Chick Wergeles

Chick Wergeles (May 15, 1893 – April 15, 1972) was an American sports promoter and boxing manager who managed Beau Jack and Rocky Marciano.

Early life Charles Wergeles was born on May 15, 1893. His early years were spent as a Jewish child in an Irish section of the Lower East Side.

Beyond his managerial role, Wergeles impressed promoters with his ability to secure newspaper features for his boxers by offering inside stories on the fight game in exchange for space. As the years went by, this allowed him to develop personal connections with leading New York sports page figures like Bill Corum, Paul Gallico, Dan Parker, Grantland Rice, Wilbur Wood, Joe Williams, and others. Paid $70 by Mara, he promoted Sunday home games at the Polo Grounds. He was with the professional football franchise when Ned Irish was first hired for one of the sports team's public relations positions. When Wergeles asked Irish how he had done after the meeting, he remarked, "I not only got the job, but I'm your boss now."

When C. C. Pyle established the New York Yankees in 1926, he asked Wergeles to promote the new football team.

He started working on the original publicity staff of the Roosevelt Raceway when the race track first opened in 1940. Beau Jack was a former shoeshine boy at Augusta National Golf Club. Wergeles was soon connected with Bowman Milligan, Beau's guardian and steward of the Augusta National clubhouse. He wanted to manage and arrange a fight in New York for Jack. Chick Wergeles used the story of the Twenty Millionaires Club to build hype, though it was actually 23 Augusta National members including Bobby Jones who pitched in $25 each to support Jack's career. In just 18 months, Wergeles guided Beau Jack from his August 1941 debut in New York to a world lightweight title fight against Tippy Larkin at Madison Square Garden. Under their arrangement, Chick split each fight purse from Mike Jacobs, sending half to a trust for Beau Jack in Atlanta and placing his own share—after expenses—into another trust, giving Beau $5 spending money after every fight. By late 1942, Wergeles had paid back the Augusta National syndicate, and Beau Jack had $10,000 secured in a trust fund.

He maintained his positions promoting pro football and basketball. Wergeles entered his eighth season alongside Ned Irish in 1942, the man behind the New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden basketball.

Chick Wergeles' management career paused in 1944 when the Second World War kept Beau Jack out of the ring for more than a year.

Chick became assistant manager to Rocky Marciano around 1952 after Al Weill brought him in. Wergeles owned a 10% interest in Marciano. He was brought in to smooth over Weill's relations with the nation's sportswriters. Representing Marciano in October 1951, Chick Wergeles and Weil finalized a $250,000 agreement with Toots Mondt for refereeing, sparring, and appearances booked by the Manhattan Booking Agency president. When Marciano fought Jersey Joe Walcott, he earned $900,000 and Wergeles received a cut of $90,000. Wergeles called padded headgear a great innovation when it appeared in the early 1950s, but that praise faded after Gene Smith knocked out his fighter Tommy Bell.

For nearly a decade, from 1942 to 1951, Chick Wergeles managed Beau Jack’s boxing career. Following Beau Jack's May 1951 loss to Gil Turner, he recommended retirement for his fighter, whose contract ran out on October 14. In early 1955, Wergeles made an attempt to prevent a retired Beau Jack from fighting again, pointing to a contract signed in 1952 after news broke of a comeback fight planned with Eddie Green in Columbia, South Carolina.

In the 1960s, he had spent years as the advance man for the Harlem Globetrotters under Abe Saperstein.

Death Charles "Chick" Wergeles died on April 15, 1972, at St. John's Hospital in Yonkers, New York, United States.