Sunday, September 23, 2018-Magic 590 radio Talk of the Town with Bob Cudmore features an interview with Daily Gazette news columnist Sara Foss.
Historians Podcast Episode 233 David Fiske talks about a story he wrote for New York History Blog describing Charles Zimmy’s epic Hudson River swim from Albany to Manhattan in 1937.
Bob Cudmore’s Focus on History in the Daily Gazette recounts Amsterdam’s boxing tradition.
Monday, September 24, 2018-On the Story Behind The Story podcast a look at the tradition of boxing and now mixed martial arts in Amsterdam.
Tommy “Gunnz” Marcellino’s career as a mixed martial arts fighter and promoter is the latest story in Amsterdam’s long fighting tradition. New York state legalized mixed martial arts in 2017 and Marcellino then won a bout at Madison Square Garden.
Marcellino has had nine career wins, five losses. His paternal grandfather, Tony, and grand uncle Frank (Aldo) were well known on the Amsterdam boxing scene.
Many of Amsterdam’s pugilists were Italian-American. Sammy and Jimmy Pepe, who operated a popular West Main Street restaurant, trained fighters at the Mount Carmel Athletic Club in the basement of a former church building on the South Side. Jo Jo Zeno had training quarters at his Ringside Athletic Club on East Main Street.
Former World Heavyweight Champion Rocky Marciano was 35 when he visited Amsterdam for two public appearances in 1958.
A police-escorted convoy took the champ to the Tryon Theatre on East Main Street where a few hundred excited youngsters asked questions and posed for photographs.
That night, Marciano spoke at a dinner sponsored by the St. Michael’s Church Holy Name Society at St. John’s Hall on Park Hill, now the local Elks lodge.
Mayor Thomas Gregg talked of his own boxing exploits. Gregg said in his last fight he was knocked out of the ring without touching the ropes. Also on hand was former boxer Bob Pastor, then living in Saratoga Springs, who lost two bouts to Joe Louis in the 1930s.
Among local boxers attending Marciano’s talk were Frank Marcellino, “Sailor” Barron, “Measles” Rocco, “Pinky” Palmer and John “Duke” Duchessi, father of city development director and former mayor John Duchessi, Jr. Duchessi senior won an early televised fight on WRGB in Schenectady in 1942.
The former Mayor’s uncle, Peter Duchessi, was also known as “Duke” on the local boxing scene. For many years Peter Duchessi operated a store specializing in imported foods from Italy and elsewhere.
“Sailor” Barron at one time headed the usher corps at the Rialto Theatre on Market Street, according to historian Hugh Donlon.
Donlon wrote, “Barron’s ring expertise enabled him to administer fistic anesthesia to potential troublemakers so quietly that there was no awareness of the operation by most patrons.”
Boxing was so popular in Amsterdam that 8,000 fans attended the city playground championship at Lynch School fields in the 1930s. In one of many bouts held behind Luigi Lanzi’s tavern on the South Side, the press of the crowd collapsed a wooden fence around the arena.
BOBBY STEWART
In 1974, Amsterdam native and Tribes Hill resident Bobby Stewart won the National Golden Gloves Tournament, an amateur event, as a light heavyweight, beating Mike Dokes in Denver, Colorado.
Stewart turned professional and won 13 of his 16 fights. Retired from the ring, in 1976 he was a counselor at the former Tryon School, a facility in Perth for young people in trouble with the law.
Mike Tyson, a street tough from Brooklyn, was a Tryon inmate and wanted Stewart to train him. He even acted up so he could get transferred to Elmwood, the cottage at Tryon that housed the toughest young males where Stewart was assigned.
After a few months training Tyson, Stewart took him to Catskill, where his skills could be assessed by trainer Constantine “Cus” D’Amato.
D’Amato pronounced that barring outside distractions, Tyson would become world heavyweight champion.
D’Amato adopted the young fighter after Tyson’s mother died. Tyson did become heavyweight champion in 1985 shortly after D’Amato died. The boxer’s life since has been marred by a rape conviction and other outrageous acts, including biting the ears of opponent Evander Holyfield in 1997.
Bob Cudmore is a freelance columnist. Opinions expressed in his column are his own and not necessarily the newspaper’s. Anyone with a suggestion for a Focus on History topic may contact him at 346-6657 or bobcudmore@yahoo.com.
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FORT HUNTER — Travis Bowman, senior curator from the New York State Bureau of Historic Sites, will be giving a discussion on “Epizooty! The Great Horse Influenza and the Erie Canal” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, September 25, 2018 in the Enders House adjacent to the Schoharie Crossing Visitor Center, 129 Schoharie St. The discussion will be preceded by a brief meeting of the Friends of Schoharie Crossing. Refreshments will be served following the discussion. All are welcome---Call Ahead Leader Herald http://www.leaderherald.com/news/in-brief/2018/09/the-great-horse-influenza-and-the-erie-canal-discussion-slated/
FORT PLAIN — The Fort Plain Free Library will key in on actor Tom Hanks’ first foray into fiction writing with a free late-September book discussion at the 19 Willett St. library. The free forum addressing Hanks’ collection of short stories, “Uncommon Type: Some Stories,” will be facilitated by State University at Albany film lecturer and author Audrey Kupferberg on September 30, 2018 beginning at 3 p.m. Leader Herald http://www.leaderherald.com/news/in-brief/2018/09/group-to-discuss-tom-hanks-stories/
The Adirondack History Museum has announced their annual Historian’s Day event has been set for Friday, October 12, 2018 from 10 am to 2 pm. This years theme is “Researching Diversity in the Adirondacks” and will feature three guest presenters. Presenters Don Papson, Melissa Otis, and Margaret Bartley will discuss techniques and practices for researching minority populations of the past in the Adirondacks. Papson, one of the founders of the North Star Underground Railroad Museum. NYHB https://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2018/09/19/adirondack-diversity-research-focus-of-historians-day/
The Palatine Settlement Society has invited the public to its annual “Afternoon at the Tavern” on Saturday, October 13, 2018 from 1 to 4 pm, at the historic 1747 Nellis Tavern on State Route 5 in St. Johnsville, Montgomery County, NY. NYHB https://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2018/09/20/historic-nellis-tavern-fundraiser-sat-oct-13th/
CANAJOHARIE — David Brooks, the education director at Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, will speak about at the similarities and differences between DeWitt Clinton and George Washington as they navigate the waters of internal improvements in early America at 6 p.m. on October 24, 2018 at the Arkell Museum and Canajoharie Library, 2 Erie Blvd.
The Historians on the radio each Saturday at 8:40 on WCSS Amsterdam 106.9FM and 1490AM and on line http://www.wcss1490.com/
Jason Subik Show on WCSS Radio 106.9FM and 1490AM
https://www.facebook.com/jason.subik
Hear local talk radio focusing on Amsterdam and the Mohawk Valley with Jason Subik. Jason is on the air from 9-10 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 9-11 a.m. on Tuesday on WCSS 1490 AM and 106.9 FM. Jason is also a reporter for the Daily Gazette.
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