Bayside's Favorite Son, Boxer Jim Corbett

Heavyweight boxer Jim Corbett was a Bayside resident. He was champion between 1892, when he knocked out John L. Sullivan in the first-ever bout using padded leather boxing gloves, to 1897, when he lost to Briton Bob Fitzsimmons. He fought 19 professional bouts, winning 11, seven by knockout. After failing in a ring comeback, he turned to vaudeville and the new medium of motion pictures.

In 1902, Corbett bought a luxurious home on 221st Street near 36th Avenue and resided there with his wife Vera until his death in 1933. A historic plaque was placed near Corbett’s home in 1971. Corbett Road, fronting Crocheron Park, was named in his honor some time after his death, and Errol Flynn starred in his life story in 1942.

“Gentleman Jim” is also remembered by the Bayside Long Island Rail Road station. Ed McGowin’s “Bayside Story,” a collection of bas reliefs on columns and overhead friezes, features a boxing-glove clad arm raised in victory.

35th Avenue is an eastern extension of Crocheron Avenue from Francis Lewis Boulevard east to Crocheron Park; it was once the only road (other than Northern Boulevard and Bayside Lane) running from Flushing to Bayside. Crocheron, the avenue and the park, are named for the pioneering Bayside family that first settled the area in the late 1600s.