By Roy Billington

On September 14, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, a former soldier from New York, was voted in as the 26th President of the United States of America. Teddy, as he would affectionately be referred to, was perhaps the most influential president in pre-World War times. Behind the grandeur of his illustrious military and political career, Roosevelt had a deep personal passion for boxing.

The fighting career of Theodore Roosevelt was relatively unreported during his lifetime, but in the century following his death, a wealth of evidence has come to the fore. RooseveltÂ’s boxing career began as a child in New York, but his days of fistic glory didnÂ’t truly come until he enrolled in the famed Harvard University, where he initially studied Natural History.

RooseveltÂ’s time at Harvard was fruitful. While it has been widely reported that he was, at best, an average student, his athletic talents really began to blossom. Roosevelt regularly competed in endurance sport endeavors, including marathon ice skating sessions, but he never joined any of the universityÂ’s sports teams. In what was perhaps a precursor to his feature individual successes, Roosevelt preferred solo sporting performances. It was during this time that he began to take boxing seriously, competing as a light-heavyweight where he had mixed results.

On March 22, 1879, Roosevelt competed in the finals of the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard gym Championships against Charles Steadman Hanks, a senior at the university. In what would be his most high profile fight, the future president lost a decision. Controversy surrounded the fight, and after the fact rumors persisted that Hanks landed an illegal blow.

RooseveltÂ’s fighting exploits werenÂ’t limited to the ring, however. According to Fredric Almy, when a bystander made derogatory remarks in front of him, Roosevelt “reached out and laid the mucker flat.”

While some may see later life as a time to slow down, this wasnÂ’t the case for Roosevelt. In his time as the Governor of New York, Roosevelt developed a friendship with boxing phenom John L. Sullivan, and began to invite military aides to his office for impromptu sparring sessions.

RooseveltÂ’s fascination with combat wasnÂ’t limited to boxing. He was also an avid participant in amateur wrestling. Heartbreakingly, during his time as president, Roosevelt was blinded in a sparring session with an artillery officer. This injury prevented the president from competing in wrestling or boxing.

Roosevelt elaborated on his sparring injury in his autobiography:

I had to abandon boxing as well as wrestling, for in one bout a young captain of artillery cross-countered me on the eye, and the blow smashed the little blood vessels. Fortunately it was my left eye, but the sight has been dim ever since, and if it had been the right eye I should have been entirely unable to shoot.Accordingly I thought it better to acknowledge that I had become an elderly man and would have to stop boxing.

Roosevelt, who earned the nickname "The Happy Warrior," self-imposed retirement from combat would be short however, as he would later begin training jiu-jitsu under Japanese legend, Yamashita Yoshiaki. In 1904, Roosevelt trained jiu-jitsu three times a week and when Professor Yamashita left the president, he continued his training with his sons, his private secretary, the Japanese naval attaché, Secretary of War William Howard Taft, and Secretary of the Interior Gifford Pinchot.

When looking back at RooseveltÂ’s life, it is extremely interesting to see he cross trained in both striking and grappling arts. While Roosevelt was most astute in boxing, he was also a capable wrestler and submission grappler.

In a sense, Roosevelt could be viewed as one of the first mixed martial artists.