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CityViewNC.com | 71 memories as well of former major leaguer Elmer Burkhart, who was general manager of the Fayetteville Athletics. "He used to like to pitch to us," Morgan remembered. Ballplayers in Fayetteville didn't make much money, Mor- gan said. ey couldn't afford to stay in hotels and the teams did not provide housing. "Most rented rooms in private homes." So it was with Marciano and his friends. Skehan said the young men from Brockton stayed in a boarding house, where he shared a room with Gormley and enjoyed family-style meals for fiy cents. Marciano would later tell a Chicago reporter that his try- out lasted about three weeks and that he was paid $200, Har- tig noted. In a 1952 article in "e Sporting News" Marciano recalled that there were 13 catchers at the tryout and that the Cubs had planned to keep four, either for Fayetteville or for another club in the system. e competition was even tougher, since the Fayetteville Cubs top player was a catcher. Smoky Burgess led the "B" Tri- State League in 1947 hitting with a .387 batting average and led the Southern Association the next year, hitting .386. Bur- gess would go on to play in 18 major league seasons, was a nine-time All-Star, and was on the Pittsburgh Pirates World Series championship team in 1960. When Burgess retired in 1966, he was the all-time leader in pinch hits. Babe Ruth launched his long ball-hitting career in Fay- etteville. Rocky Marciano ended his. As his brother said, he would continue to love baseball all his life. But he needed an- other dream. "When he came back from North Carolina he was very disappointed," said Peter Marciano. "But he was ready to make a move. Rocky was going to try boxing." Marciano had already boxed in the Army and outside the service as an amateur with considerable success. He had even fought professionally under the name Rocky Mack on St. Patrick's Day, 1947 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, for $35. He scored a third-round knockout. Marciano biographer Russell T. Sullivan noted that us- ing a false name had protected his amateur status. Marciano returned to amateur boxing aer his tryout in Fayetteville. More serious than ever about boxing, he lost four amateur fights, the only fights he ever lost. But he won many, many more. scoring in Golden Gloves and Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) tournaments. In 1948, he turned professional and won his first 16 bouts by knockout, mostly in the early rounds, handled by New York-based manager Al Weill and veteran trainer Charley Goldman. Marciano took a big step toward fame and fortune in Oc- tober, 1951, when he knocked the legendary but aging Joe Louis into retirement. A year later, he came back from a first- round knockout to win the heavyweight championship from Jersey Joe Walcott in Philadelphia. Marciano defended the title six times, five by knockout and announced his retirement in 1956. e champion died in a small-plane crash while on his way to deliver a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1969, one day before his 46th birthday. Family and those who have studied Marciano agree that, along with his obvious ability, what brought Marciano to boxing from baseball, to rise from a knockdown, to triumph over the pain and heavy bleeding brought by powerful men, was fear. It was, wrote Russell T. Sullivan, executive director of Boston's Sports Museum and author of Rocky Marciano, e Rock of His Times, "a singular emotion, simple, yet pow- erful." It was fear of a life digging ditches, or of the smell of shoe leather throughout the many factories of Brockton. It was fear of poverty and anonymity. "Desire sustained Marciano and nourished the abused flesh" wrote famed sports writer Jimmy Cannon, on the champion's death. "e prize for Marciano was identifica- tion, and he would bleed without protest and ache without complaint if he could be called a champion. Obscurity was all he was afraid of." CV Your Unique & Elegant Event Florist 910.484.4161 | 3306 Raeford Road | Fayetteville, NC 28303 | Facebook.com/OwensFlorist Owen' s & Bordeaux Florist Event Flowers Nationwide Delivery Weddings 10% OFF All Event Flowers

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