Heritage \ People \

George Henry Lavigne (1869 - 1928)
Aka: "Kid Lavigne", "Saginaw Kid." - World Lightweight Champion from 1896 to 1899.
by Marvin Kusmierz (June 2005)

LAVENE (Lavigne) - 1880 Michigan Census - Bay City
Name	Relation	Gender	Age	Birth	Occupation
John	Self	Male	49	CAN	Work saw mill
Agnes	Wife	Femaile	36	CAN	Keep house
William	Son	Male	15	CAN	Bell boy
George	Son	Male	11	MI
John	Son	Male	8	MI	Go school
Frank	Son	Male	6	MI	Go school
Agnes	Dau	Female	1	MI
Manager: Sam Fitzpatrick

Genealogy:

Born: Dec. 6, 1869 - West Bay City, MI

Died: Mar. 9, 1928 - Detroit, MI

Father: Jean (John) Baptiste Poudrette dit Lavigne

Mother: Agnes Dufort

Brothers: William (b.1865), John (b.1870), Frank (b.1877)

Sister: Agnes (b.1879)

Spouse: Julie Drujon, marriage: 29 Aug 1905, Manhattan, NY, NY.

Children: Unknown

George Henry Lavigne, earned himself a place in the history of professional boxing and in the history of Bay City, Saginaw and Michigan, when he became the World Light-Weight Championship in London during June 1896 by knocking out England's Dick Burge in the 17th round. He held this title until July 3, 1899, when he lost it to Frank Enre in 20 rounds at Brooklyn's Coney Island in New York. A year earlier he had defeated Enre in a successful defense of his title.

Several sources cite Lavigne’s birth place as West Bay City, however, this isn’t correct. Lavigne was born in 1869, and West Bay City wasn’t formed until 1877. Lavigne was most likely born in one of the three west side villages that existed at that time across from Bay City. The villages at that time were Wenona, Banks and Salzburg, which in 1877 merged to form West Bay City. It in turn became a part of Bay City in 1905.

The parents of George Lavigne immigrated to this area from Canada only a short time prior to when George was born. William, his older brother was born in Canada in 1865, and sometime within the following four years the family moved here. His father worked in a sawmill here, it could very well have been the Sage and McGraw mill which was located along the river’s edge off Midland street in the village of Wenona. One reference mentioned that George also worked in a sawmill, and may have done so during the early part of his career in boxing.

George was only 16 years old when he had his first fight, which took place in Saginaw on September 7, 1885. It was a first round knockout of Morris McNally. That year he fought seven more times at Saginaw winning them all. All were knockouts except for two. It appears that boxing at this time was a part time affair for Lavigne, as he had only four fights over the next two years. One in 1887 and three in 1888, all wins.

In 1889 he had four fights. The most important one being at Grand Rapids where he defeated George Siddons to become the Feather-Weight Champion of Michigan. This fight also marked the first time Lavigne had fought anywhere other than Saginaw or Manistee. His last fight that year was at Detroit, and his first fight in a major city. Mysteriously, he had only one fight in 1890 which was a TKO over Jimmy Lewis at Bay City.

Lavigne’s first fights outside of Michigan were held at San Francisco in 1891. He had two bouts there, a win over Jimmy Lewis in 4 rounds and a knockout over Jose Soto in 30 rounds. Most of his fights from this point on leading up to him winning the World Light-Weight Championship in London in 1896 were held in major cities around the country.

Lavigne’s entry into boxing was at a time when boxing was becoming a more civilized sport. It was during the 1880s that boxing began putting in regulations that eliminated the free-for-all street brawling style of fighting that boxing had been. Kicking, biting, elbowing or whatever it took was acceptable to defeat an opponent and to be the last man standing was no longer acceptable. While the new rules were more civil, the sport of boxing remained a test of endurance. Lavigne’s fight with George Siddons on March 1, 1889, at Saginaw is but one example. He went 77 rounds which lasted for over five hours before George earned a dicision decision over Siddons.

In the book, "Gene Tunney - The Enigma of the Ring," author Nat Fleischer wrote:

"Take for example the great fights between Joe Walcott and Kid Lavigne, Joe Gans and Battling Nelson, Ad Wolgast and Battling Nelson, and a horde of others. There never will be such combats as these under our present system of boxing rules and training. If gladiators were to present the condition in which Walcott and Lavigne found themselves, modern rules would probably call a halt by the referee."

"Lavigne took the worst beating of his great career and then came back towards the end and fought Walcott off his feet. The Kid's left ear was hanging on a thread and his face looked as if it had passed through a threshing machine."

Lavigne sported a very powerful physique for a man only five foot three inches tall. His had exceptionally large shoulder and arm muscles that made for a power piston like punch. Out of his 35 career wins, nineteen were by knockout, and he had only six losses.

Lavigne had many noteworthy fights, but his bout at New Orleans on December 14, 1894, with local favorite Andy Bowen was probably his most notorious. It was a one side battle as Owen was no match for the more skillful Lavigne. Only a few die hard fans gave Owen any chance and the fight proved them wrong from the get-go. Lavigne pretty much had his way with Owen, even though Ownen was able to hang on until the 18th round. A smashing right by Lavigne to Owen’s right jaw sent him head first to the canvas for a final count. Regrettably, the canvas had no padding to protect Owen's head from taking a severe blow from the wood floor underneath. Owen never regained consciousness and died the following day from his head injury. Everyone was shocked, including Lavigne who was arrested and charged with murder. Later, the murder charges were dropped and Lavigne was released. In February of the following year, Lavigne staged a benefit bout with the proceeds going to Owen’s widow. (See “The Death of Andy Bowen” by [Common-Place.org] for full story.

On August 29, 1905, George married Julie Drujon. Their wedding was held in Manhattan, New York. I found no record of them having children.

After he lost the Light-Weight title in 1899 to Frank Erne, Lavigne only fought sporatically until 1910 when his final fight was an exhibition with Ad Wolgast at Detroit, where he lived out the balance of his life.

George Henry “Kid” Lavigne died on March 9, 1928 at the age of 58.