21 Facts About Sammy Luftspring

Sammy Luftspring was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.

Sammy Luftspring was born in May 1916 to Jewish parents of Polish descent and raised in St John's Ward, a low class residential area of Toronto that was home to both Jewish and Italian immigrants.

Sammy Luftspring's father attempted to make a living as a bootlegger prior to prohibition, and the family struggled to raise six children under difficult circumstances.

Sammy Luftspring began his boxing career in 1932 out of Brunswick Talmud Torah, a local Toronto Jewish community and recreational centre.

Sammy Luftspring was named to Canada's Olympic team for the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Sammy Luftspring made his views on the subject public in a letter to the Toronto Globe.

Sammy Luftspring even went as far as to say that "the German government would exterminate Jews if they had the opportunity".

Sammy Luftspring, disappointed at not having a chance to compete, returned to Toronto.

Sammy Luftspring began to box professionally in the fall of 1936.

Sammy Luftspring lost to Wallace in a 10-round decision at Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens.

Sammy Luftspring married his wife Elsie in 1938 at Toronto's McCaul Street synagogue.

In 1938, Sammy Luftspring knocked out Frank Genovese before a Toronto crowd of 10,000 in the 13th of 15 rounds to win the Canadian welterweight championship.

Genovese and Sammy Luftspring's rivalry was extremely competitive and one of the dominant story lines of Toronto boxing in the late 1930s.

Sammy Luftspring was offered a chance to fight world champion Henry Armstrong in 1940.

Sammy Luftspring lost to Greek American boxer Steve Makamos, a Middleweight contender, on February 14,1940, in a ten-round split decision in Toronto.

The injury forced Sammy Luftspring to quit boxing and ended his contention for the world welterweight title.

Sammy Luftspring became a taxicab driver and then a representative for a liquor company.

Sammy Luftspring began refereeing on occasion at the end of his boxing career, and within five years finally established himself as a respected Toronto referee who would eventually oversee 2,000 bouts.

Sammy Luftspring helped to host and operate the club, which had its peak years in the 1950s and 1960s, while simultaneously working as a referee.

Sammy Luftspring subsequently ran other nightclubs such as the Tropicana.

Sammy Luftspring was buried at the Interment Slipia Synagogue Section of Dawes Road Cemetery in Toronto.