Schenectady Sluggers, Part 3: Joseph "Pep" Cassillo and His Outdoor Boxing Ring in the East Front Street Neighborhood

This post was written by SCHS member Mary Ann Ruscitto. It is a continuation of the Schenectady Sluggers series which focuses on boxers in Schenectady. Here is Part 1 and Part 2.

As you may know or maybe you don’t know I live in my Grandfather Gaetano Ruscitto's house. This house has been in our family about 110 years! Living in this house and in the East Front St. neighborhood for the better part of my life I have heard the stories. I have heard the stories about the ALCO and all the foot traffic that was seen when the whistle blew signaling that the work day was done. I also heard the stories about how there used to be many taverns in the East Front Street area and how the guys from the ALCO would stop for a drink after work. I heard about the “bookie joint” on Jefferson St. and was told never to go into that building when I was a kid. I remember the trains coming down to Front St. and into Sheldon's hay grain and feed store and how there was a turn-about in the back of their property near the John St. Side. I can still hear my Mom saying to me “Don’t talk to the trainmen!!” But, they were so nice and they used to give us kids big pieces of chalk! 


Oh such great memories. What prompted this story is the request from Mike Maloney the Librarian/Archivist from the Schenectady County Historical Society (the hidden gem of Schenectady) I kept mentioning to him that there was an outdoor boxing ring on the eastside of Front St. has he ever seen any information on it. As I started thinking about the rumors of this outdoor ring I started remembering the stories I used to hear my Dad and his friends talk about and never really paid attention to until lately. My father and his friends talk about boxing. I can still remember them all gathering at our house, I believe it was on a Friday night, to watch the boxing matches on this little TV screen. They would have such a great time. Did you know that the first fight that was ever televised was aired here in Schenectady New York in the studios of WRGB!  As the Saratogian Reported on October 10, 1942; three Saratoga fighters win on first televised boxing card in history. They were Henry Johnson, Jimmy Beach, and Ben Dowen. Joseph “Pep” Cassillo arranged the bouts under the sponsorship of AAU and WRGB. “Pep” as he was known in and around boxing was the person who was instrumental in starting the outdoor boxing ring in the East Front St. neighborhood.

The pictures are from the personal scrap book of “Peps” wife Mary Casillo

As I grew older I realized that boxing had an even bigger presence in our neighborhood and in my life. My best friend Daniel Barone’s dad was a boxer! They lived right next door to us on Front St. I would hear the adults telling stories about boxing but really never paid attention. Because in 1947 when Tony Barone was boxing Danny and I were just mere infants! As I asked the questions to prepare for this story I found out that “Pep” was Tony’s trainer until he decided to go pro. 

Tony Barone

As The Kingston Daily Freemen, Kingston NY, Tuesday Evening May 13, 1947 edition reported with
a headline that “ROCKY GRAZIANO TO ATTEND LOCAL BOXING CARD” The newspaper goes on to say that “indications that there will be a capacity crowd at the Tony Barone-Eddie Morton match here Thursday night and among the fans at the ringside in the municipal auditorium will be ROCKY GRAZIANO. The contender for the middleweight championship of the world told a Freemen sports writer that he will attend the local fistic show to take a peek at Tony Barone. It seems that the Schenectady Welterweight’s ability to reach the finals in the national AAU tournament at Boston has been acting as a magnet in drawing the attention of men in the professional field.

The KINGSTON DAILY FREEMEN goes on to report that on Friday Evening May 16, 1947 Rocky Graziano shows up for the Barone-Mortan fracas. He sat quietly through the pre-lims but left during the semi-finals. Had he remained he would have witnessed a contest that for sheer intensity, ferocity and cold-blooded dramatics was without parallel in amateur boxing. Barone chopped the deciding bout in the three with Morton by a split decision. The paper states that when the final records of classic boxing brawls is written you will find the match between Tony Barone and Eddie Morton close to the top of the list. 

Mary, Pep, and Angie

Now this leads me to another person in my life that I have heard stories about and just never paid much attention to. You know that old saying is “if I could just sit down with these people one more time and hear the stories.” Anyway, my Godparents Alfred and Angelina (Maiello) Villano had family that they were very close to. Their names were Joseph “PEP” and Mary (Maiello) Cassillo. I would hear the conversations about boxing but never paid attention.

Mary Cassillo, “Peps” wife and my Godmother Angie were Sisters some people said they looked like twins. They were two short little munchkins that were very attractive and adored their husbands. Pep was a man of strong build and I remember him to be very quiet and attentive to his wife and children. They had four children, Marilyn (Cassillo) Cardinal, and Paul, Donna, and Joe Cassillo. 

This article is from the private collection of Mary Cassillo “Pep Cassillo's

wife it was not noted who wrote this.

Joseph “Pep” Cassillo’s life started in the East Front St. Neighborhood at 320 Front St. His mother lived on Madison St. and “Pep” with his wife Mary when they first got married lived on Front St. Their daughter Marilyn was born on Front St. and as his family grew he moved to Avenue A in Schenectady, NY and then on to Maple Ave. in Glenville NY.

Marilyn Cassillo Cardinal and Joe Cassillo at the Erie Blvd Arena

The way Paul Cassillo (“Peps” youngest son) tells the story to me is that the house at 320 Front St. was a two family house his Uncle and Aunt Andy and Mary Cassillo lived up and his Father and Mother lived downstairs and the property behind this house extended to Erie Blvd. This property is in the area next to the old Coyne Laundry which is now a vacant piece of property. This is where the Erie Boulevard Arena was located. There used to be a bath house at 1311 Erie Blvd that the boxers would use to prepare for their fights. Then they would go from the bath house to the boxing ring.

Articles from Mary Cassillo's Scrapbook.

This outdoor boxing ring would draw large crowds as the Union Star reported; "Johnny Linsey stepped into the ring against Freddy Bala of Amsterdam and stopped the rugged Army private in 36 seconds of the last round in the five-round feature of the Bucci A.C.’s weekly amateur boxing show before the biggest crowd of the year at the packed Erie Boulevard Arena."

Another headline states “a capacity crowd is expected to turn out for the Bucci A.C.’s all star benefit amateur boxing show for Joe Nagorka at the Erie Boulevard arena. The entire proceeds of the card will be given to Nagorka, former popular amateur and pro boxer here who is now recovering from a serious illness. Headliner for this five-rounder was between Schenectady’s Johnny Mazzonable and Allen Huriburt of Westmoreland and Jim Dooley Beats Lem Thomas."

Pep's son Paul told me that they used to sell bags of peanuts for 10 cents and soda for 10 cents. Oh where do I stop so many stories with so many boxers and so much that Joseph “Pep” Cassillo contributed to in boxing and to the City of Schenectady. I can go on and on with pages and pages of info. But, I think I need to close this story. The Erie Blvd. Boxing Ring was closed in 1947 after the owner Mary Cassillo decided to use land for other purposes. Pep Cassillo along with the many positions he held also became the commissioner of boxing. “Pep” and his wife Mary started Ring 26. His wife Mary would work right along side of her husband. I remember Mary sitting at her kitchen table with piles of paper all around her preparing for the next boxing match.

In 1969 the Veterans Boxing Association Ring No. 26 elected Pep to be their President. One of the stories I found was from The Knickerbocker News which reported on Feb. 26, 1968: 

“200 Attend Servo Fete, More than 200 people attended a benefit dinner for Marty Servo last night in Schenectady. The event was sponsored by Ring 26 of the Veterans' Boxing Association and held at the Sons of Italy Hall.  Servo, the Schenectadian who won the w o r l d welterweight crown, is seriously ill in Colorado.  The money will be used to help defray medical expenses.  Phillip Schuyler High principal, Ben Becker, a leading boxing figure, was the main speaker. Ring 26 president Joseph “Pep” Cassillo was program chairman.”

Joseph “Pep” Cassillo was a good man who was passionate about boxing, his City of Schenectady and people in general. He helped many young people thru his boxing experiences and the coaching program that he started at the WMCA. He also was one of the coaches of the 1982 US Olympic boxing team.

For me personally I remember as the years came upon all of them “Pep” his wife Mary and my Godmother Angie (Mary Cassillo’s Sister) they would like to go and play bingo at the Sons of Italy that was located on Liberty Street at the time. First it would be Me, Mary and Angie and then as “Pep” became more frail he would join his wife and all of us to play bingo. I remember that the Alzheimer’s was setting in and he would need help with finding the numbers on his bingo card. So I would sit next to him and help him out. I remember when he would see me walk in he would put a big smile on his face and say “here comes my bingo buddy” come sit by me. Good memories of all them and I consider myself blessed to have had them in my life and “Pep” as my friend.

Schenectady Sluggers Part 2: Marty Servo, a Tough Little Fighter

Described by Sugar Ray Robinson as “one of the finest fellows I ever fought,” Schenectady’s Marty Servo had quite a boxing career. He was born Mario Severino on November 3^rd, 1919 in Schenectady. Servo attended Nott Terrace High School where he ran cross country and boxing as an amateur. His career as an amateur featherweight was an amazing 91-4 and he received both a Golden Gloves and a Diamond Belt Featherweight championship. Servo’s pro career started in August 1938 at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC where he fought and beat Jerry Hall.

 Lou Ambers (on the right), former world's lightweight champion, sparring with Marty Servo (on the left), well-known pro, as Eristus Sams, former Tuskegee football and track star, referees. All three are boxing instructors at the Manhattan Beach Coast Guard training station. Courtesty of the Library of Congress.

Servo was guided to his pro career through his relative and fellow boxer Lou “Herkimer Hurricane” Ambers from Herkimer, NY. Ambers’ manager was named Al Weill and thought that it would be natural to bring Servo under Weill’s management.  Weill also managed Rocky Marciano and Joey Archibald. Weill was known for Americanizing his boxer’s names he even shortened his own as his full name was Armand but he went by Al. Lou Ambers was Luigi Giuseppe d'Ambrosio, Marty Servo was Mario Severino, Rocky Marciano was Rocco Marchegiano, Joey Archibald was…Joey Archibald.

Servo wasn’t the most powerful puncher, but he was quick and clever. From the start of his professional career till September 9^th, 1941, he went undefeated (with 2 draws). Then he met Sugar Ray Robinson. Some of Servo’s most popular fights were against Sugar Ray Robinson who Servo fought twice during his career. The first fight occurred in 1941 and while Sugar Ray had never lost to a welterweight, Servo gave him a run for his money. Robinson managed to defeat Servo in a split decision. The rematch on May 28, 1942 was even closer but Servo lost in a disputed ten round split decision. Many in the crowd thought that Marty should have won this match.

Photo of the rematch between Sugar Ray Robinson and Marty Servo. Courtesy of The Ring.

The rematch against Sugar Ray Robinson was Marty’s last match for a while as World War II would force him to take a three year break from boxing. Servo was in the US Coast Guard from 1942 to 1945 and served under former heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey as a physical training instructor. Servo continued his boxing career after returned from his war service.

“Schenectady has always rooted for me. The newspapers have always treated me fairly, and I want to win for everybody in the worst way." - Marty Servo

He only fought a couple matches before going on to challenge Freddie “Red” Cochrane for the Welterweight World Championship. The match was at Madison Square Garden in front of a crowd of 17,000 people. It was reported that over 2,000 Schenectadians were in attendance.  Servo did not disappoint those that made the trip. In the 4^th round Servo hit a bloodied Cochrane with a left hook and Cochrane went down. Although Cochrane did his best to try and get back up from the hook, he couldn’t quite get up. The ref called the match at 2:54 into the 4^th round. Despite winning the Welterweight Championship, Marty and his manager actually lost money on the fight. Cochrane was guaranteed $50,000 and two months later, Weill and Servo still owed him.

Speaker of the House Oswald D. Heck shaking hands with Marty Servo

after he won the Welterweight Championship. Courtesy of the Photo

Collection at the Grems-Doolittle Library. This photo, along with other

photos of boxers can be seen on our New York Heritage Collection.

This debt led to the worst decision Weill and Servo made during his professional career, the decision to fight middleweight Rocky Graziano. Graziano was only 8 pounds heavier than Servo, but it was an important 8 pounds. The fight was quick and brutal with Servo being TKO’d less than 2 minutes into the second round. This was Servo’s first time being KO’d in his professional career. Graziano broke Servo’s nose so badly that doctors recommended he never fight again. When asked if he had something to say to his fans, Marty said, “Tell them I just forgot to duck.”

Fans welcoming Marty Servo after his 1946 Welterweight Championship win. Courtesy  of the Photo Collection at the Grems-Doolittle Library. This photo, along with otherphotos of boxers can be seen on our New York Heritage Collection.

Servo went on to fight two more matches, but hung his gloves up after losing to Rocky Castellani. After he retired from boxing, he worked as a bartender, car salesman, and foreman at a steel mill in Colorado. He fell ill in the early 1950s and had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his left lung. Hospital expenses related to his cancer would cause his savings to dwindle over time and he died at the age of 50. Servo’s story shows just how difficult it could be to make it as a pro fighter. One bad decision ended his career. In Servo’s obituary, Ralph Martin, sports editor of the Knickerbocker News wrote “Marty, whose life was a study in hardship, triumph, pain and tragedy, will never be forgotten. Champions live on.”

Schenectady Sluggers, Part I: Abe Feldman

Abe Feldman dressed to the nines. Courtesy of
the Grems-Doolittle Library Collection. You can
find this photo, as well as photos of other boxers in
the Sports and Recreation Collection of
New York Heritage.  

As I was uploading photos to our Sports and Recreation in Schenectady collection on New York Heritage, I noticed that there were quite a few unlabeled photos of boxers, baseball players, and musicians in these collections. The unlabeled photos in this collection led me to post a photo of an unknown boxer to Schenectady County Historical Society’s Facebook page to see if the collective wisdom of our followers on Facebook would be able to identify him. Sure enough, they were able to! We will be posting unlabeled and unidentified photos to an album on our Facebook page periodically for assistance in identifying people, stores, locations, buildings, and pretty much any other info that can be provided. Any information you all can provide would be greatly appreciated. You can find the album at this link.

This leads to our current series of blog posts. While digging up some information on some of the photos of boxers in that collection we noticed some photos of two Schenectady boxers Abe Feldman and Marty Servo. Servo was a champion welterweight who fought two matches against Sugar Ray Robinson. Feldman was a local pug who had quite a career and fought the likes of Jim “Cinderella Man” Braddock, Maxie Rosenbloom, John Henry Lewis, and other boxing greats of the 1930s. This post will focus on the life of Abe Feldman.

Abe Feldman was born in 1912 in Salt Lake City, Utah but moved to Schenectady at the age of six with his parents, sister and three brothers. Both Abe and his brother Jack liked to fight, and would often fight in the streets of Schenectady while people would throw pennies at them. In addition to boxing, Abe played running back for Schenectady High School’s football team. His skill in boxing and football was rewarded with an athletic scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania. Abe turned the scholarship down and decided to go pro. According to a 2005 Schenectady Gazette article by Jeff Wilkin, Feldman said that “I probably wouldn’t have learned much at college anyway and look at the fun I’ve had as a professional pug.”

Article from the Albany Times Union about Abe Feldman's discovery. Abe's
Schenectady origins were often downplayed. Courtesy of Fulton History.

Feldman started his pro boxing career as a light-heavyweight in 1932 with his first match against Julius Vigh in Brooklyn. “Honest Abe” as Feldman was sometimes called soundly beat Vigh and his next 15 opponents, going undefeated until his match against Charley Massera in 1933. Feldman would fight Jim Braddock a few months afterwards. This fight was depicted in the 2005 film Cinderella Man. Braddock broke his hand in three places on Feldman’s jaw and the fight was called off. This fight almost ended Braddock’s boxing career as it was the third time he broke it. Later on, Abe mentioned that he knew that Braddock was injured and went easy on him till the ref called the match off.

Abe’s biggest match was against John Henry Lewis in 1935. Lewis was coming off of a loss from Maxie Rosenbloom and he didn’t have much luck against Feldman either. The fight went ten rounds and Feldman won on points. The win made Abe the second ranking light heavyweight which was the highest ranking he would achieve. Unfortunately, he was never given a title shot.  During the fight, Abe injured Lewis’ eye. Lewis was able to hide this injury for four years when it was determined that the vision in his left eye was “almost nil.” Despite being blind in one eye Lewis would go on to defeat Bob Olin later on in 1935 for the World Light Heavyweight Championship.



"Two-Ton" Tony Galento was rarely seen without
his cigar. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Feldman wasn’t afraid of punching above his weight class and often took on heavyweights like “Two Ton” Tony Galento. Galento’s nickname didn’t come from his weight (although he usually weighed around 235-240 lbs.) but from an excuse that he gave to his manager as to why he was late for a match. “I had two tons of ice to deliver on my way here.” Galento was a larger than life figure in boxing who notoriously wrestled an octopus, and boxed a kangaroo and a bear on separate occasions to draw attention. A typical meal for Galento was six chickens, spaghetti and a half gallon of red wine, or beer, or sometimes both. According to Galento all other fighters were bums and what did Galento promise to do to bums? “Moider dem."

 The fight occurred towards the end of Feldman’s career and reporters wrote that Feldman looked like he had been exhumed from the grave. Feldman took quite a beating from Galento, who despite his antics, could actually fight and had a wicked left hook.  Feldman was knocked down 3 times by the second round and after 30 seconds in the third, Galento delivered a wicked body blow that sank Feldman to his knees. The ref called the fight and Galento went on to challenge Joe Louis for the Heavyweight Championship. Later on, Abe would describe Galento as “the hardest puncher I ever faced.”

Feldman decided to end his career shortly after his match with Galento 1939 when he “started to duck a little too late.” His professional record was 35 wins, 14 losses, and 5 draws. He had 14 knockouts and was only KO’d twice. Feldman retired to live at his house on Pennsylvania Avenue in Schenectady with his wife Sadie and son Howard. He joined his brothers Jack, Leo and Dave in the coal business and worked as a coal salesman. Abe Feldman died at the age of 67 on June 20, 1980 and is buried in the Congregation Agudat Achim cemetery. He was honored in Schenectady throughout his life and often spoke at dinners and other sporting events where he was almost as entertaining as he was in the ring.