John (Jack) Charles Sheehan “Chesty” - 2010
Chesty Sheehan moved to Savannah as a youngster in the late 1800’s and attended St. Patrick’s School. Chesty began boxing in the 1890’s and in 1902 became the Bantam Weight Champ of the South. He parlayed this into an opportunity to fight the Bantam Weight Champ Danny Dorothy in an exhibition fight on the Isle of Hope where he knocked the champ out. After his boxing career, Chesty had a successful career as an athletic trainer in many sports including boxing, track and baseball. Chesty served as a trainer at Savannah High School (1919-1932) where his teams captured state titles in track and boxing. In the professional ranks, Chesty trained W.L. Stribling for his title bout (1931) with heavyweight champ Max Schmelling and in professional baseball Chesty served as trainer for the Savannah Indians baseball team (1937-1953) where his team won the South Atlantic Championship in 1947.