Richard Fox

1846–1922

Sporting rag publisher and creator of the first cocktail competition

Richard K. Fox immigrated to the United States from Ireland as an adult, swiftly finding a job managing the New York Police Gazette, an established tabloid focused on sensational and lurid crime. Within three years, Fox had acquired the publication entirely, renaming it the National Police Gazette, and reorienting it toward sporting and the male culture of the barroom and barber. The reimagined Gazette became the first national men’s lifestyle magazine. One feature Fox devised was a cocktail competition that ran from 1899 until World War I, probably the first of its kind. The contest consistently drew a large number of entries, and the winners received significant prizes in cash or medals. In addition to the Gazette, entries were sometimes added to the seminal Hoffman House Bar Guide, which Fox also published.