Pete Cilinski is 85 years old and lives at an assisted-living
residence in Manassas. He’s an old man, but if you ask him to
assume a boxer’s stance, he will and you’ll see the fire that
made him – and other members of the St. Mary’s Boys Club
Boxing Team – champions.
The 1940s often are called the heyday of professional boxing.
Fighters like Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson
and Jake LaMotta were household names, as popular and
well-known as any NFL or NBA player is today.
There was big money in professional boxing. Louis, arguably
the greatest boxer of all time, won more than $4 million in
his 17-year professional career from 1934 to 1951 – most of
it going to unscrupulous handlers. Boxing was big time.
Amateur boxing was popular then, too, with many local teams
competing for national honors. Two governing bodies, the
Golden Gloves Association of America and the Amateur Athletic
Union (AAU), sanctioned these competitions.
Sports always have played an important role in the parish
life of St. Mary Church in Alexandria. In 1888, Father Dennis
O’Kane built the parish lyceum that hosted many sporting
events including basketball and boxing. Baseball and softball
teams were sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, and the
teams played other Catholic schools in the Richmond Diocese
and produced championship teams. Those other sports were
played for decades, but boxing was short-lived – just 14
years – but it produced champions.
In 1938, Father Joseph Leitch was the associate pastor at St.
Mary and was looking for a way to keep boys off the streets.
He started the St. Mary’s Boys Club Boxing Team in a room at
the back of the lyceum lall and had it outfitted with donated
gym equipment.
Father Leitch persuaded a local boxing coach, Naaman Massey,
to coach the boys. Massey brought on an assistant, “Flick”
Meade, and the men set out to create a winning team. They
accepted no pay.
The team was undefeated in its 14-year run. Boxers like Louis
“Bananas” Pavone, Reno Workman, Richard Nutt, Frank McGregor,
Bob Schwarz, Gilbert Mayo and Pete Cilinski brought fame and
glory to St. Mary Parish.
Boxing team individuals went on to glory at Golden Gloves and
AAU competition. In 1944 and 1945, Pavone fought in what
sportswriters at the time called the greatest amateur bouts
in the history of Madison Square Garden. Schwartz and Mayo
trained together and won local Golden Gloves championships.
In 1939, Schwartz fought at Boston Garden and defeated Vince
Pellegrino in the 175-pound category, taking the Eastern
All-American Championships. Mayo had the fastest knockout in
Golden Gloves history when he floored Eddie Joyce in 26
seconds in the first round of the 1939 Golden Gloves
championship.
Cilinski, whose son is Father Robert C. Cilinski, pastor of
All Saints Parish in Manassas, was only 11 years old when he
joined the St. Mary Boxing team. Eleven was too young to box,
but Father Cilinski said his father told the other boys, “I’m
an altar boy and Father Leitch will let me fight.” He was
right – the priest let him fight.
In 1941, when Cilinski was 14, Massey told the organizers he
was 16 so he could fight in the Washington, D.C.,
championship. He did and won the championship that earned him
a spot in Madison Square Garden where he lost in the finals
to a local New York boxer in a disputed decision.
Cilinski went on to win five D.C. Golden Gloves Championships
and five D.C. AAU titles.
Father Cilinski said his dad never talked about his amateur
boxing career. When Father Cilinski was about 10 years old he
found his father’s boxing memorabilia.
“I found a box he had with clippings, trophies and robes,” he
said.
Cilinski never turned pro. He took time out from amateur
boxing to fight in World War II and went on to work for the
Washington Gas Light Company and Safeway Stores, raise a
family, and watch boxing for fun. In 1981, almost three
decades after the last boxer threw a punch in the lyceum,
Cilinski was inducted into the Washington Boxing Hall of
Fame.
In 1944, The Washington Post sportswriter Shirley Povich
wrote, “The big shot among the St. Mary’s boys is a little
Polish lad, Pete Cilinski, who isn’t a big shot at all,
except that he’s the best fighter on the team.”
The Polish lad, now a respected senior citizen, can revel in
his awards and in his life beyond boxing.
