Pete DeGrasse
Name: Pete DeGrasse
Hometown: Brooklyn, New York, USA
Birthplace: Cornwall, Ontario, Canada
Height: 165cm
Pro Boxer: Record
Division: Featherweight
Managers: Mack Gray; Harry Levy, Vera DeGrasse (sister, circa 1934)
Pete DeGrasse Image Gallery
Pete DeGrasse (exact date of birth unknown) was sometimes described in the Montreal newspapers as a St. Regis Indian fighter. According to the July 14, 1932 Montreal Gazette, he was born on an Indian Reservation near Cornwall. And he was reported as a Mohawk Indian by the October 8, 1938 Los Angeles Times.
In fact, according a New York Daily News article of the early 1950s (exact date unknown), DeGrasse had been born on the St. Regis Reservation, Ottawa, Canada, and brought by his family to Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, when he was two-years-old. "A product of the Trinity Club, Pete had 90 amateur bouts before turning pro, making his total run on the ring warpath 271 bouts, from 1926 to 1941, when Uncle Sam put him in uniform, He won 75% of his matches." "Time and punches slowed Pete down in 1937 and in the ensuing years he was being licked by fellows who, in his heydey, couldn't touch him. He served in the Army for three years."
DeGrasse moved to Los Angeles circa 1935, and was stationed there during World War II. He appeared in several motion pictures, including Rose Marie, Spawn of the North (released in 1938), and The Last of the Mohicans--according to that 1950s New York Daily News article. He supposedly also had a bit part in the 1938 motion picture Mr. Moto's Gamble.
After his boxing career, he was employed as a clerk at the post office located at 33rd St. and 9th Ave. in Flatbush, Brooklyn. He married a Hopi Indian woman, Little Feather, and they had a daughter (Mary) and son (Peter). He died at age 57 of a heart attack (exact year, and date in very early March, unknown).
Early unverified bouts from the Everlast Boxing Record (1930 edition) are as follows: 1928 (but possibly occurring in 1927): Eddie Enos, W Points 4; Mickey Carlo, W Points 4; Eddie Enos (a second time), W Points 4; Tony Cassio, W KO 2; Mickey Doyle, W Points 4.