Jess McMahon

Roderick James "Jess" McMahon (May 26, 1882 – November 22, 1954) was an American professional wrestling and professional boxing promoter, and the patriarch of the McMahon family. McMahon was the founder of professional wrestling promotion, Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the precursor to current day WWE along with Toots Mondt. McMahon's son, Vincent James McMahon, would later take over and found the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) (today known as WWE)

Early life

Roderick James McMahon was born May 26, 1882, to hotel owners Roderick (born 1844) and Elizabeth McMahon (born 1846) from Galway. His parents had recently moved from Ireland to New York City. He and his siblings Lauretta (born 1876), Catharine (born 1878) and Edward (born 1880) attended Manhattan College. Roderick graduated with a commercial diploma at the age of 17. The McMahon brothers showed a higher interest in sports than in a banking career.

Career

By 1909, the McMahon brothers were managing partners of the Olympic Athletic Club and bookers at the Empire and St. Nichols Athletic Clubs, located in Harlem. Because of a loss of public interest in boxing, the two McMahons expanded their affairs in 1911, founding the New York Lincoln Giants, a black baseball team, which played at Olympic Field in Harlem. With a team that included five of the best black players in the nation (who the McMahons recruited away from teams in Chicago and Philadelphia), the Lincoln Giants dominated black and white opponents for three seasons. In 1914, financial difficulties forced them to sell the team; however, they retained the contracts of many of the players, and for three more years they operated another team, the Lincoln Stars, using Lenox Oval on 145th Street as a home field. Touring with the squad, McMahon and his brother ventured to Havana, Cuba, in 1915, where they co-promoted the 45-round fight between Jess Willard and then-champion Jack Johnson.