Born in Romania to Jewish parents, Vetra 'William' and Anna Herscovitch, he emigrated with his family to Montréal, Canada. He Anglicized his given name to 'Montgomery,' but was known to everyone as 'Moe.' Although short in stature at 5' 6", he was incredibly athletic. He played football with the Montreal Football Club of the Inter-Provincial Rugby Union until 1915 when it was disbanded due to the increasing hostilities of World War I.
Service in WWI
Eager to do his part in WWI, Herscovitch joined the 66th Battery, Canadian Expeditionary Forces. A gunner, while posted overseas he took up the sport of boxing, winning a number of competitions, including the Aldershot welterweight division. When he returned from the War in 1919, he played with Montreal's successor rugby team which won the division championships that year, but he also continued to box. He was selected for Canada's 1920 Olympic boxing team and assigned to its middleweight division. At Antwerp that August, he won a bronze medal, only losing to Briton Harry Mallin in the semi-final. He married Celia Goldblatt at Temple Beth Jhuda in Montreal on 18 December 1921.
Herscovitch turned pro early the next year, and defeated Olympic gold medalistBert Schneider on May 18, 1921. He spent the next few years fighting in Canada and New York City, putting together an inconsistent record. He beat Art Prud'homme in November 8, 1922 in a seventh-round knockout. He suffered losses as well, including his fight against world titleholder Mickey Walker on December 21, 1923 in Toronto, in which Herscovitch was billed as the Canadian welterweight champion. Walker won with a sixth round knockout, having broken his opponent's right hand during the fight.
Life after boxing
Herscovitch retired in the summer of 1924, and began volunteering as a boxing coach at the Montreal YMHA. Although he boxed at a time when fighters wore no protective gear, 'Moe' had never suffered a debilitating injury in the ring. However, on July 24, 1943 while on holiday at the summer resort of Plage Laval, he and some companions were set upon by a French Canadian anti-Semitic mob and beaten so badly that surgeons were forced to remove one of his eyes. He continued to be actively involved in sports and his community, and served as president of the Quebec Rugby Union. He died on July 22, 1969, and was buried at the Baron de Hirsch Cemetery in Montreal.
