Hank Kaplan

Hank Kaplan (April 15, 1920 – December 14, 2007) was an American boxing historian and writer. Always wearing one of many of his prized boxing baseball caps, and smoking a pipe, he is widely regarded as the nation's foremost boxing historian, and was known and respected worldwide. Kaplan was known to possess the largest collection of boxing memorabilia, consisting of millions of pieces including newspaper articles, books, and photographs, stemming back from the 19th century. His expertise in boxing history helped him earn the nickname "Lord of the Ring."

Kaplan was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish immigrant parents from Lithuania. He had three siblings. His father died of tuberculosis, when Kaplan was only 9 years of age, leaving his mother to raise four children on her own. His mother struggled to make ends meet as a seamstress, but was forced to place the children in an orphanage at a young age. Hank Kaplan spent much of his early years growing up in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York (HOA), also known as the Academy. He was an active member of HOA and participated in annual events throughout his entire lifetime. Kaplan and his siblings later moved back with their mother during his early teenage years, and she supported the children by working as a seamstress. She owned a business designing and sewing wedding gowns.

Kaplan became interested in boxing beginning from his early years in Brooklyn, after he suffered a bloody nose in his childhood from a fight with another smaller child at Camp Wakitan in upstate New York. He had his first and only professional boxing fight as an adolescent in Bridgeport, Connecticut in the early 1940s, which he won.

Despite his devotion to boxing, Kaplan also served in United States military. He joined the U.S. Coast Guard in his early 20's, and served during World War II, as he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his idol at the time, Jack Dempsey. He spent time in the Coast Guard disinfecting ships, after learning skills about chemical warfare and how to prevent the spread of contamination. He was later assigned to work for the U.S. Department of Public Health. He attended the University of Miami at night, while he continued to work during the day, inspecting ships for any signs of infectious contamination. Following this, he worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he, along with 4 other scientists, went to Indonesia where they spent nine weeks in attempt to battle a severe outbreak of Bubonic Plague. Kaplan worked for the CDC until retirement, at age 55.

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