A statue and historical marker honors the man who held the World Heavyweight Champion title from 1908 to 1915. John Arthur “Jack” Johnson was born in Galveston in 1879. He attended Galveston Public school and in later years worked as a stevedore on the wharf. His boxing career started in Galveston with 113 fights, of which he only lost six. He left Galveston, traveled the world and amidst much controversy became the heavyweight champion of the world. He was a talented, clever, astute, and proud gentleman who was not afraid to date white women in a time when such scandal put an African American man's very life in jeopardy. He was convicted for traveling across state lines with his white girlfriend but was granted a posthumous pardon in 2018. Johnson died in Raleigh, North Carolina, in a car accident in July of 1946.