They didn’t call him the “Akron Thunderbolt” for nothing. Boxer Harry Krohn’s fists packed quite a jolt.
The middleweight fighter stormed the continent in the early 20th century, leaving a path of bruised, dazed and bloodied opponents sprawled across the canvas in smoke-filled arenas and auditoriums.
Tough and sinewy in the ring, Krohn was actually a soft-spoken gentleman in real life.
A boxing injury had robbed him of his voice.
Krohn, the son of German immigrants John and Hannah Krohn, was born Nov. 5, 1896, on a farm near Mantua in Portage County. As a 16-year-old boy, he followed an older brother to Akron, where rubber factory jobs were abundant.
Walking downtown in 1914, Krohn and buddy Willie Devore noticed a commotion outside Chernoff’s Athletic Club at 115 S. Main St. Proprietor Ned Chernoff was drumming up business for his sweaty little gym in flamboyant style.
“Chernoff used to stand on a second-story balcony and attract crowds with feats of strength like breaking chains wrapped around his chest by filling his lungs with air,” Krohn later recalled.
“Devore and I started working out there and, while so doing, stumbled on the secret behind that chain busting. Some of the links in each chain had been weakened.”
Although he had been duped, the farm boy didn’t regret joining the club. He took advantage of the barbells, punching bags and other equipment, transforming his slight build into a sturdy frame.
Krohn stood 5 feet 8 inches and weighed 160 pounds, but the kid could punch! Throwing hooks, jabs and uppercuts, he became the pride of the Chernoff gym, graduating from the sparring ring to amateur competition, where he added three years to his age and knocked out his first six opponents.
“Akron has a young middleweight who looks like a comer,” Beacon Journal sports writer Leo Neufield reported Oct. 26, 1915. “His name is Harry Krohn and the way he has been wading through the ranks of the Summit County amateurs makes him look good enough to break into the professional game as a preliminary boxer.”
The novice fighter unleashed a whirlwind attack on Arlington Athletic Club boxer Frank Bryan, knocking him senseless in the second round.
“Krohn is a clean-cut chap, 22 years old, ruggedly built and of good habits,” Neufield wrote. “His name sounds German, but his features would say he is Irish. When asked Monday night, he said he is not ready yet to break into the professional game.”
Turning pro
A month later, Krohn punched out Otto Wagner’s lights in Cleveland for the state amateur title. He soon turned pro, fighting more than 30 bouts without a loss.
The “Akron Thunderbolt” nickname originated on March 18, 1918, in a fight against Leo Kane in Zanesville. Krohn battered Kane throughout the match, decking him three times in the second round. On the third fall, Kane plunged through the ropes and demolished the ring. It was like a lightning strike had cleared off the canvas.
Although 30 seconds remained in the round, the fighters agreed to wait for a crew to rebuild the ring. Kane should have just given up, because it wasn’t much longer before he was seeing stars.
“Took 15 minutes to make repairs and then I went back and knocked him out,” Krohn recalled. “The following day, an Akron sports writer whose name I’ve forgotten called me the Akron Thunderbolt.”
Krohn fought more than 100 bouts between 1915 and 1925, pausing in World War I to serve as a boxing assistant at Ohio’s Camp Sherman.
His opponents included Billy Britton, K.O. Brown, Jackie Clark, Jimmy Delaney, Jack Dillon, Bryan Downey, Young Bob Fitzsimmons, Tut Jackson, Johnny Klesh, Joe Lohman, Mike McTigue, Eddie Mullaney, Johnny Papke, Tommy Robson, Paul Roman, George Shade, Jess Smith, Hughie Walker and Chuck Wiggins,
“Harry had a good left hook and a lot of heart,” former manager Harold Walsh once recalled. “You couldn’t have asked for an easier boxer to manage.”
The Akron Thunderbolt eventually acquired another nickname, the “Human Punching Bag,” for being able to withstand a barrage of punches on any given night. During a 1922 bout with Downey at the Akron Armory, Krohn was knocked to the canvas after the opening bell, but rose to his feet and fought 12 rounds on pure instinct. He didn’t remember a thing about the fight.
“In a racket where you run up against some of the world’s worst, Harry Krohn stood out as a square shooting, honest ring warrior,” Akron Times-Press sports editor Pindy Wagner recalled later. “No scandal ever touched his ring work.”
One time a promoter tried to flee aboard a train with $1,500 that a Des Moines jeweler had lent for an Iowa boxing match. Krohn confiscated the cash, pulled the train’s emergency brake and walked back along the tracks to the Des Moines station to give the money back to the jeweler.
Sport takes toll
In 1923, Krohn beat Cuban light heavyweight Santiago Esparraguera in Havana and stopped in Shreveport, La., to fight Martin Burke.
Referee William J. Best introduced his sister, Effie, to the Akron boxer. They courted for only three weeks before getting married, honeymooning in Florida, where Krohn fought Young Stribling in Miami.
The newlyweds moved to Akron and bought a home at 2100 Newton St., where they welcomed a daughter, Nina, and lived out their lives.
Boxing took a toll on Krohn’s body. He began to lose more fights than he won.
Disaster struck March 31, 1924, in Newark, N.J., during a semifinal match for the light heavyweight boxing championship of the world. New York boxer Paul Berlenbach, known as the “Astoria Assassin,” pummeled Krohn relentlessly and knocked him out in the fourth round. One punch ruptured Krohn’s vocal cord. For the remainder of his life, he spoke in a hoarse whisper.
Beacon Journal sports writer Jack Gibbons lamented that Krohn was “fast descending from pugilistic heights.”
“The knockout in the fourth round by the easterner flashed the message to home folks that Krohn is nearing the end of his string as a top-notch fighter,” Gibbons wrote on April 1, 1924.
Krohn lost seven more bouts before throwing in the towel in January 1925. His final bout was a knockout loss to Jack Reddick in Toronto, Ontario.
Fortunately, Krohn had a backup plan. He landed a job as a tire builder at Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. in Akron and remained there for 37 years, retiring on Dec. 1, 1961.
Krohn kept his hat in the ring, founding the Akron Boxing Trainers Association in 1936, guiding Golden Gloves tournaments and developing talent such as Al Anderla, Tom Butowicz, Joe and Sammy Taormina and Don Williams.
The Akron Thunderbolt was inducted into the Summit County Sports Hall of Fame’s first class in 1957.
Harry Krohn was 86 when he died Dec. 4, 1982, after a short illness. He was buried at Hillside Memorial Park.
Former manager Walsh eulogized: “He was a crowd pleaser, a rugged fighter who was always a gentleman, in and out of the ring.”
Mark J. Price is a Beacon Journal copy editor. He can be reached at 330-996-3850 or send email to mjprice@thebeaconjournal.com.
