Spike McFadden

Name: Joe Vidas
Alias: Spike McFadden
Birth Name: Josef Vidas
Hometown: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Birthplace: Zadar, Croatia
Died: 1964-12-14 (Age:71)
Stance: Orthodox
Height: 185cm
Pro Boxer: Record

Manager: Billy McGonigle
Photo #2

Spike McFadden also fought under his given name Joe Vidas, as well as Jack Sullivan and Mack Sullivan. He has a known combined record of 10-17, counting the newspaper decisions, and fought some of the best heavyweights of his day. Four of his losses were to KO Bill (KO) Brennan who was a top heavyweight contender. He also fought Tom Cowler, Floyd Johnson, and Fighting Bob Martin. Although he was a big, strong man, his glass jaw prevented him from becoming a more successful boxer. (He supposedly fought Jack Dempsey in an exhibition bout, but no record of this has been found so far.)

In 1922 he founded the Acme Piano Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1933 Vidas was involved in a massive auto accident in which the piano truck he was riding in overturned, pinning him underneath it. He was taken to Miseracordia Hospital in Philadelphia where doctors told him both legs were severely crushed and would have to be amputated. Vidas refused. Although the doctors told him he would never walk again, Vidas assured them he would. Three years later Joe Vidas proved the doctors wrong when he did indeed walk again. His business, which employed dozens of men, stood as a Philadelphia landmark for 80 years, until it closed in 2002. Joe Vidas fathered ten children, and died in 1964 at the age of 71.