Brockton's Petronelli brothers to be honored

Brockton's Petronelli brothers to be honored

By Glen Farley, Enterprise staff writer

BROCKTON — They answered the bell. That, in essence, is how Brockton Historical Society president Larry Siskind explains his organization's decision to present the 2007 Brockton Historic Citizen Award to boxing's Goody and Pat Petronelli.

“The primary consideration for the award is the impact the person or persons has had on our community and their reach outside the Brockton area,” said Siskind. “It's not only what they do in the community, but their reach outside the greater Brockton area. Their good deeds and fame must run beyond the city's borders. The Petronelli brothers obviously fit those requirements.”

The two men are to be honored in ceremonies to be held at the Massasoit Conference Center tonight beginning with a cocktail hour at 6:30.

WXBR-Radio personality Bill Carpenter will serve as master of ceremonies for the event. Boxing dignitaries expected to be on hand include Vito Antuofermo, Tony DeMarco, Lou Duva, Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini, Vinny Paz, Emanuel Steward, Bert Sugar and Micky Ward.

“It's all overwhelming,” Goody Petronelli said. “I'm happy and excited about it. It really is quite an honor that's being bestowed on Pat and myself. This is our city.”

If Rocky Marciano put Brockton on the boxing map, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, with the Petronelli boys in his corner, enriched the city's boxing history with his rise from humble roots to a 61/2-year reign in the 1980s as the undisputed middleweight champion of the world.

Goody was the trainer and Pat the manager. Hagler brought the brawn.

“We called ourselves 'The Triangle',” said Goody Petronelli. “Nothing's stronger than 'The Triangle': Marvin, Pat and myself. Pat busted his hump making matches and working down in the gym with me.”

Pat Petronelli was already operating a gym in Brockton when Goody was discharged from the Navy. Sharing a love for the sport, the two brothers formed a boxing bond in 1969.

“Tony (Pat's son) was our first champion, a North American champion,” Goody Petronelli said.

As for Hagler, it wasn't so much that the Petronellis discovered him as he walked in on them and their old Centre Street gym.

A teen who had grown up in Newark, N.J., Hagler had relocated to Brockton when his mother, Ida Mae, moved the family to the city following the Newark riots of 1967.

“He was only 16 years old and Pat and I were real busy, we had two rings going,” Goody Petronelli recalled. “Marvin came in the gym one day and sat there. He was sitting in a chair looking, observing. The second or third day, I looked over and said, 'Do you want to learn how to fight?' He said, 'That's what I'm here for.'

“I started teaching him and I liked what I saw. He was very dedicated. He listened. He'd come in and I'd say, 'You look good,' and he'd say, 'I've been practicing, looking in the mirror at home in my bedroom at different punches, different combinations.' He was serious.”

Serious and driven.

“When he started fighting amateur, he told me, 'I'm going to be world champion,'” Goody Petronelli said. “They all talk big. I said, 'Yeah, man, and I'll be your coach.'”

The rest, as they say, is history.

A 1993 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductee was born.

“I saw his potential, particularly after the 1973 nationals in Boston,” Goody Petronelli said. “He not only won out of his weight class, 165 pounds, but he was the outstanding fighter of the whole tournament. Pat and I could see we had a potential world champion on our hands, but we still had a big mountain to climb. We set our goals high. We had our ups and downs, but we made it.”

They made it, all right, leaving their marks on both the fight game and their city.

“Not only have they taught boxing, but life lessons,” said Suskind. “People under their tutelage have come out a lot better persons, better citizens and human beings.”

While Pat (Goody's elder by two years) later moved to the Round One Boxing Club with Tony and left the fight game several years ago after encountering health problems, Goody, ever protective of his age (“I'll be 43 in two years”), still can be found in his gym on Petronelli Way, as the old Ward Street was named in 1999. Five nights a week, Goody still climbs into the ring to train boxers.

“The two of them were together for a long time and they really were terrific together,” said Suskind. “We feel the Petronellis are very, very special people.”