Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • S U M M E R 2 0 2 0 74 graduating in 1953, Rouse enrolled at Idaho State College on a boxing scholarship. During his varsity career of 33 victories and two losses, he won the intercollegiate 165-pound champion- ship twice. He won a Golden Gloves title in 1954 at Chicago, and after graduating from Idaho State, he entered Montana State University on a football scholarship. Twice an NCAA champion, the 23-year- old athlete won a berth on the United States Olympic team, which competed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, losing a highly disputed quar- terfinal decision in Australia to Gilbert Chapron (1933-2016) of France because the judges said he was too rough. Rouse turned professional in 1958, making his debut at the Cow Palace in Los Angeles, eventu- ally winning the California State Light Heavyweight title in 1964. In his toughest match to date, Rouse fought Johnny Persol, a contender for the light heavyweight crown, at the Memorial Gym in Anaconda on November 23, 1964. The fight resulted in a first-round knockout for Rouse when he landed a punch that injured Persol's orbital bone and detached his retina. Later in his career, Persol main- tained that Rouse had walloped him with such force that he suffered from "double vision" for the rest of his career. "Roger Rouse was a big celebrity in Anaconda at that time," says Chris Eamon, a friend and boxing protégé of Rouse. "He was a country-boy type who never acted cocky. He loved to socialize, and Anaconda was hopping with bars and places to do it in the 1960s. He was perfect, but what you saw was what you got. He was as genuine as any person I have ever known." ROUSE VS. TIGER As early as November 14, 1965, the Independent Record of Helena reported, "Roger Rouse in a meteoric rise has climbed from virtual obscurity to a lofty position in the world light heavyweight realm and has already been ticketed for a shot at the title 'within the very near future.'" After putting together a string of wins, he was named the number-one light heavyweight contender in November of 1965. Two years later, on November 17, 1967, at slightly over 174 pounds and 33 years old, Roger Rouse challenged the Republic of Biafra's 175-pound, 38-year-old world champion Dick Tiger for the African's World Boxing Council's World Light Heavyweight title. It was only the second time that a Montanan had fought for a world championship. In 1904 Jack Munroe, a Butte prospector and part-time pugilist, met James J. Jeffries for the heavyweight title in San Francisco. Unfortunately for Munroe (and Montana), Jeffries knocked him out in the second round. Approximately 1,000 people, including Governor Tim Babcock, traveled from Montana to Las Vegas to see Rouse, nicknamed "The Opportunity Kid," get a crack at a world title. Rouse, a standup fight- er with a fair jab and a decent left, acquitted himself well in the first eight rounds, exhibiting his strong counterpunching skills. In the ninth round, however, Tiger put Rouse down on the deck and took command of the fight, battering Rouse, who was left bleeding from the face and nose. Shortly into round twelve, Tiger floored Rouse to end the fight. ROUSE VS. FOSTER On April 4, 1970, Rouse challenged Bob Foster for Foster's light heavyweight championship at the Henry Adams Field House in Mis- soula. Foster won the World Boxing Council's World Light Heavy- weight title from Dick Tiger in 1968. Foster demolished Rouse with a vicious right hand, knocking the challenger down four times on his way to a successful defense of his title. Two years earlier, Foster had also beat Rouse in a non-title bout.

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