Charley Retzlaff
American boxer
Charley Retzlaff, alias The Duluth Dynamiter (October 28, 1904 – June 4, 1970) was an American heavyweight professional boxer from Duluth, Minnesota, United States.
Personal life
Retzlaff was born in Leonard, North Dakota.
Professional career
Retzlaff made his professional debut with a second-round knockout of Herman Raschke in March 1929. Retzlaff remained undefeated through his first 23 bouts, losing for the first time by disqualification against Antonio de la Mata in Chicago in November 1930. Retzlaff would avenge that loss with a first-round knockout in a rematch one month later. 11 more wins followed before Retzlaff suffered his next loss, to 41-23-5 Joe Sekyra in September 1931. More wins would follow, and Retzlaff carried a record of 38-2-1 into a match with fellow Minnesotan Dick Daniels. Retzlaff scored three knockdowns and a first-round knockout en route to winning the vacant Minnesota State Heavyweight Title. This title would be defended in May 1933 and again in September 1935 against Art Lasky.
Of Retzlaff, famed sportswriter Damon Runyon would say "[He is] the best-looking heavyweight prospect that has bobbed up in a long time," and "[Retzlaff is the] best of the new heavyweights.
“Charley Retzlaff” enters the record as american boxer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Charley, Retzlaff and American can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Charley Retzlaff” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Charley, Retzlaff and American provides the most credible route into that argument.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5084347. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1904, 1970, 1929 and 1930.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Charley Retzlaff”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Charley Retzlaff primary sources, Charley Retzlaff archive and Charley research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Charley Retzlaff”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Charley Retzlaff” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.