On this date in 1905, James ‘Jim’ Braddock – who would be nicknamed Cinderella Man because of his remarkable comeback in boxing – was born in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of New York City.  The Oscar-nominated movie Cinderella Man – directed by Oscar winner Ron Howard and starring Oscar winners Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger tells the riches-to-rags-to-riches story of this Depression era athlete who managed to pull off incredible odds. If it wasn’t a true story (even with the typical Hollywood embellishments), you would never believe that it happened.

June, besides being Braddock’s birth month, is also a month of other momentous events in his life, which we’ll cover later.

Jim Braddock, the Actual Cinderella Man