Sammy and Jimmy Pepe, who owned a West End restaurant, trained fighters and were friends with German heavyweight Max Schmeling.  Jo Jo Zeno had training quarters on East Main Street.

Boxing a popular sport in Amsterdam

By Bob Cudmore

   Amsterdam was a boxing mecca in the 1930s and 1940s—a legacy of boxing matches arranged for soldiers at the city’s National Guard Armory, now a boutique hotel called Amsterdam Castle. 

   Fights also were staged at Lanzi’s Arena on Bridge Street by the family who still operates an Amsterdam restaurant called Lorenzo’s South Side.  Sometimes bouts were held at the former junior high school gym on Guy Park Avenue.

   Sammy and Jimmy Pepe, who owned a West End restaurant, trained fighters and were friends with German heavyweight Max Schmeling.  Jo Jo Zeno had training quarters on East Main Street. 

   For many years in the 1990s school teacher George Lazarou wrote a weekly history article in the Amsterdam Recorder called "A bit of reminiscing" and frequently discussed boxing.

   In a 1999 interview for the WMHT-TV documentary Carpet City, Lazarou was asked why boxing thrived in 1930s Amsterdam, “That’s a good question.  All I can say is that we had so many good athletes here.  Great athletes who were proficient in basketball, baseball, softball, hockey.  Boxing was just another sport.”

   Lazarou, who died at age 91 in 2012, was a fighter himself in Amsterdam back in the day.  He was trained by his friend Buddy Benoit.  Benoit had been trained by Jo Jo Zeno.

   Lazarou said, “Buddy Benoit and I went to school together.  He became a professional fighter.  He fought Jake LaMotta and barely lost.  He was that good.”

   Benoit began his boxing career in 1936 when he was 16 years old, according to an article written by Lazarou.  In a span of 11 years Benoit amassed a total of 120 amateur and 76 professional fights. 

   In 1939 Benoit won a decision over another one of Amsterdam’s great fighters, welterweight William “Sailor” Barron.  An estimated 1,600 people jammed into Lanzi’s Arena to watch that match.

   “Sailor” Barron served in the U.S. Navy in World War II.  Lazarou wrote Barron took part in an estimated 500 fights, including bouts when he served in the Navy.  He also worked as a bartender at Schenectady’s Hotel Van Curler and maintained decorum in the movie theater as head usher at the Rialto in Amsterdam.

   Barron died unexpectedly at age 60 in 1950.  Lazarou wrote, “It was said that a chip of Amsterdam died with him.  For such was the image of the man.”

   Lazarou wrote of Benoit, “Turning professional in 1940 and fighting under the name of Buddy O’Dell, he compiled an enviable record of 66 victories, losing a ten round decision to the tough and rugged Jake LaMotta in 1942.”  O’Dell was Benoit’s mother’s maiden name.

   In one of his history books, Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti wrote about Benoit, whose real name was Delor Benoit, Jr.  Benoit’s father had moved to Amsterdam from Canada and worked in one of the carpet mills.

   Benoit survived the sinking of the USS Princeton during World War II in the battle of Leyte Gulf off the Philippines. 

   After his boxing career Benoit lived in California, according to Cinquanti, and became a claims adjuster for an insurance company.  The former boxer died in 2014.

   In another article about Amsterdam boxers from the 1930s, Lazarou listed some of the names of local fighters of that day: Matt and Dominick Perfetti, Sammy Crocetti, “Measles” Raco, Carl Palombo, Frank Piccola, Vic Rodrigo, Shorty Persico, Tony Squillace, Freddy and Dunk Baia, Pete and John Duchessi, Buddy Lenahan, Johnny Carp, Matty Syzdek, Tony Conti, Joe Nagorka, Cliff Gaskins, Buddy Lenahan, Mickey DeBerry, Young Rappo, Frankie and Tony Marcellino. Amsterdam Mixed Martial Arts fighter “Tommy Gunnz” Marcellino is related to Frankie and Tony Marcellino. 

Monday, April 24, 2023-Story behind the story(Monday Podcast)Boxing a popular Amsterdam sport.

Tuesday, April 25, 2023-The family who built Amsterdam-From the Archives of Focus on History from the Daily Gazette

Wednesday, April 26, 2023-Robin Oliveira discusses her book “Winter Sisters,” set in Albany, N.Y., in 1879.  Oliveira grew up in the Albany area and is also author of a novel about a Civil War physician, “My Name is Mary Sutter.”  Sutter is a major character in “Winter Sisters.”

Thursday, April 27, 2023-A replacement soldier.

Friday, April 28, 2023-Episode 472-In Unearthed Meryl Frank tells the story of her cousin Frany Winter, a celebrated Yiddish actress in Vilna in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust.  Frank spent many years researching how her cousin Frany died.

Unearthed is the story of Meryl’s search for Franya and a timely history of hatred and resistance. Through archives across four continents, by way of chance encounters and miraculous discoveries, and eventually, guided by the shocking truth recorded in the pages of the forbidden book, Meryl conjures the rogue spirit of her cousin—her beauty and her tragedy.

Bob Cudmore "History stories from The Mohawk Valley"

Email [email protected]

Author Mark Dawidziak investigates Edgar Allan Poe’s strange death in Baltimore, and revisits the moments of his storm-tossed life in his book A Mystery of Mysteries: The Death and Life of Edgar Allan Poe.

Mohawk Valley Weekend Weather, Sunday, April 23, 2023

Leader Herald Make Us A Part Of Your Day

https://www.leaderherald.com/