[Rocco Del Sesto]

Ran across mention of this referee several times looking through papers for a couple 1940s fighters and decided to see what I could find about him. Some Info on actually is in BoxRec and I've put in his Bio. I've attached the TXT you can download and put into the Memo/RefereesNotes folder.Also found a couple photos in the paper. I seen a couple posted some time back in the Referee Photos thread.

Kennedy's settings I used....to say though I don't really understand these ratings a lot on how to apply.
Judgement: 5 skimming through articles he appeared to be a pretty well respected referee and well known and used in California.
Fouls: Strict, Again a little bit of looking through some fight accounts not so much record of handing out fouls but he did not hesitate to stop a fight for some reason.
Stoppage: Early, Seeing a number of early to mid round stoppages by Kennedy.

Rocco

Lt. Jack Kennedy - Referee 1920s - 1940s
From BoxRec:
Lt. Jack Kennedy
Nationality: US American
Birthplace: Allentown, PA
Birthdate: 1889
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Died: 1948-06-17

Lt. John F (Jack) Kennedy was a boxing referee of the 1920s thru 1940s (BoxRec says only 1930s but there are newspaper articles on boxing matches in the 1940s he referee'd. BoxRec account says he was a lieutenant in the United States Navy. Some newspaper articles refer to him by Lt. Jack.A short death announcement found in the Santa Maria Times, CA on 6/18/48 said said Kennedy retired from the navy as a captain.Mentions he died in his home the day before of a heart ailment.

The BoxRec article on Kennedy notes he moved to Los Angeles in 1919 from Allentown, PA and he spent 37 years in the Navy.He reached the rank of Captain in the Navy.A short article announcing his death in the 6/18/48 edition of the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News, Hollywood, mentioned Kennedy started boxing in the 1920s while stationed at San Diego.

In the 12/8/47 edition of The Boston Globe, an article titled, "Boxing Biggest Mystery in Sports; Point System of Scoring Proves It", discussed as the title suggests. An insteresting part of that article, the article's author, Harold Kaese, discusses comments from Johnny Buckley, manager of boxer Red Priest who was beaten recently in a fight in Chicago, by a 52-48 score, saying that if rounds counted, Priest would have won. Buckley felt fighters should be allowed to know where they stood in a fight and Buckley mentions "he recalled a California referee, Jack Kennedy as an example." "Kennedy at the end of the eighth round would look at one fighter and hold up maybe five fingers, meaning he had won five rounds. He'd turn to the other and hold up three, meaning he had to win the last two rounds to have a chance."

Photos are from the 2/23/33 edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal and the Oakland Tribune at the end of the welterweight championship fight between Jackie Fields and Young Corbett III. The photo caption and the article in the paper place the referee as Jack Kennedy. The fight was in San Francisco. A pre-fight review in The Fresno Bee The Republican, Fresno, CA of the Corbett III vs Fields fight, mentions in it that the referee of the fight would be "Lieutenant Jack Kennedy, U.S.N." So confirming this photo is this Jack Kennedy.

The other photo form the 7/23/35 edition of The Sacramento Bee of Jack Kennedy when Kennedy was due to arrive in Sacramento to officiate a fight between Young Tommy and Pablo Dano.