Seattle boxing champ Albert Paul "Al" Hostak (1916-2006), nicknamed "the Savage Slav," was born in Minneapolis to Czech immigrants who later moved to Seattle's Georgetown neighborhood. He dropped out of Cleveland High School at 16 years old to pursue a career in boxing, and had his debut fight in 1932. He retired from boxing in 1949 with a record of 64 wins, 9 losses, and 11 draws.

The program pictured here features five bouts organized by Seattle boxing promoter Nate Druxman (1892-1969), and held at the Seattle Civic Stadium Field. The main event was Al Hostak's bout against the "Tacoma Assassin" Freddie Steele (born Frederick Earl Burgett) (1912-1984) for the middleweight championship of the world. According to an article printed the following day in The Seattle Daily Times, over 35,000 fans watched as boxing great and referee Jack Dempsey (1895-1983) counted defending champion Steele out only 1:43 into the first round. In 1939, Mr. Hostak again won the National Boxing Association Middleweight title.

Caption information source: "Al Hostak, 1916-2006: Seattle fighter won middleweight title," by Casey McNerthney, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 13, 2006
Caption information source: boxrec.com