his] life, he had settled down tremendously. This could be attributed to age and maturity but, then again, this author like to think that it was also due to the calming influence of Mildred Herron, Ace’s true love . . . Mildred doted on Ace and her love calmed him down . . . No more did he feel the need to take risks and drive intoxicated or get into bar fights. He didn’t have to be ‘The Wildcat’ 24 hours a day.” He passed away April 18, 1973
And, yes, Kristine said, “There are many more stories to be told about Ace—and they will be.”
A member of the Connecticut Boxing Hall of Fame Induction Committee, Roger Zotti is a regular contributor to the IBRO Journal. He’s the author of two books about boxing, Friday Night World and The Proper Pugilist. Email him at rogerzotti@aol.com