Hvywt Charley Norkus photos.. Friends and Foes

[Expug]

Fantastic shots.This is a treasure.
Thanks again for posting and sharing all this.
Your Father enjoyed a fascinating life.A tremendous man.

[CNorkusJr]

The above is some hardware my father earned in the amateurs

Top red/white/blue ribbon is All US Service Boxing Champion Medal

to the right are the two NY Golden Gloves participant medals:
one reads on back-"Charles Norkus 175 lb sub-novice 1945"
the other reads-"1946 175 open class Charles Norkus"

The small gold chained medal is "United States Navy 1948"
(enlarged below ruler) backs says "Navy Olympic Boxing C.Norkus"


Large silver medal with large N: All Navy Medal
back reads "participant Heavyweight Boxing Meet 1947 San Diego"
My father won the All Navy Heavyweight Championship there.

below that (above ruler) Silver Gloves with Ruby chip
won for 2nd place 1946 NY Golden Gloves 175 lbs class
my father was unable to fight in finals due to sickness. Golden Glove Heavy winner Bobby Isler won on disq by my father, Charley got 2nd place.
(enlarged below ruler)

[CNorkusJr]

The above is Charley Norkus's AAU card (license). on back of this particular card is about 25 amateur fights recorded for the record.

On right is 3 NY Boxing licenses as a pro (late 50's).

[CNorkusJr]

Some of Charlie's NY State Refereeing licenses (various years 1974-1993)

[CNorkusJr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I92DaFxHJc

Here is link to "Splendor In The Grass" New Years Party scene

Charley first appears at the 4:55 min mark coming out of mens room with grinning face after Barbara Loden walks in and out.

6:20 mark Billy Graham and Charley with group of guys on porch

8:28- 9:00 mark fight scene, listen to Billy and Charley's first names mentioned as they beat up Beatty.

[CNorkusJr]

Here is a set of muscians and actors my father met along the way:




Jerry Lewis and Charley Norkus, Town & Country Niteclub ,Brooklyn NY 1961

[CNorkusJr]

Buddy Bendick, Charley, Ray Milland 1971

[CNorkusJr]

The hilarious Ritz Brothers, Charley at Town & Country niteclub

[CNorkusJr]

Henny Youngman and Charley in Miami, after Charley's 2nd fight with danny Nardico March 1954

[CNorkusJr]

Boxer Charley Norkus stepping out about 1953

[CNorkusJr]

Actor Wilhem DeFoe and NYS Referee Charley Norkus, Felt Forum,NY
early 1980's

[CNorkusJr]

Artist and Boxing Hall Of Famer Leroy Nieman & Charley Norkus
Madison Square Garden, NY early 1980's

[The Great John L]

He looks a little like Liam Neeson in that photo.

Thanks again for your contributions.

Boxer Charley Norkus stepping out about 1953

[CNorkusJr]

Thanks, He not around to hear that compliment, but if he was we would never hear the end of it from him. It was bad enough he was a cameo in those great pictures in the past, and I remember him kidding me I owed him money every time I took a picture of him at family functions. LOL. The bow-tie he has on was probably one out of the box he got for doing the Slim-Jim Bow-tie ad seen on a previous page.
I dont mind telling you that for as long as I known my father, he always was a suit and tie guy wherever he went. He always told me that you never know who you might run into. Thats the kind of life he had too. We always had a middle-class life here on Long Island, but my father would come home on some days and say-"Guess who I was with today ?". Then take out a picture with him and somebody famous.
What I thought was interesting, was not that he knew and met these people much later on after his boxing career, but all these people knew him or knew of him because of who he was.
As is son, I viewed him as a loving father who worked as a Liquor Salesman to Restaurants and Bars here on Long Island. It was pretty cool though to go to many establishments with my friends to eat or drink and to find an autographed boxing photo of my father hanging at the end of the bar. Obviously another account that I was unaware of.

[CNorkusJr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e-B5h98CIw

I thought this might be an interesting thing to post here.
1971 Tonite Show hosted by Burt Reynolds

Courtesy of my good friend, Henry Hascup Pres. NJ Boxing Hall of Fame

[CNorkusJr]

Marine PFC Charles Norkus about 1945

[CNorkusJr]

[CNorkusJr]

Former NY Giants Football star Dick Lynch, Writer Bill Gallo, Charley, writer Dick Young

[CNorkusJr]

Victory Party after Charley Norkus win over Cesar Brion

At the famed Metropole 7th ave & 48th St , NYC

[CNorkusJr]

Two very rare photos found deep in the files today:

Miami Beach January 1954
Danny Nardico & Charley Norkus cross paths in the gym prior to their first meeting a day or two later.
You can see here the size edge Norkus had on Nardico.
Norkus 197 Nardico 181 for the fight.
Danny moved up in weight after fighting Lt-heavy for most of his career.
There was talk in sports pages that Danny was getting a shot at Rocky Marciano if he can past Norkus. This was common scenario during these years with Charley's career.

[CNorkusJr]

This photo is from the Charley Norkus vs. Charlie Powell fight the first time they met in Oct. 1954 San Francisco CA.
Norkus lands a big right on Powell. This photo was on the cover of the newspapers in San Francisco the day after the fight, as well as the back pages of sports throughout the country. Norkus upset the undefeated Powell in their first meeting.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's there was a push by the federal gov't. to possibly ban boxing in the US due to the amount of ring deaths and sports head injuries that were occuring from boxing. Pugilistic Dementia was not defined yet as what it is known today,but medical people had associated boxing to the speech impediment and mental lapses in boxers.
This photo was introduced in evidence as "proof" of head blows in boxing. Surely we all have seen other similar photos taken of other fighters with the same distorted features. Though I dont have the official story of the congressional meetings, obviously nothing came of it. Not even a Federal Commission on Boxing.

[L. Norkus]

Hey Charley We met last wed. night. Sorry I couldn't;t make it sat. but we had a football game in the afternoon. When your new found cousins finally got home they couldn't stop talking about you(bet you know which one) I watched the DVDs as soon as I got them. Great stuff!!!!! THanks

[hhascup]

Ring 8 meeting at the Waterfront Crabhouse Restaurant, Queens NY
July 1991

(l-r) Charley, Tippy Larkin, Johnny Busso, Sandy Saddler, Johnny Squieres,
Crabhouse owner and Ring 8 Pres. Tony Mazzarella, Patsey Giovanelli
Seated: Tami Mauriello

Tony still owns the Waterfront Crabhouse and NY's Ring 8 meetings still meet upstairs one a month. Matt Farrago "The Beta Bomber" is the present day President.

Charlie, these are Great!

There is a small correction, it's Billy Kilroy not Johnny Busso, who is standing between Larkin and Saddler.

[CNorkusJr]

Thank You Henry. The correction is duly noted.

[CNorkusJr]

It is with sincere regret that I inform you that Danny Nardico has passed away at his home in California. He was a warrior in the ring and the two fights he had against my father were still talked about by boxing journalists today.The Norkus Family passes along Our Sincerest Sympathies to The Family of Danny Nardico- A true boxing Legend of his Era.
Here is an article by Keith Morelli-Tampa Tribune.


Daniel R. "Danny" Nardico was awarded the Silver Star on Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands on May 2, 1945, during World War II, while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Silver Star is the third highest medal awarded by the Corps for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. His legs bore the scars of his war-time experience. Commenting on going into professional boxing, "After World War II, everything in life is a cakewalk."


The only fighter to deck former world middleweight champion Jake LaMotta, Nardico was furious when the movie, Raging Bull, failed to mention his knockdown of LaMotta.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta3GFGc2 ... embedded#1

Danny Nardico, former boxer from Tampa, dies at 85
By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

In his 85 years, Daniel R. "Danny" Nardico had seen the horrors of war and stared down a raging bull in the boxing ring. The former U.S. Marine veteran who won the Silver Star for valor in Okinawa during World War II and professional fighter who boxed out of Tampa in the early 1950s, died on Nov. 22 in California.

He is credited with being the only fighter to legitimately knock out Jake LaMotta, the brash middleweight and light-heavyweight champion from the Bronx. The fight was in Coral Gables on New Year's Eve 1952 and was the first professional boxing match fought in Florida televised to a national audience. At the time, Nardico was ranked fifth in the world in the light-heavyweight division.

The match was part of a 67-fight career for Nardico which included 50 wins, 35 by knockout, 13 losses and four draws over five years ending in 1954.

A career in pugilism was no big deal, Nardico said after moving to Tampa to launch his life in the ring.

"After World War II," he was quoted as saying, "everything in life is a cakewalk."

According to BoxRec.com, an online boxing encyclopedia, Nardico used a right hook to deck LaMotta in the seventh round of the 10-round light-heavyweight bout. The bout is available on YouTube and shows Nardico pummeling LaMotta after the knockdown, as LaMotta held on to the ropes to keep his balance. LaMotta left his guard down for clear shots to the head. Still, he did not go down again before the bell.

LaMotta's corner stopped the fight before the eighth round began.

LaMotta was the subject of a Martin Scorsese movie, "The Raging Bull", but there was no mention of Nardico's knockdown, which made Nardico furious, BoxRec.com said.

Nardico's daughter, Danella Plum, who lives in California, said her father died Nov. 22.

"I remember my father as being as strong as an ox, just strong but tenderhearted," she said. "He also was a godly man with a strong faith. He had a hard exterior but inside, he was as soft as a marshmallow.

"Everybody loved him," she said. "Through the years, he made a lot of friends. He was fortunate to be surrounded by so many people that loved him."

She has fond memories growing up in Tampa with a father who was a professional fighter.

"As a little girl," she said, "I recalled my dad faithfully working out to stay fit and sometimes when he had exhausted all the weights, he'd actually use me instead.

"I remember the neighborhood kids peering in under the garage door as my dad would lift me above his head over and over again."

"I remember when he got his cauliflower ear from a hard fight and his manager bringing him home, laying him on the sofa," she said, "and letting loose a whole jar full of colorful leeches to suck out some of the excessive fluids."

Plum said that while his boxing career brought him some measure of fame, it was his actions in World War II and later Korea that defined his life.

"His bravery began much earlier when he entered the U.S. Marines and fought in the Korean War, winning two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star at the age of 18 for his, 'brave actions while serving as a squad leader in a Marine rifle platoon on Okinawa Shima, Ryukyu Islands on May 2, 1945.' "

She said Nardico moved his family from California to Tampa five years later and launched his boxing career under the management of Willie Pep, himself a former boxing champion.

During his boxing career, Nardico twice fought Charley Norkus, a top-ranked heavyweight who outweighed Nardico by nearly 20 pounds. Norkus won both fights, the first by a TKO in the ninth round. "The fight," according to BoxRec.com, "was a thriller with eight knockdowns."

The fight was so bloody, Plum said, that two months later, when the two boxed again, ringside spectators brought newspapers to protect themselves from being splattered by blood. Norkus won that bout by decision.

Plum said her father was honored in 1996 by the Veteran Boxers Association which called him a "great competitor, a dynamic puncher, a credit to the boxing game and yet a very mild-mannered gentleman."

After his boxing career, he served as the recreational director of the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City for 13 years.

When Nardico retired, he and his wife Rachael of 42 years moved to Cool, Calif.

Plum said his last few years of his life, her father suffered from Alzheimer's disease, believed to have stemmed from the hard blows to the head accumulated throughout his short boxing career.