The following are excerpts from a forthcoming biography entitled: “Redemption: The Life & Death of Rocky Marciano” by John Cameron.
It deals with the story of one Rocco Marchegiano in 1948 at the Lowell Sun Charities’ Golden Gloves Tournament. Later that year, at the behest of his agent, he reluctantly agreed to change his name to Rocky Marciano.
“When I fought there I was just another fighter … I guess I owe all that followed to that place.”
— Rocky Marciano
The championships in Lowell were extravagant affairs with preliminaries having begun on December 30th and due to reach their conclusion on February 9th, 1948. The main aim of this competition was to find the eight boxers who would represent Massachusetts in the New England finals later that same month.
The venue itself, Lowell Memorial Auditorium, seemed a fitting site, for the building had been constructed in the 1930’s and was dedicated to the American Veterans who served their country. Decorating the exterior walls were the names of famous generals and battles in which America made her mark. One can only imagine how the combatants in boxing skirmishes within felt as they entered the building surrounded by the carved names of such famous modern warriors.
The show’s organizers, wishing to cement the popularity of this event which was only in its second year, had pulled out all the stops in the hopes of filling the 4,000 capacity auditorium. Against them though this year they had the weather to contend with, for the county was locked in a bitter winter resplendent with heavy snow and temperatures in the evening touching freezing. To everyone’s relief, however, the shows proved to be a roaring success.
On the 19th of January, Bob Girard found himself the favorite to win the Lowell heavyweight championship. He had competed there the previous year, making it all the way to the final where he had lost to one Joe Browne. Now this year high expectations were laid upon his broad shoulders, perhaps this proved to be too much for him for, surprisingly, he was unceremoniously knocked out of the competition by Dan Solomont in the opening stages. Whilst Girard slunk home his conqueror, by a strange quirk, would have to get past Marchegiano himself if he wished to progress any further.
Rocco’s inclusion in the tournament was entirely due to one man, Jim McMullen, who in his role as the director of boxing for the Golden Gloves was the key voice in who did, and conversely did not, make it into the championship. There was one fighter though who definitely would make it, his name was Charlie Mortimer and he was the protégé of none other than McMullen himself. Through the practice of a form of nepotism, Mortimer would not be amongst those in the preliminaries but instead would be entered straight into the last four. It would be up to the rest of the boys to earn their shot at him.
Due to the complexities of the competition there would be only three heavyweights who could make it through to the finals. McMullen needed a fourth or his fighter would be excluded. To this end the tournament director found himself in Lynn, Mass., sometime in January, to watch an unnamed heavyweight compete with the singular intention of getting this man to take part in the closing stages of the Gloves.
“This heavyweight, a big redhead, had a pretty good reputation and the word was that he was knocking guys into the parquet seats. So I went down to Lynn to get a look at him,” McMullen told Frank Dyer of The Sun years later. “He ends up fighting a tough looking kid from Brockton and for about two rounds this redhead caught more bombs than you could imagine. Finally, the kid from Brockton caught him with a right and lifted him about a foot off the canvas. Knocked him cold. After the fight I got the kid from Brockton to box in the Golden Gloves.”
Thus it was that on the wintry evening of Monday, February 2nd, Rocco made his debut in Lowell. The late Frank Sargent, who covered the show for The Sun, described his initial appearance thus: “Up from Brockton came Rocco Marckegiano (sic), a heavyweight with a lot of dynamite in his right glove. This boy slugged it out with Dan Solomont of Seekonk, R.I., in the first two minutes of the initial chapter and then caught his foe with a right to the jaw which caused the Rhode Islander to go into a lengthy slumber.”
The compelling photograph which accompanied the article shows the hapless Solomont falling forward with arms spread wide as if in worship, all around him is emptiness, Rocco had already walked away as if he knew his foe was never going to rise before the count reached 10.
Yet despite this conclusive victory, Rocco was not the star of the show, for that honor belonged to the aforementioned Charlie “Chuck” Mortimer, a clean shaven, 19-year-old from Lowell who looked more like a movie star or model than a fighter. McMullen’s protégé seemed, at least on the surface, to have the potential to win the tourney, especially with Girard out of the way.
The publicity machine turned quick for Mortimer thanks in no small part to his victory that same evening, when he scored his own first-round victory over an unfortunate Joe West, therefore being hailed as the “hitter” of the tournament.
“Chuck Mortimer, who simply can’t wait for the call to come out fighting, will finally get his chance. He’ll positively appear against … Rocco Markegiano (sic) … when the heavyweight open contenders close the card. Practically every sports fan in greater-Lowell is anxious to ascertain how hard this highly-touted boy can hit,” wrote Sargent.
So far the script had run to plan, ensuring a local boy was in the final the following Monday, but for McMullen, the local press, and the almost 4,000 spectators who crammed into the Memorial Auditorium, they would have to wait just a little while longer to see if their “highly-touted boy” could blast out this unknown Brockton fighter, who was also able to hit a bit himself.
* Tomorrow: Championship bout
