Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens is an oasis in a gritty Fort Lauderdale neighborhood of warehouses, auto repair and machine shops and faded apartments hunkered down in the hard earth.
It seems an unlikely final resting place for Rocky Marciano, arguably the greatest heavyweight boxer ever. Marciano, who died 25 years ago today ,one day before his 46TH birthday, in a plane crash, is ensconced in a disappointingly ordinary crypt in this very ordinary cemetery at 499 NW 27th Ave.
Today, camera-toting curiosity-seekers show up two or three times a week, finding only a simple marble tomb with his name on it. They seldom leave flowers or any offbeat tribute to the champ. But maybe this is appropriate. His crypt is just there, rock solid, simple and unpretentious – like the man himself.
Marciano was such a towering sports figure that even today, 40 years after his prime, people who don’t follow boxing recognize his name. He carved a place in history by slugging his way to a record of 49-0 with 43 knockouts, the only heavyweight ever to retire undefeated.
But while he owned nice homes in Fort Lauderdale, they weren’t palatial. He had first-rate cars, but they weren’t extravagant.
“He was really not the flashy kind of guy,” said one of Rocky’s brothers, Peter, who still lives in their hometown of Brockton, Mass. “He felt like you shouldn’t flaunt success.”Said his daughter, Mary Anne Marchegiano: “He was a locker-room guy – very down to earth.”
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He was born Rocco Francis Marchegiano on Sept. 1, 1923, to Italian immigrants in the blue-collar city of Brockton, the oldest of three boys. His father worked in a shoe factory, and young Rocky labored as a gravedigger and a dishwasher.
His ring career began in the Army during World War II. He turned pro in 1948 and changed his name to Marciano.
At 5-feet-11 and 185 pounds, Marciano was smaller than most of his opponents. Yet with his mauling, brawling style and great strength and stamina, Marciano was able to bludgeon his opponents into submission. Marciano He was, observed another heavyweight legend, Jack Dempsey, a “murderous puncher.”
He also was a supremely confident fighter. “He had the ability just before a fight to go to sleep,” Peter Marciano said. “He knew what his ability was.”
Yet he was no brute out of the ring. Peter Marciano tells the story of seeing a man bump into Marciano while they were walking in New York City and trying to start a fight. The heavyweight champ politely demurred.
“Rocky looked at me and said, ‘Sometimes it’s better if you just keep on walking,’ ” Peter Marciano recalled. “Rocky truly was a gentle guy outside the ring.”
His first professional fight was on July 12, 1948, and ended in a knockout. The next 14 fights ended the same – nine in the first round, before he had to go the distance for a victory.
Back in Brockton, Marciano had become smitten with a local girl, Barbara Cousins, whom he met at a dance. In 1950, they were married.
“We did think a lot of him when he first came to the house,” said Elizabeth Cousins, 90, of Wilton Manors, who became Rocky’s mother-in-law. “He was humble and polite.”
The next year, Marciano knocked out his boyhood idol, an aging Joe Louis. Afterward, he wept.
In 1952, Marciano became heavyweight champion when, behind on points, he knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 13th round of a 15-round bout.
He made six title defenses. His last fight was in September 1955, when he stopped Archie Moore in the ninth round. By then, he was a hero to Italian-Americans and widely admired around the world.
Marciano was only 32 when he quit the ring. By doing so, he walked away from several more big paydays.
“The No. 1 thing he once said was when boxing stopped being a fun thing, he’d have to get out,” said Peter Marciano, 53. “[Eventually), even the odor of the gym repulsed him. He knew this was a signal – maybe it was time to pack it in.”
Marciano also wanted to spend more time with his family, says Peter Marciano.
“He wanted to start enjoying the money he had earned.”
Marciano moved his wife and daughter from Brockton to Coral Gables, then to Fort Lauderdale’s Harbor Beach, where he bought a four-bedroom, five-bath home at 2561 Del Lago Drive.
“My mom and him came to Florida on their honeymoon and loved it,” said Marchegiano, 41.
In retirement, Marciano remained popular. He was accessible and affable, with no huge ego from his success.
“He was a really friendly guy with anybody he met,” said Bill Bondurant, who was sports editor of the Fort Lauderdale News at the time of Marciano’s death.
Marciano also was notoriously tight with a buck. “People always said he had short arms and long pockets,” said his daughter.
Despite that frugality, Marciano invested in numerous business ventures in South Florida – most of them bad. Among them were a produce firm, a travel agency, a bowling alley and a restaurant.
Marciano had greater success making appearances on TV, at business openings and banquets. He was good because he was soft-spoken and articulate, defying the stereotype of the semi-literate, punch-drunk palooka. “He took a great deal of pride in the way he spoke,” Peter Marciano said. Those engagements often took him out of state and caused family friction. “Rocky never was home. He was a playboy,” said his mother-in-law, Cousins, echoing statements made by others.
The Marciano marriage was a rocky one, according to Cousins. “Barbara went to Acapulco twice to divorce him, but he talked her out it. In his mind, he thought she was his good luck charm.”In an effort to save the marriage, Rocky agreed to adopt a son, Cousins said. In 1968, he and Barbara adopted Rocco Kevin Marciano – Rocky Jr.
Many people think the son resembles his father, leading to speculation that he was the child of Rocky and another woman. “Maybe there’s something there,” Rocky Jr., 26, concedes. Even if true, Rocky Marciano’s children have a far different assessment of their father.
“I remember him as very caring, a good father,” Marchegiano said. “He was always trying to point things out to me he had to learn the hard way. He was very easygoing. I was daddy’s little girl.
“He was wonderful to my mom,” Marchegiano said. “When my dad died, a piece of her died.”
Rocky Jr. was only 17 months old when his father died and has no memory of him. But he is proud of his name. And he says his father left him a legacy.
“He strove to be the best that he could,” said Rocky Jr. “The fact that my father had a perfect record – you want to strive for perfect. That’s what it has done for me. I want to be the best I can be.”
Marchegiano remembers a good life in Harbor Beach.
When she was 12 or 13, she often drove her father on errands because he was a terrible driver who usually had a suspended license or no license at all.
One day, while her dad was barbecuing some steaks, his daughter drove to the store for additional food. She was stopped by a motorcycle police officer.
After Marchegiano told him who she was, the officer drove to her house and returned with the bare-chested former heavyweight champ riding behind him, arms around the cop’s waist.
The officer obtained Marciano’s autograph, but didn’t cite him or his daughter.
A year or two before he died, Marciano moved his family to a four-bedroom house at 2700 State Road A1A, a block from the ocean.
“He wanted to be closer to the water, and so did Barbara,” said Peter Marciano. “Barbara was starting not to feel very well. Rocky thought living near the ocean would be good for her.”
In August 1969, Marciano was in Chicago when he phoned home to say he was going to make an appearance at a business opening in Des Moines before returning. The plane crashed in an Iowa cornfield. Late that night, Marchegiano heard the doorbell ring. Moments later, “My mother let out a scream. I knew it was my dad. I knew he had died.”
Three years later, Barbara Marciano moved the family to a home in Wilton Manors when she could no longer afford the taxes on the beach. The family still lives there.
Barbara Marciano died in 1974, nine days after her 46th birthday. Mary Anne was 21 years old and Rocky Jr. was 6.
“I tried to raise my brother,” Marchegiano said. “As he got older and didn’t need me as much, I got into trouble.”
Marchegiano did brief stints in prison in 1989 and 1992 for possession of cocaine and being an accessory after the fact to a robbery.
Now Marchegiano works at secretarial jobs and, with her brother, oversees the licensing of ads or products that use her father’s name or image.
Rocky Jr. expects to get his master’s degree this year in electrical engineering from Florida Atlantic University.
Marciano’s children plan to visit his crypt today. Back in Brockton, his brother’s family will attend a special Mass.
Said Peter Marciano: “It wasn’t easy growing up with such a famous brother. But he was a perfect brother.”
