Pioneer female boxer, Pat
Emerick [Pat Lancaster Landreth], of Tennessee, now 88 years old, talked
about her past boxing experience where she was a former boxing champion
from a November 1949 fight.
Pat began her boxing career when she was a 19 year old ticket seller, in
South Bend, Indiana. She said that in 1948, she had decided to get into
boxing, at a suggestion by a promoter. She said that she trained with a
punching bag, sparring and running five minutes a day along a railroad
track near the University of Notre Dame.
Her boxing record was 18-1 with her first fight as a pro resulted in a
loss. She said that the title match she had in November of 1949, at
Council Bluffs, Iowa, she had fought against (the now deceased) Joann
Hagen, 5'7", 150 lbs, our 2014 International Women's Boxing Hall of Fame
inductee.
Pat described her fight as follows: "I went at her with a combination
attack--left jabs to the head and hard rights to the body. Girls can be
beaten with body punches. After three rounds of all the punches I could
throw, Miss Hagen was finished; couldn't answer the bell for the fourth
round. They gave me the championship on a TKO." Pat won the Ladies World
Boxing Association championship title.
Pat ran into a few problems not normally encountered by boxers of the
opposite sex. Once she said the referee stepped between her and the
opponent (who was biting) each time she got ready to deliver a telling
blow. "I found out the referee was kind of sweet on her," said Pat.
Her fights were in Indiana, Nebraska, and Iowa. The pioneer boxers of
her time, did not make much money and it was for the love of the boxing
that kept many in the sport. She earned $250 for her title fight with
Hagen, and that was before the deduction!
Unfortunately due to a tragic accident, Pat Emerick's boxing career
would be short lived, when in September of 1950, at the age of 20, she
was seriously injured in a vehicle accident.
Pat said, "My doctor said I had survived only because of my excellent
condition." She had refused permission for a leg amputation and
after seven operations and 13 months in hospitals, walks with a left leg
she cannot bend.
Pat gave birth to 11 children, and inherited four stepchildren. Pat
Emerick is one of the top female pioneer boxers in the sport today!
