William J. Gibson (1876–1947) was a boxing promoter and manager for

Benny Leonard Benny Leonard (born Benjamin Leiner; April 7, 1896 – April 18, 1947) was a Jewish American professional boxer who held the world lightweight championship for eight years, from 1917 to 1925. Widely considered one of the all-time greats, he was ...

(a former Lightweight champion),

Gene Tunney James Joseph Tunney (May 25, 1897 – November 7, 1978) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1915 to 1928. He held the world heavyweight title from 1926 to 1928, and the American light heavyweight title twice between 1922 and 1 ...

(a former

Heavyweight champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, thou ...

Paulino Uzcudun Paulino Uzcudun Eizmendi (3 May 1899 – 5 July 1985) was a Spanish heavyweight boxer, who is considered to be the greatest heavyweight from Spain. Uzkudun is the Basque spelling of his last name. He was the youngest of nine siblings. In his y ...

, and

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

Louis Kaplan. He was also the owner of the short-lived

New York Brickley Giants The New York Giants (informally known as Brickley's Giants and Brickley's New York Giants) were a professional American football team with the American Professional Football Association (now the National Football League) whose only season played ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. Gibson began his career in boxing as a promoter in

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. He teamed up with Leonard in 1914 and was his manager up until the 1917 lightweight championship. In 1923, Gibson became the manager of Tunney, who would go on to win the heavyweight title. Gibson retired in 1928. Gibson also served as matchmaker and manager at Madison Square Garden for two years. In 1921, Gibson put his financial backing behind

Charles Brickley Charles Edward Brickley (November 24, 1891 – December 28, 1949) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Johns Hopkins University in 1915, at Boston College from 1916 to 1917, and at Fordham Univer ...

, who formed the NFL's New York Brickley Giants for one season in 1921. In 1925, the NFL was in need of a franchise in large city market, that could be used to showcase the league. NFL President,

Joseph Carr Joseph Francis Carr (October 22, 1879 – May 20, 1939) was an American sports executive in American football, baseball, and basketball. He is best known as the president of the National Football League from 1921 until 1939. He was also one of ...

traveled to New York to offer Gibson another franchise. Gibson who lost money heavily on the New York Brickley Giants, refused the offer. However, he referred Carr to his friend,

Tim Mara Timothy James Mara (July 29, 1887 – February 16, 1959) was the founding owner of the New York Giants of the National Football League (NFL).''Wellington, the Maras, the Giants, and the City of New York'', Carlo DeVito, Triumph Books, 2006, pp ...

, who established the modern day New York Giants that year. Gibson died of natural causes on July 21, 1947. He was inducted into the

International Boxing Hall of Fame The modern International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF), located in Canastota, New York, honors boxers, trainers and other contributors to the sport worldwide. Inductees are selected by members of the Boxing Writers Association of America. The I ...

in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Billy 1876 births 1947 deaths American boxing promoters National Football League owners New York Brickley Giants Businesspeople from New York City