A “Tex” sized life: the tribulations and trials of George Rickard

Abstract

George “Tex” Rickard was an innovative and accomplished promoter who helped to shape and define professional sport and the urban arena as a sports center. His nickname “Tex” was short for Texas where he had spent what he saw as life-defining years during his childhood. Rickard’s persona, like the state and nickname, was larger-than-life and in his events, he was able to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. Rickard helped to shape and define modern sport marketing and used many techniques that other promoters would only be able to successfully implement decades after Rickard’s death in 1929.

Keywords:

• “Tex” Rickard
• promotion
• entrepreneurship
• Madison Square Garden

Notes

1 On his influence in marketing, see (Seifried and de Wilde, 2014, 452–470).

2 Dempsey, it should noted, always had a separate agent, Jack “Doc” Kearns fighting for Dempsey’s rights.

3 It should be noted, though, that Rickard did stage inter-racial bouts in other weight classes during this time, see (Aycock and Scott 2012, 174–176).