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Jim Restauri is an Altoona native, a former State College resident, a former walk-on for Penn State football and a past national boxing champion. Now, the fourth generation Italian American is set to be inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame, Pittsburgh Chapter, on Aug. 4 at the LeMont Restaurant in Pittsburgh. “It means a...

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Jerry Pellegrini, one of the top professional boxers ever to come out of the New Orleans area, died Tuesday. He was 78. Pellegrini’s daughter Dawn confirmed his death in a Facebook post Thursday morning. Pellegrini began to fight professionally as a teenager, but that came a year after he started his other profession as a barber, which gave him the...

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Legendary Italian American boxer Rocky Marciano held the heavyweight boxing title from 1952 to 1956. He is the only heavyweight champion to have finished his career undefeated. He had 43 knockout wins and won all 49 of his professional fights. Rocky was knocked down only twice in his entire professional career. Many boxing fans say that Muhammad Al...

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Francesco Ricchi carries the Italian flag with pride. Ricchi was born in Naples, Italy. Although he moved to the United States with his family when he was seven years old, he’s very proud of his Italian roots, and tries to make it back to his country of origin as much as possible. “I’ve adapted to the American culture, of course, but I still feel v...

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With the Great Depression and Second World War firmly in its rear-view mirror, the 1950s saw the United States of America finally transition into a state of normality. Poverty had evolved into prosperity, radios made way for TVs and most importantly, life, which had been rife with uncertainty, was simple again.  It was an age that embodied the Amer...

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Practically until the end of his life, Les Bonano was engaged in his passion for boxing. Just days before he died Sunday at age 79, Bonano completed negotiations with Don King for Jonathan Guidry of Dulac to fight for the NABF heavyweight championship on June 11 in Miami. “I’m not doing too good, but we were able to make the deal because King likes...

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The team at Hardcore Italians, led by Mike Carioscia Jr., a Shopify expert and brand builder, has added another feather to their hat as the entertainment website was recently recognized at the “Night At The Fights,” an event hosted by the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (NIASHOF) in Chicago. The historic night, which was the first box...

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Lightweight champion Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini will be the guest of honor at the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame’s Night at the Fights on May 5 at the Des Plaines Theatre. Olympic medalist Antonio Tarver, Junior Welterweight champ Paul “Paulie” Malignaggi and WBC Lightweight champ David Diaz will also attend, and entertainment will be p...

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First-generation, Italian American Jake LaMotta is remembered for his hall of fame boxing career, securing the middleweight championship in spectacular fashion at Madison Square Gardens in NYC on June 16, 1949.  LaMotta survived a turbulent upbringing in the Bronx, experiencing a rough, seedy and even criminal early life as a teenager and into his...

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New York columnist Mel Heimer met Brooklyn middleweight Jerry Fiorello about a week before Fiorello died, near the end of September, 1947. Fiorello was 29 years old. They met in Ann Lano’s dance studio on Madison Avenue. Heimer described Fiorello as being a physical impressive guy with “big shoulders” and “big hands.” He had “dark, curly hair and t...

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