Jay Tunney: Son of a Champ

By Mark Splitstone, Honor Flight Chicago Veteran Interview Volunteer

Jonathan “Jay” Tunney’s childhood was anything but typical. For his eighth birthday, he went to see his favorite performer, Roy Rogers, at Madison Square Garden, which in and of itself wasn’t that unusual for a kid in the early 1940s. What was unusual was that during the show, Roy stopped to point out Jay’s dad in the audience, and the crowd started cheering. This was the first time that Jay realized that his father, Gene Tunney, was famous. After the show, Jay got to go backstage to meet Roy, and his lasting memory is that Roy seemed to be as fascinated by Gene as Jay was by Roy. 

Gene Tunney, nicknamed the “Fighting Marine,” was the world heavyweight champion in the 1920s whose most famous fight was the “Long Count” bout against Jack Dempsey in 1927 at Chicago’s Soldier Field. In the seventh round, Gene was knocked down for the first and only time in his career but managed to get to his feet just before the referee counted to ten. He went on to win the fight by decision, but Dempsey fans thought the referee had given Gene too much time to get up. Gene, always known as a cerebral tactician rather than a brawler, retired undefeated as a heavyweight and went on to be a successful real estate developer, businessman, and writer. As Jay says, his dad was a “gentleman and a scholar” who befriended many authors and celebrities. 

Jay was born in New York City in 1936, and while this was eight years after Gene’s boxing retirement, the echoes of his father’s life and career linger for Jay to this day He was raised in New York City and Connecticut, the third of Gene’s four children. His father was very competitive and successful at everything he did, and he encouraged his sons to be the same. This sometimes made it tough for Jay, who was the youngest of the three boys. While growing up, Jay played a lot of sports and even tried his hand a boxing for a while, but his father never really encouraged this particular pursuit. 

During World War I, Gene had famously joined the Marines without telling his parents, and in 1955, just after graduating from high school, Jay did the same. When he eventually told his parents, his mother didn’t say anything but his dad wasn’t happy about it. Jay had made the decision to enlist while still in high school, intrigued by the adventure he thought he’d find by fighting in the Korean War. Being the youngest of the three brothers, he says he was made to feel like a “squirt” at home, so he wanted to prove them wrong, even though some of his dreams of adventure had disappeared when the Korean War ended before he graduated. He chose the Marines because he thought they were the toughest branch of the military, and while his long-term goal was still to go to college, he decided that his education could wait until after his service. 

Jay went to boot camp at Parris Island in 1955. Despite being athletic and active in sports, he says that boot camp was thirteen weeks of “hell on earth.” While the experience is tough for everyone, Jay’s was made more difficult by a sergeant who apparently decided that he didn’t like Gene Tunney’s son and was going to take it out on him. He would regularly “thump” Jay on his head, and one time when he determined Jay was swimming too fast, he had another Marine jump on his back in the pool, nearly drowning him. While most people he met throughout his life treated him with respect and curiosity, Jay says that this sergeant was a “sadist”. Having a world-famous father whose nickname was “the fighting Marine” perhaps rubbed this sergeant the wrong way. Despite all the challenges, Jay ended up as a member of the camp’s honor platoon.

Jay’s infantry training was at Camp Pendleton in California. His lasting memory of that experience was when his unit was assigned to do cold-weather combat training in the Sierra Nevada mountains. An unexpected blizzard hit, resulting in frostbite for several soldiers as well as felled tents and buried gear. When the roof of his snow hut was stepped on and collapsed one night, he had to talk his way into the warming tent, or else he might have gotten frostbite as well. Around this time he also received his sharpshooter badge. Even though he’s right-handed, Jay always shot as a lefty because an astigmatism in his right eye meant that he was more accurate using his left.

After completing his training Jay was shipped to Yokosuka, Japan, where he says the Japanese people treated the Americans with grace and respect. He then spent a year stationed in Okinawa. Throughout his time in Asia, Jay was assigned to the motor pool, both as a driver and a dispatcher, transporting men and equipment from one place to another. For Jay personally, the most important part of his time in Asia was that it was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with the region, which would have lasting consequences for him and would define a major part of the rest of his life.

When his tour was complete, Jay decided not to reenlist. While he very much appreciated his time in the Marines and in Asia, by then he was anxious to get back to the U.S. and go to college. When he returned home, he says that his older brothers finally treated him with respect. In choosing where to go to college, the obvious choice was Yale, where both his brothers had attended. Instead, he chose Stanford, in part because California served as a stepping-off point for Asia.

After studying English and History, Jay graduated and moved to Los Angeles. In the 1960s the LA real estate market was booming, and Jay became a very successful real estate developer. He thought he’d be in real estate for his entire career but in 1964, one of his brothers, John, who had followed Jay to California, decided to run for the US House of Representatives. Jay managed John’s campaign and also did much of the fundraising, and John won the election. Jay performed the same role in John’s House campaigns in 1966 and 1968 and also in John’s campaign for U.S. Senate in 1970. John won all four of these elections.

In 1968, Jay happened to see a photograph of an attractive young Associated Press reporter named Kelly Smith who had spent the prior year reporting from Vietnam. She had returned to the U.S. to make a speech, and through John, Jay was able to surreptitiously arrange a blind date with her. To say the blind date went well would be an understatement—within a week they had decided to get married and within six weeks they had made their vows.

After supporting his brother through four campaigns, Jay decided he wanted his own life, and he and Kelly then began an adventure that would take them all over the world. He left the real estate business, and the following decades would see him working for a shipping company in Hong Kong and Canada, exploring for oil in Burma, and introducing ice cream through a start-up business in South Korea. For the most part, Jay went into these businesses knowing very little about them. All he had going for him was an entrepreneurial spirit and a deep knowledge and appreciation of Asian cultures, which had all started with his time in the Marines. Their longest stay, from the mid-1980s through the mid-1990s, was in Seoul, where Kelly served as the AP bureau chief while Jay worked on his ice cream business. In total, Jay and his family spent twenty-four years in Asia. Their son and daughter were mostly raised there, and Jay feels that their time in Asia has helped his entire family understand the world better.

In the years since he left the business world, Jay has produced a show for the BBC about the playwright George Bernard Shaw, written a book about the friendship between Shaw and his father, and written a play. Writing the book was grueling and took nearly ten years. When someone asked him why it took so long, he said “It was a Long Count.” Eleven years ago, Jay and Kelly moved to Chicago, in part to be near their son, daughter, and two grandchildren. He’s considering writing another book, this one about his father and Ernest Hemingway, or potentially producing a documentary about the Long Count fight, which is nearing its 100-year anniversary. Jay and Kelly live in the city and take advantage of everything it has to offer, including symphonies, the opera, plays, and museums. Jay still gives lectures and he and Kelly also like to travel. 

Jay is very proud of his service in the Marines and says he learned more there than he ever did in school. The Marines taught him about real life, not abstract ideas, and he’s been able to use those lessons throughout all his lifelong successes. Even if he had a different last name, Jay’s life would be fascinating and inspiring, and just like his dad, Jay is a true Fighting Marine.