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CityViewNC.com | 69 148-1 Maxwell St. (Next Door to the Transportation Museum) Homemade Soup In Handcrafted Bowls Pick Your Bowl! Demonstrations! Childrens Activities & Games Arts & Crafts Vendors! Silent Auction! Going Strong Since 1990 yweight champ. And, perhaps most importantly for his place in history, he has the distinction of being the only heavyweight champion to retire undefeated. Bill Hurley remembers hearing about Marciano's time here as a ballplayer when he first came to Fayetteville in the mid-1950s. "We were kind of proud that he had once played here," said the former Fayetteville mayor. "We followed boxing much more then than now. We were always talking about Joe Louis; we were very much interested in the heavyweights." "I remember watching Rocky Marciano fight Jersey Joe Walcott on a seven-inch screen," said Hurley. Babe Ruth and Rocky Marciano are the standouts among ath- letes connected with Fayetteville. Ruth, of course, is celebrated in Fayetteville, as he is in many places including Baltimore, where he grew up and New York, where he achieved his unparalleled stature (but not so much in Boston, where he shone as a player, but is associated with a legendary, near-century long curse). In 1952, a North Carolina Historic State Marker was dedicated to his towering first professional home run at the old Cape Fear Fairgrounds. e plaque also notes that it was in Fayetteville that George Herman Ruth took on the nickname "Babe." In 2014, the centennial of that first home run was commemorated in Fayetteville. Marciano enjoys similar stature. Like Ruth, he's earned a place in any discussion of the all-time greatest in his sport. In Marciano's home town, a statue, unveiled in commemoration with the 60th anniversary of his heavyweight championship, is the tallest such tribute in the world—at 24 feet high. As solid as its namesake, it sits near Brockton High School's Rocky Marciano Stadium (inside the stadium, Armand Co- lombo Field is named for Brockton High's legendary football coach, also Marciano's brother-in-law and cousin to Marciano's close friend and trainer Allie Colombo). And in Rita Teatina, Italy, a bronze statue of the champion was erected to com- memorate the birth there of Marciano's father, Pierino Marchegiano. Members of the Marciano family have visited the Abruzzo region, where prizes named for Rocky Marciano are awarded to top athletes. Marciano, of course, did not launch a great career as a baseball player in Fayette- ville, nor did he fight professionally here (although he did fight three times at the old Yankee Stadium, also known as "the House that Ruth Built"). In fact, New England sports writer Everett Skehan, in a biography of Marciano written with the help of Marciano's family in 1977, referred to Marciano's baseball tryout as "the failure." "Rocky's real love was baseball," his brother Peter remembered. "And he continued to love baseball throughout his boxing career." e youngest of three brothers, for decades Peter Marciano owned and operated a sporting goods store near Brockton in Mansfield, Massachusetts, under a sign that showed Rocky throwing his powerful right hand. As proprietor, Marciano occasionally shared 16 mm films of his brother and enjoyed telling stories to fascinated listeners (including, in 1975, a recent col- lege graduate and former amateur fighter working his first newspaper job). Today, that business bears the name of another major New England athlete. New England Patriots quarterback Steve Grogan, who played in the Pats' first Superbowl in 1986, bought the business in 1994 and simply added his name to create Grogan-Marciano Sporting Goods. "I don't think people realize what a tremendous athlete Rocky was," said Peter Marciano, who himself played two years in the Braves' farm system. "He had great hand-eye coordination. at had a lot to do with his punching ability. He was a very gied athlete." Brockton produced a lot of good ballplayers, recalled Charlie Tartaglia, who has known the Marciano family for nearly all of his 79 years. "Half of the guys who tried out with Rocky could make the major leagues today, with all the teams out there." e major leagues had 16 teams in 1947. Today, there are 30. Tartaglia was a batboy for a Brockton team that included Marciano. "Rocky had short legs," recalled Charlie. "He wasn't fast. But he could hit. He could hit the ball Buy online at www.cfrt.org or call 910-323-4233 Season and Patron Tickets are ON SALE NOW! Sept. 17 - Oct. 11 Music by Mitch Leigh Lyrics by Joe Darion Book by Dale Wasserman Directed by Tom Quaintance Oct. 29 - Nov. 15 By Todd Kreidler Based on the Screenplay by William Rose Directed by Khanisha Foster Coming soon to

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