“Rip” Blevins Papers

No information has been located regarding Mr. Blevins.

Born 15 October 1901 in Russia, Louis Kaplan made a career of boxing in the early 20th century. He was the world Featherweight Champion for 1925. He died in Norwich, CT on 26 October 1970.



Perry Hale, All American Fullback in 1900 (Yale University), went on to coach at Ohio State University (1902-1903).

Jack Blott played center for the University of Michigan. He later went on to coach for the team.

Ed Walsh ("Big Ed") was a pitcher and, later, manager for the Chicago White Sox.

Howard Drew participated in the 1912 Olympic games in Stockholm and held the world record for the 100- and 220-yard dashes in 1914. During World War I, Drew was a seargent in the Supply Company, 809th Pioneer Infantry Regiment, and the Eighty-Eight Division of the U.S. Army. After the War, Drew finished Law school at Drake University and passed the Connecticut State Bar exam in 1920. Drew became assistant clerk and a Judge in the city of Hartford, and was elected to Justice of the Peace several times during the 1940s. All of these positions were firsts for a Black man in the state of Connecticut. Howard Drew died in February 1957.

Christopher Battalino ("Bat") was born in Hartford, CT, in 1908. Christopher quit Brown School after the fifth grade to work in a tobacco factory. He started his boxing career in amateur bouts and went all the way to the national amateur featherweight championship before he turned pro in 1927. He won the world professional championship as a featherweight from Frenchman Andre Routis in September 1929 at the Velodrome in East Hartford, Connecticut. "Bat" won 58 of 88 professional fights, his only knockout defeat coming at the hands of Billy Petrolle in New York in 1932. He retired from the ring in 1940. He died in Hartford on July 25, 1977.

Commodore Phelps Ingersoll, of the National Outboard Association and first president of the American Boat and Yacht Council, was president of Wilcox Crittenden & Company, a manufacturer of marine hardware in Middletown, Connecticut.

Arthur Rudolph was the Tennis professional at the Hartford Golf Club.

Harold D. Drew ("Spud"), football coach at the University of Alabama from 1947-1954.

Commodore Ralph B. Britton of the American Canoe Association.