The Fast Times of Albert Champion

by Peter Joffre Nye

  57. “Life of Albert Champion Like That of Alger Hero: Errand Boy and Bicycle Racer, He Dies a Wealthy Man,” Boston Traveler, October 28, 1927.

  58. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy.” On April 12, 2006, Bernadette Murphy, my Paris researcher, visited the Paris police archives in search of the commissariat reports for the First and Eighth Arrondissements, where the Hôtel Crillon and Hôtel Meurice are located, and discovered that all files from 1920 into the early 1930s for both arrondissements have disappeared—either accidentally misplaced or deliberately destroyed.

  59. Ibid.

  60. Program of the memorial service at the Church of the American on Avenue Georges V, listing the Champion brothers along with Basil de Guichard, Pierre Tournier, and their families, nephews, nieces, and friends.

  61. Ibid.

  62. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy.”

  63. Phone interview with Kerry Champion Williams, October 15, 2005. Family photos of the late 1920s show the bust of Champion, no longer in view.

  64. Bernadette Murphy in an e-mail of October 13, 2004, reported that she had interviewed the St. Cloud cemetery caretaker, a character out of a Balzac novel. The caretaker in his small office pulled from the top of a wardrobe armoire a huge old leather-bound cemetery register. It indicated that Marie Blanche Champion’s remains were exhumed on July 25, 1928, and “transferred across Paris.” Records in Père Lachaise Cemetery indicate Albert and his mother were placed in metal coffins on July 25, 1928, one on either side of the cavity, which contains room for six more family members.

  CHAPTER 17. THE LOWDOWN

  1. “‘I’m No Gigolo!’ Charles Brazelle Tells Why,” New York Daily Mirror, April 26, 1935, p. 1.

  2. Martha Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy: Death Wipes out Triangle of Champion, No. 2 and Gigolo,” New York Sunday News, April 26, 1936.

  3. “Widow Given Champion Gold,” Detroit Times, November 16, 1927.

  4. “New Executive Name for AC Spark Plug Co.,” Detroit News, November 25, 1927.

  5. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy.”

  6. Ibid.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Ibid.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Ibid.

  14. Ibid.

  15. “Mrs. Brazelle Dies in Paris of Pneumonia: She Spent Girlhood in St. Louis—Former Wife of David G. Joyce,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 11, 1930; “Mrs. Acuff Brazelle Succumbs in Paris: Former St. Louisan Stricken with Pneumonia after Italian Tour,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, April 11, 1930; “Mrs. C. L. Brazelle Dies in Paris,” New York Times, April 12, 1930.

  16. Martin, “Sparkplug Millions Explode in Tragedy.”

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ibid.

  19. Ibid.

  20. Ibid.

  21. “Champion’s Widow Leaves $8,000,000: Three Michigan Relatives Are Included in Five Sharing in Estate,” Flint Journal, March 26, 1935; “Champion Kin Get 8 Million: Estate Is Bequeathed to Family Here,” Detroit Free Press, March 28, 1935.

  22. L. L. Stevenson, “Charge 6 Million Will Plot: Friend Begins Court Battle—N.Y. Club Man Says He Lived with Mrs. Champion for 8 Years in Penthouse,” Detroit News, April 23, 1935; Tony Mayfair, “Widow’s Estate Sued in Common Law: Rich Mrs. Champion Lived with War Vet, He Says in Suit—Claims Family Fed Her Liquor to Keep Her Hidden Away,” New York Mirror, April 22, 1935; “Hearing Set on Champion Will Battle: Brazelle Admits Living as ‘Man and Wife’ with Widow of Spark Plug King,” Flint News-Advertiser, April 25, 1935; Joseph Cowan, “Dead Widow’s Friend Sues for Estate: Brazelle Charges Conspiracy to Bar Him from Woman,” New York Evening Journal, April 22, 1935; “Family Named in Suit on Will of Mrs. Champion: Turned Widow of Spark Plug Manufacturer against Him, Charles Brazelle Charges,” New York Herald-Tribune, April 23, 1935; Hal Burton, “Lover Sues Spark Plug Widow’s Kin,” New York News, April 23, 1935; Tony Mayfair, “Brazelle Bares Story of Love: ‘Common Law’ Hubby Fights for Estate,” New York Daily Mirror, April 26, 1935; “Seeks to Break Spark Plug Will: ‘Protégé’ of Champion’s Widow Says He Shared Her Penthouse,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, April 23, 1935.

  23. “Boxer Fights A. C. Champion Widow’s Will: Share in $6,000,000 Estate Demanded on Claim of ‘Common-Law Husband,’” Detroit Times, June 16, 1935; “Charge Terrorism in Champion Suit: King of Spark Plug King’s Widow Accuses Former Boxer,” Grand Rapids Press (Michigan), June 15, 1935; “Violent Death of Plug King Bared in Suit,” New York Daily News, June 15, 1935.

  24. “Millionaire’s Death Laid to Boxer’s Punch in Suit over Champion Estate,” New York American, June 15, 1935; “Ex-Pug, Who Made Widow of Late Lover, Seeking Part of Fortune,” State Times-Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA), June 15, 1935.

  25. Lainie K. Holman, staff physician of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, interview October 18, 2010, with the author in New York; e-mails October 11, 2010, and August 28, 2012, with Bill Mallon, MD, of Duke University Medical Center.

  26. “C. L. Brazelle Dead; Sanitarium Manager,” New York Times, December 20, 1935.

  27. Scott R. Lawson, General Director for Marketing Services at ACDelco in Grand Blanc, MI, letter of May 3, 2012, to author.

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  OTHER DOCUMENTS

  Beasley, Norman. “Albert Champion: The Office Boy Who Was Taught That a Race Is Won before the Race and There Is No Such Thing as ‘Good Enough.’” MoTor (New York), September 1926. Reprinted by AC Spark Plug Company.

  Champion, Albert. “Piloting Motor Driven Racers.” MoTor (New York), December 1903.

  _____. “Spark-Plugs for High-Speed Engines,” 1917 Transactions. New York: Society of Automotive Engineers, 1918.

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Away.” Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review (New York), August 4, 1909.

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  “Handling Quality Goods Brings Jobbers Success: Albert Champion Talked to Accessory Distributors of New England on Relations Between Manufacturer, Jobber, Dealer and Customer.” Automobile Journal, April 10, 1918.

  Harris, Stewart. Have You Seen the Globe Today? A History of the Boston Newspaper. Boston: Class paper for Boston University, 1981.

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  “How the Gray Wolf Came to Grief.” Automobile Topics Illustrated (New York), November 7, 1903.

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  _____. “Packard Gray Wolf.” Automobile Quarterly (Kutztown, PA) 19, no. 3 (1981).

  King, Jenny. “A Bow Tie for Everyman,” Automotive News, GM 74th Anniversary Issue (Detroit), September 16, 1983.

  Lane, Doris. The Haunted House. http://www.madammurder.net/shadylady/penthouse.html.

  L’Homme Dans la rue. “Les Potins du Cycle.” La Pédale (Paris), October 8, 1924.

  “Motorettes” De Dion-Bouton “Motorette” Company booklet, Something New. Brooklyn, NY, undated, approximately 1900.

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  Perrodil, Edouard de. Albert Champion: His Triumphs, His Adventures, His Voyage to the United States. Paris: L’Auto, 1904.

  “Pneumatic’s 21st Anniversary: Royalty Helps Honor It—Inventor Dunlop at Celebration, Which Recalls History of the Millions Made,” Bicycling World and Motorcycle Review (Chicago), November 27, 1909.