Sportsman Boyd Ellis (December 26, 1884 - July 11, 1974) was a pioneer race car driver and boxing promoter.
"Sports pioneer. He was a pioneer race car driver and boxing promoter. Boyd and his brother Henley were teammates in several Los Angeles to Phoenix road races in the early twentieth century. These early races were precursors to today's Baja 500 and were filled with thrills and daring. In the early days of automobile racing the drivers also built their own cars, and the Buick that the Ellis' assembled, it attained high speed records for the period. The Ellis racing brothers were contemporaries of early race car legends such as Barney Oldfield, Teddy Tetzlaf, Joe Nikrant, and Earl Cooper. He was also a boxer of note in his early days and was a conditioning partner of Oscar "Battling" Nelson, (the two time lightweight boxing champion 1905-1906 and 1908-1910). Prior to Nelson's title fight (July 13, 1909) versus Adolph Wolgast (lightweight boxing champion 1910-1912) at Los Angeles, he conditioned and sparred with Ellis at a training facility in Orange County. The Nelson/ Wolgast fight ended in a ten round no decision contest with Nelson retaining the championship. During the 1920's and 1930's, this boxing background influenced Ellis to promote four round boxing matches in Orange County at the Delhi Athletic Club, in Santa Ana. During his boxing career, Ellis purchased one hundred and ten acres of ranch land in what is now Fountain Valley, farming lima beans and raising dairy cows. The Ellis ranch was one of the first operating dairies in Orange County. In addition, present day Ellis Avenue in Fountain Valley is named in his honor. He was inducted into the Orange County Sports Hall of Fame in the early 1970's."
- Michael Barry at Find A Grave
Boyd Ellis died at the age of 89 on July 11, 1974 in Santa Ana, California and is interred at Fairhaven Memorial Park.
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