| Variations of Name | William Lawrence Stribling Jr |
| Biography | William Lawrence Stribling Jr, known as Young Stribling, was an American professional boxer in the Heavyweight division. He was the elder brother of fellow boxer Herbert "Baby" Stribling.
Young Stribling spent most of his childhood in show business with his parents and a younger brother. His parents were devout Christians from rural southwest Georgia. In 1911, Stribling's family had come to Spokane on the Sullivan and Considine Vaudeville Circuit with an acrobatic act called the "Four Novelty Grahams." Ma was his trainer, donning gloves and sparring with him in the ring. Pa was his manager and promoter.
The Stribling family traveled widely as vaudeville performers with a wholesome family act that included gymnastics and balancing acts and ended with a brief boxing match between four-year-old "Strib" and his two-year-old brother, "Baby" Stribling. Backstage between acts, the Striblings read the Bible together and prayed before each performance, just as "Strib" later prayed before each fight when he became a professional boxer.
Stribling turned professional in 1921. While still in high school, Stribling fought 75 professional bouts. After gaining favorable media attention for his first major fight, a bout which he tied with champion Mike McTigue from Ireland, "Strib" was besieged by offers to box all over the United States, Europe, South America, and Africa. People wanted to see the young prodigy of the boxing ring in person during those days before television. "Strib's" most successful year was 1925 when the family purchased a bus and toured coast-to-coast to give fans in smaller towns an opportunity to see a popular boxer in exhibition bouts.
In 1929, "Strib" made his first European tour where he lost by a foul to a future world heavyweight champion Primo Carnera in London and a month later defeated him in Paris in a rematch. Later in 1930, he made a second European tour, and this time defeated the champions of Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Belgium.
"Strib" fought a total of 253 recorded bouts, losing only 13. He was knocked out only once, and it was a technical KO during the final round with Germany's Max Schmeling in 1931. He set records, too, including most fights by a heavyweight, most fights by a heavyweight in a single year (he fought 55), most knockouts by a heavyweight (129), and fewest times knocked out. Champion boxer Jim Corbett called him "the best heavyweight fighter for his pounds that ever lived." Setting himself at odds with boxing promoters of the 1920s, "Strib" decried the violence and cruelty associated with professional boxing, and he saw himself as a "scientific" pugilist who preferred to win over his opponent on points rather than knockouts.
He died on October 3, 1933, after a motorcycle/automobile accident when he was just 28. |