Oscar Gardner

Oscar Gardner (May 19, 1872 – December 25, 1928) was an American bantamweight and featherweight boxer known as the Omaha Kid. He was a top contender for the Featherweight Championship of the World and the Featherweight Champion of America, though he never won any awards or titles; many claim this was due to poor refereeing. He grew up on the east side of the city with older brother Joe, younger brother Eddie (also a boxer), and sister Grace. As a teenager, he and Eddie worked at the Salisbury & Satterlee mattress factory, where many of the workers "engag[ed] in rough and tumble battles... during the lunch hour." At 17, he moved to Sioux City, where he worked as a mattress maker and foreman and was active in the local boxing scene. Gardner was skilled at the knockout and favored 20-25 round fights, which he sometimes fought only two days or three apart. He claimed not to train for matches and both drank and smoked cigars, oftentimes waiting to put out his smoke until right before entering the ring.

On April 7, 1898, Gardner was fighting George Stout in Columbus, Ohio when Stout tripped, fell, or was pushed down. Gardner was brought to court, facing charges of manslaughter and prize-fighting, but was quickly acquitted. In October, he knocked out Sam Kelley after fourteen rounds; earned a TKO against Solly Smith after six rounds the following February; and drew with Martin Flaherty two weeks later. Despite this success, he never won the championship. Gardner retired in 1901 at age 29 and returned to Minneapolis. In 1912, he moved to Washington with a plan to open a fight club in Vancouver, and by 1914 he owned a boxing school in Portland, Oregon. In 1918, Gardner was reportedly back in Minneapolis, this time as a bar owner with his brother Eddie and, according to writer Jack Grace, as a politician, but was in Pittsburgh by 1924. He contracted yellow jaundice in June 1928 but did not respond to treatment and was seriously ill by September. Gardner died on December 25, 1928, in a Minneapolis hospital.

He was inducted into the Minnesota Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012.