On Sept. 1, 1923 Mr. and Mrs. Pierino Marchegiano of Brockton, MA became the proud parents of a lively twelve pound baby boy. The child was named Rocco Marchegiano, but the world would one day know him as the legendary boxer Rocky Marciano.
When "bambino Rocco" was 18 months of age, he contracted pneumonia. Although the infection nearly killed him, his exceptionally strong constitution enabled him to survive without impairment.
As a pre-teenager, Rocky relished his mother's Italian cooking so much he bordered on being stocky. This was underscored by his relatively short but muscular arms and legs. However, even at this young age, his overall bearing suggested exceptional physical strength.
Throughout his teenage years, Rocky took great advantage of living across the street from the James Edgar Playground, where he especially enjoyed playing baseball. It was during this period that he began the habit of exercising to his limit." After spending countless hours hitting and chasing after baseballs, he would often go home and do chinups and lift homemade weights until he was totally fatigued."
After supper, "Rocky and his pals often spent hours pummelling a stuffed mail sack that hung from an oak tree in the Marchegiano's back yard....In hot weather, they usually finished their workouts by racing over to Saxton's Spring to get a cold drink of water."
Unfortunately, Rocky's experience of growing up in a multi-ethnic, working-class setting contributed to his involvement in a number of "altercations." Although most were territorial battles that took place at James Edgar Field, some occurred well beyond....
Even prior to his teenage years, Rocky's reputation for being a "really tough Italian kid" extended all the way over to the Bush, Brockton's Irish section. However, by the time he was 14, Rocky's notoriety as a baseball slugger began to overtake his reputation as a slugger with his fists.
The legend of his athletic prowess began at age 15 when, as cleanup batter on the local American Legion team, he blasted a towering home run over the left field fence at James Edgar Playground. It landed on the front porch of a slightly irate neighbor.
At age 15, Rocky entered Brockton High School - an institution with a nationally prestigious football tradition. Error! Bookmark not defined. Rocky's favorite subjects were Italian and Manual Training. And, except for a rather erratic scholastic record, all went reasonably well for him - at first.
Babe Ruth is still a very well-known person in history today, even almost one-hundred years later. He did not only change the way people viewed negro baseball leagues, but he also gained a large reputation for his ability to play baseball, obviously due to his amazing abilities. Ruth’s ability to play was almost impossibly good, in fact, he was even titled “athlete of the century” for his ability. With that ability and power that he had once he won, he would become a
games? Or did Phil Niekro consult and give R.A. Dickey pitching lessons on a regular basis to teach him
He was 6 feet 4 inches tall and weighed 220 pounds. He was and still is the biggest shortstop in major league history. He is the only shortstop ever to hit 20 or more home runs in 10 straight seasons.
Tagged by the neighbor kids as hillbillies, Hoffa won respect and acceptance with his fists.
caloric intake and no lifting program. Once they built a base of lean body mass they could
James Braddock took his father’s lessons to heart when he practiced fighting in the old schoolyard before he reached his teenage years. He practiced for several years to be an amateur fighter. When Braddock first started boxing he avoided professional competitions for two years. Instead, they froze the title, which means Braddock earned money touring the country giving public appearances and boxing exhibitions. In 1926, he entered the professional boxing circuit in the light heavyweight division. Braddock started out well, knocking out opponent after opponent in the first few rounds.
When Pauley catches Rocky and Adrian talking about him, he breaks down and blames everyone for where he’s at in his life. He claims he sacrifices everything for everyone and gets nothing in return (Winkler et al., 1976). Rocky is not very confident and doesn’t think he is capable of much. When he’s being offered the title fight, he is not confident and wants to turn it down (Winkler et al., 1976). Neither of them are a positive person. I judged Mick on his relationship with Rocky, where he seemed noxious. He is always showing how disappointed in Rocky. Until Rocky got his title shot, he never said anything nice to him. Even then he made the comment that “there are other fighters that are better, it’s freak luck” (Winkler et al., 1976). Adrian was the only one I felt was more of a nourishing person. She was very good for Rocky and brought out a better side of him. He was able to open up to her and she would listen to him. After listening to reporter make fun of him he told her and Pauley it didn’t bother him. He later opened up and told her that “the stuff on the TV did bother me” (Winkler et al.,
Al Capone wasn’t from a well to do family but he wasn’t, by any means, poor. His father was one of the thousands of Italian immigrants that came to the US, he was thirty years of age, educated, from the Naples and earned a living as a Barber. Capone’s mother was pregnant with him at the time and was taking care of his two brothers, two year old Vincenzo and infant Raffaele. Alphonese Capone was born on January 17, 1899. His family moved to an ethnically mixed neighborhood which equipped Capone with the means to run a criminal empire. Capone attended a Catholic school and suffered from a poor education and violence. At around this time he met his friend Johnny Torrio.
Al Capone, probably the most notorious and well known gangster in history, was born in 1887 in Naples, Italy. His father, Gabriel Caponi, immigrated to Brooklyn from the slums of Naples in 1910. After he came here he changed his last name too Capone too blend in more. Al Capone’s gang activities started out when he was young. He was in the Five Points Gang, who were known for their violence. The gang’s tradition was to scar their victims with a knife cut from the outside corners of their eyes to their ears.
Crack! Back, back, back the ball goes. Home run! Who hit it? It was Jackie Robinson, the first black baseball player in the major league. Many people would agree Jackie was one of the best players to ever swing a bat. However, he faced many difficulties on his journey to becoming a professional baseball player. Without Jackie playing in the pros, baseball and civil rights wouldn’t be the way it is today. Baseball may have taken a long time to not be made up of mainly white players. Jackie was a beacon of hope to black people in the fact that they could compete and succeed in a white man’s sport.
Jeffers, N. (n.d.). Training youths for a sound future in athletics. Intensity Magazine. Retrieved March 17, 2004, from http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/inmag51.htm
He was born in Mobile, Alabama called “Down the Bay” on February 5, 1934. His real name was Henry Louis Aaron. He was the third of eight children. His mother’s name was Estella and his father’s name was Herbert. His dad was a tavern owner and a dry dock boilermaker’s assistant. His mother did not have a job until Hank was older. He lived in a town where there was segregation. Hank lived where it was rural and it was a lowly populated town. The town was fueled by a migration of farm workers looking for city work. Hank took an early interest in sports. Although the family had little money, and Hank took several jobs to try to help out, he spent a lot of time playing baseball at a neighborhood park. He had jobs such as mowing lawns, picking potatoes, and delivering ice. He started to love the game when his father’s local team formed out of the tavern he opened next to the family house called The Black Cat Inn. He played baseball with the local kids in the wide open fields. Until too many children to take care of at home, his mother worked in one of Mobile’s white households, where work was available for blacks as maids and cooks. Hank and his family moved to Toulminville, right outside of Mobile, at the age of eight.
Rocky deliberately avoided the old time ways … he called it superstition.”(Silko, 51) By showing us how Rocky deliberately avoids the ways of his people, the traditions of his own family, Silko highlights the push for Native Americans to essentially become white. Rocky represents an entire generation that is being told that they need to completely renounce their way of life in order to be accepted by modern society. Part of this acceptance was also promised through participating in World War Two, as shown through the army recruiter “Anyone can fight for America… even you boys. In a time of need anyone can fight for her.”(Silko, 64) Silko uses the recruiter as a voice for opinions in the US, enticing its alienated cultures with a kind of equality. As the audience, we clearly know it is a temporary change, and Silko highlights this by mentioning “In a time of need”, but Rocky, a person already trying to embrace change, sees this as a chance to become equal to the whites. He as well as many others are fooled by the whites into thinking that positive change is happening, ironically, this promise of a better life leads to his fate. In a jungle nowhere near home, participating in a war, having nothing to do with his people, Rocky dies as a white man. By ending Rocky’s life in this way, Silko allows