The Scholarly Warrior: The Boxing Life of Stuart Finer

Stuart Finer lived a remarkable life. He attended Harvard at a time when the institution actively tried to reduce Jews enrollment. While at Harvard, he joined the boxing team, fighting formidably for the Crimson at intercollegiate meets. After college, he served in the U.S. Army during World War II and liberated Dachau.

*****

Stuart Finer was born on July 7, 1914 in Boston, Massachusetts to Hyman Bertram Finer and Henrietta née Stener. Born in London, England, H. Bertram worked as a store clerk and then made his money in real estate. Henrietta was born in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in an area that is now part of Poland. The couple married in Boston in 1901 and had a daughter named Mildred in December the following year.

Stuart, born eleven and half years after Mildred, grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, a suburb that borders Boston's western boundary. The Finers were among a wave of Jews who moved from Boston to Brookline, which became the new religious center of the area by the 1930s. In 1911, Brookline had just enough Jewish males to hold a minyan for the first time. The Jewish population rapidly rose to 7,500 Jews by 1930.

For high school Stuart attended Boston Latin Academy, which sent more graduates to Harvard than any other secondary school at the time. According to Michael Feldberg, "Urban public schools such as Boston Latin Academy intensely prepared their students, many of whom were Jewish, to pass Harvard's admissions test."

Harvard president A. Lawrence Lowell viewed the relatively high percentage of Jews attending his university as a problem. From 7% enrollment at the turn of the century, the population of Jews in the freshman class twenty years later had tripled. In 1922, Lowell proposed a quota on Jews at Harvard. His proposal was rejected, but a workaround was created. Harvard instituted an admissions policy that promoted "geographic diversity," meant to bring in a higher percentage of white Protestant students. The policy worked. By 1931, the year before Stuart gained admission, the Jewish population fell to 15%.

The unofficial quota system made Stuart's entry into Harvard all the more impressive. While at the Ivy League institution, he melded mind with might by joining the university's boxing team.

Stuart Finer

Intercollegiate boxing in the 1930s was divided into freshmen and varsity teams. Freshmen results were rarely printed, so Finer's first year is a mystery. Once he made the varsity team as a sophomore, his coach became Henry Lamar.

Lamar had boxed professionally as a heavyweight from 1925 until 1931, when he accepted the position of varsity boxing coach at Harvard. "I decided that professional boxing and Harvard didn't go together," said Lamar of giving up his career in the ring. Harvard first offered boxing the year before Lamar joined.

Finer fought as a bantamweight, which was 115 pounds in college in those days. The toughest bantamweights Harvard would face during Finer's tenure were Penn State's Russell Criswell and Virginia's Archie Hahn, Jr. Criswell won the Eastern Intercollegiate 115-pound title three years in a row and placed second during the 1936 NCAA championships. Hahn, Jr. was the son of a legendary three-time Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter.

But Stuart had stiff competition on his own campus that year. Only one fighter represented each school at each weight for each meet or tournament. Harvard had two senior bantamweights, Thomas "T.J." Curtin, who was undefeated, and captain Marshall Lamb, a 125-pounder who could make 115 when needed. Finer spent most of his sophomore year on the bench.

When Harvard faced the University of Virginia in January of 1934, Lamb moved down to face Hahn and lost. Eight fighters from each side faced off, and Virginia won the meet 6-2 (six UVa fighters and two Harvard fighters won in the eight-bout meet. Each side would've gotten 0.5 points had there been a draw). Finer finally got his chance against one of the Norton brothers of M.I.T. on March 13. The winner was to face Criswell at the Eastern Intercollegiate boxing championships. Finer won, but Harvard announced T.J. Curtin would represent the school at the tournament. Coach Lamar ultimately changed course and tapped Lamb to fight at bantamweight in the tournament, finishing third.

With Lamb and Curtin graduating, Finer was Harvard's top bantamweight heading into his junior year. On December 15, 1934, he beat Thomas Norton of M.I.T. to open the season. Harvard won the meet 7-1.

Finer, described as "fast and strong for a bantamweight," was expected to fight Hahn, who had become UVa's co-captain as a senior, on January 12, 1935. Instead, Coach Lamar chose James Kostarelos, a "hard hitter" making his varsity debut. It was a mistake. Hahn stopped Kostarelos a minute and 52 seconds into the second round. Virginia won the meet 6-2 in front of 6,000 fans.

On February 16, Army gave Harvard a drubbing. Finer beat Army's bantamweight- a fellow named Beard. Stuart was the only Harvard man to win a bout as Army won the meet 6.5-1.5.

The next month, on March 10, Finer beat Frank Newman of Yale. Coach Lamar taught his boxers to throw a prolonged combination featuring a jab, right cross, left hook, and then to throw a little counter right on the inside. Finer used that trademark combination to neutralize Newman's early aggression. Finer's victory helped Harvard salvage a draw with Yale in the meet.

Five days later at State College in Pennsylvania, Finer beat Phil Norton of M.I.T. in the preliminaries of the Eastern Intercollegiate boxing championships in front of 7,000 fans. In the semifinals, Finer faced defending champion Russell Criswell. Criswell won the tournament the next day. 

The next year, though a senior, Stuart still had to earn a spot on the squad. He beat out fellow senior Alexander Valois and sophomore James Garrett to compete against M.I.T. on December 13, 1935. Finer again beat one of MIT's Norton brothers. Harvard swept the meet 8-0. It was the beginning of a magical season for the Crimson.

On January 11, 1936, Harvard competed against UVa. Virginia boasted a 30-meet win streak in team competition. Stuart had been passed over the previous two years against Virginia. In 1936, Coach Lamar again went in a different direction, picking Valois as Harvard's bantamweight against UVa. Valois won and helped Harvard snap Virginia's win streak by the score of 4.5-3.5.

By the time Harvard faced Penn on February 8, Finer was described as "among the outstanding performers" on the undefeated squad. Harvard beat Penn 5.5-2.5 to keep their undefeated season alive. After squeaking by the Coast Guard the next week, 4.5-3.5, Harvard rolled over Princeton 8-0 on February 21. The Tigers didn't even field an opponent against Finer, who won by walkover.

Harvard beat Army 6-2 before tying Yale 4-4. The tie was so controversial Harvard severed boxing ties with Yale as a result. Finer hoped for a trip to the Eastern Intercollegiate boxing championships once again and dreamed of revenge against Criswell. In 1936, the Eastern title meant a spot in the NCAA championships, held every four years in conjunction with Olympic qualifying.

Alas, Coach Lamar chose Valois as Harvard's bantamweight entry. He made it to the final where he lost to Criswell. Criswell finished second in the NCAAs two weeks later.

H. Bertram and Stuart playfully boxing

After an impressive college boxing career, Stuart earned a BA from Harvard later than spring and received his diploma on June 18, 1936. After school, Finer worked for an advertising agency. Boxing would remain a varsity sport at Harvard for only one more season. Lamar transitioned to coach of the freshmen football team where he'd later guide the four Kennedy boys: Joe, Jack, Bobby, and Ted.

Japan's attack against Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 forever changed Stuart Finer's life. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on January 27, 1942. "He served in the European theatre and toward the end of his service, he was told to lead a team out to a compound of some kind," recounted Vermont's current Governor Phil Scott in a 2015 speech commemorating veterans. "The officers didn't know what it was, and wanted to find out. Riding along in a Jeep, the group saw a line of boxcars stopped on railroad tracks. Then they heard soft noises coming from the cars.

"This young man got out of the Jeep to go investigate, opened the door and was buried under a pile of bodies. Two men stayed behind with the train while this young man led the rest of the group to the compound, radioing back: 'Send us help. We don't know what we have here, but it's bad. Send help.' When the Jeep drove up to the compound, it turned out to be a huge camp surrounded by barbed wire. This young man, who was Jewish, witnessed many horrific events that day he arrived at Dachau and told this story of the day he helped liberate a concentration camp only once- to his granddaughter, who is my chief of staff. He passed away a year later. His name is Stuart Finer."

Finer was promoted to Captain during his tour and came back home on September 28, 1945. After the war, Stuart married Betty and the couple had two children, Barry and Deborah. Stuart rose to the position of president of W.H. Simonson Co., a manufacturer of non-carbonated beverages in Woburn, Massachusetts. After retirement, he taught English as second language classes at Brookline High School.

He died of cancer on February 17, 1998 at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. He was 83 years old. The Harvard-educated war hero was survived by his son, daughter, four grandchildren, and the descendants of all those he liberated from Dachau who wouldn't have known life if not for Stuart Finer.

Sources
"44 Will Compete in College Boxing." New York Times. Mar. 12, 1934. Pg. 26.
"Boxing Team Battles with Tech." The Harvard Crimson. Dec. 13, 1935.
"Cadets Subdue Harvard." New York Times. Feb. 17, 1935. Pg. S1.
Effat, Louis. "Penn State Boxers Gain College Title." New York Times. Mar. 17, 1935. Pg. S1.
Feldberg, Michael. "Anti-Semitism in the U.S.: Harvard’s Jewish Problem." Jewish Virtual Library. 
"Harvard Boxers Score." New York Times. Dec. 16, 1934. Pg. S2.
"Harvard Boxers Score." New York Times. Feb 22, 1936. Pg. 10.
Hindert, Patrick and Mark R. Rasmuson. "Intramural Meet Recalls Glory of the Ghosts of Boxing's Past." The Harvard Crimson. March 4, 1969.
"Kaplan Triumphs in College Bout." New York Times. Mar. 16, 1935. Pg. 11.
Linfield, H.S. "Statistic of Jews-1929." The American Jewish Year Book, Vol. 32.
"Minor Week-end Sports." The Harvard Crimson. Feb. 8, 1936.
Reeves, Bruce M. "Intercollegiate Boxing Used to Be Popular." The Harvard Crimson 
Scott, Phil. "Ask Our Veterans to Tell Us Their Stories and Pass Them On." Targeted News Service. Nov. 23, 2015.
"Stuart Finer, 83, Headed of Beverage Firm." Boston Globe. Mar. 4, 1998. Pg. D15.
"Varsity Boxers Draw Bout with Yale, 4 to 4." The Harvard Crimson. Mar 11, 1935.
"Varsity Fighters Annihilate Tech with Score of 8-0." The Harvard Crimson. Dec. 14, 1935.
"Virginia Conquers Harvard at Boxing." New York Times. Jan. 13, 1935. Pg. S4.
"Virginians Set for Harvard Ringmen." The Washington Post. Jan. 11, 1935. Pg. 19.
"Yale and Harvard Draw in Boxing, 4-4." New York Times. Mar. 10, 1935. Pg. S2.

Special thanks to Stuart Finer's granddaughter Rachel Feldman, who brought her Popop's story to my attention, provided information and pictures, and confirmed aspects of the research.