Max Baer

Maximilian Adelbert Baer (February 11, 1909 – November 21, 1959) was an American professional boxer and the world heavyweight champion from June 14, 1934, to June 13, 1935. He was known in his time as the Livermore Larupper and Madcap Maxie. Two of his fights (a 1933 win over Max Schmeling and a 1935 loss to James J. Braddock) were rated Fight of the Year by The Ring magazine. Baer was also a boxing referee, and had occasional roles on film or television. He was the brother of heavyweight boxing contender Buddy Baer and father of actor Max Baer Jr. Baer is rated #22 on The Ring magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time. Early life Baer was born on February 11, 1909, in Omaha, Nebraska, to Jacob Baer (1875–1938) and Dora Bales (1877–1938). His father was the son of Aschill Baer and Fannie Fischel, who were Jewish immigrants from Alsace-Lorraine and Bohemia respectively; his mother was of Scottish descent. His elder sister was Frances May Baer (1905–1991), his younger sister was Bernice Jeanette Baer (1911–1987), his younger brother was boxer-turned-actor Jacob Henry Baer, better known as Buddy Baer (1915–1986), and his adopted brother was August "Augie" Baer. For a while Jacob Baer worked for the Graden Mercantile Company as the manager of their meat-packing plant in Durango, Colorado. Move to California In May 1922, tired of the winters that aggravated Frances' rheumatic fever and Jacob's high blood pressure, the Baers drove to the milder climate on the West Coast, where Dora's sister lived in Alameda, California. Jacob's expertise in the meat business led to numerous job offers in the San Francisco Bay Area. While living in Hayward, Max took his first job as a delivery boy for John Lee Wilbur, who ran a grocery store and bought meat from Jacob. The Baers lived in the Northern Californian towns of Hayward, San Leandro and Galt before moving to Livermore in 1926. Livermore was ranch and cowboy country, surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of open land on which large cattle herds grazed and provided fresh meat to the local area. In 1928, Jacob leased the Twin Oaks Ranch in Murray Township, where he raised more than 2,000 hogs and worked with daughter Frances' husband, Louis Santucci.