Jimmy Duffy ’18

Duffy, whose real name was Hyman Gold, started boxing while a student at Tech. He changed his name to “Oakland” Jimmy Duffy to appeal to Irish fight fans and because of the anti-Semitism of the times. He became Oakland’s first boxing champion when he won the Pacific Coast welterweight championship in 1922. His overall record as a fighter was 115 wins, 26 losses, and 26 draws, including a win over world light welterweight champion Pinky Mitchell in a non-title bout in 1925. He is a member of the Jewish Boxers Hall of Fame. He died in 1979 at age 78.