MERCANTE, ARTHUR HIGH SCHOOL CLASS PICTURE (1938)

The dean of boxing referees worldwide, Arthur Mercante began his career while serving in the U.S. Navy under Gene Tunney in 1942. He was a fixture at the prestigious New York Golden Gloves tournament for 10 years before embarking on a career in professional boxing. Mercante may be best remembered for being the third man in the ring for some of the sport's classic heavyweight title fights. Mercante counted out Ingemar Johannson when Floyd Patterson became the first man to regain the heavyweight title, he officiated the Fight of the Century when Muhammad Ali met Joe Frazier the first time and presided over George Foreman's first heavyweight title fight when Foreman stopped Frazier in Kingston, Jamaica. Mercante, who has worked on five continents, has refereed over 120 world title fights. That statistic takes on a new dimension considering there was just eight weight classes and one champion per division for much of Mercante's career. Arthur boxed in the 1938 New York Golden Gloves and also attended New York University, where he was a member of the varsity football and swimming teams. Mercante is a member of the Boxing Hall Of Fame. Offered here is an original 1938 Boys High School Class picture which included Arthur Mercante and is from his personal collection.
This is an original photograph on an antique mount. The mount has a break in the lower left corner which does not affect the photograph. There are a couple of cracks in the mount which go into the photo, but no paper loss. Good sharp image. The photograph is 11" x 19."