The St. Ann’s Festival in Hoboken brought droves of people to the Mile Square City last week and it also brought out a boxing champ. Arturo Gatti, who just recently lost a tough fight to Floyd Mayweather for the undisputed super lightweight championship of the world, paid a visit to the festival, where he was greeted by a host of Hoboken officials.
Gatti is now a resident of Hoboken after having resided in Jersey City for the last decade…
Condolences go out to the wonderful Lillis family of Jersey City, who lost their patriarch, Marty, Sr., who died last Monday some eight months after undergoing open heart surgery.
Marty Lillis, Sr. was a fixture at local sporting events, going back to the days of the Our Lady of Victories CYO basketball program to a regular at every single St. Peter’s College men’s basketball game. He would also be at every SPC softball game that his two daughters, Kate and Barbara, participated in and followed the exploits of his eldest daughter, Pat, who is one of the school’s all-time leading scorers and perhaps the school’s first women’s basketball star.
Marty Lillis was a family man. He was a hard-working man who worked in the boiler room at Colgate-Palmolive in downtown Jersey City (ironically with my uncle, the late Tom Cunningham) for many years. Marty Lillis raised 10 children with his wonderful wife, Pat, in their Boyd Avenue home on Jersey City’s West Side, sending all 10 of their children to OLV, to Catholic high schools and eventually, St. Peter’s College.
The entire family had a solid foundation in athletics. Practically every Lillis child became a basketball referee, like it was somehow in their blood. And leading every step of the way was the deeply religious patriarch, who was dubbed in loving fashion, “the Bishop,” by his son-in-law, Mark DeMarco.
Marty Lillis was all about his devotion to God and to his family and a little to St. Peter’s College and the Yankees. He was steadfast and stubborn, sometimes to a fault, but he was straight forward and honest. You knew what you were getting.
And he was always there. Throughout my entire five-year tenure as the Sports Information Director at St. Peter’s, I couldn’t remember a day or an event where I didn’t see Marty Lillis. He was as loyal of a fan as the Peacocks ever had.
The last few months haven’t been easy on the entire Lillis clan, especially his wife Pat, who sat by his bed in all the different hospitals and rehabilitation centers, hoping he would recover. Here’s to hoping that they all realize that “The Bishop” is in a better place now, that he’s resting in peace. There’s no question he’s with God, because there wasn’t a more devout Catholic in Jersey City.
But he will be missed. Events won’t be the same. St. Peter’s College games won’t be the same. The gigantic Lillis clan won’t be the same. But he left a legacy that will live on for a long time…
Prayers go out to St. Peter’s Prep hockey coach and Hoboken police officer Joe Maione, who is recovering after suffering a stroke. Here’s hoping that Maione can recover fully and make a return to the Prep coaching ranks very shortly…
Received word that former St. Peter’s Prep and DeSales University catcher MKevin Coyle will be graduating from the New Jersey State Police Academy this week and will become a state trooper. That has to make his old man, long-time Jersey City cop Joe Coyle, very proud…
The busiest coach in Hudson County just got busier. Former McNair Academic girls’ basketball coach and former Lincoln High School head football coach Tom Ferriero has been named the new girls’ hoops coach at Queen of Peace in North Arlington.
Ferriero, a teacher at Lincoln, is also set to return to the school as a football coach this fall, serving as the offensive coordinator to new head coach Robert Hampton.
Now, if Ferriero can just avoid calling Sid and Joe on WFAN and Michael Kay on ESPN Radio so many times to talk about his beloved Mets…
Speaking about talking about baseball, former Secaucus High School pitcher Mark Lukasiewicz, who pitched in the major leagues with the Anaheim Angels a few years ago, has now officially retired from baseball and is enjoying his life as the radio analyst for the Syracuse Sky Chiefs, the Toronto Blue Jays’ Class AAA affiliate. Lukasiewicz once played for the team and makes his home year-round in Syracuse now…
Here’s a little ditty that brought a smile recently. As all readers should know by now, this columnist wrote a book earlier this year, a biography of former boxing heavyweight champion of the world James J. Braddock.
“Braddock: The Rise of the Cinderella Man” is still available in book stores and at discounted rates on Amazon.com. Ever since the book was released in April, I’ve received hundreds of phone calls, letters and e-mails with people telling their favorite stories about the great champ, who called North Bergen his home for most of his life.
Anyway, Mark Ippolito, a former classmate of yours truly at St. Peter’s Prep and a highly successful music producer in the Seattle area now, sent along his favorite story and his 15 minutes of meeting the champ.
Ippolito said that he was about 10 years old when his friend said that the former heavyweight champion of the world lived in the corner house near his neighborhood. Ippolito didn’t believe it. The two went back and forth while standing in front of the Braddock home on Park Avenue.
So undaunted, he went to the door and rang the bell. An elderly man with a cane answered the door.
“Are you a champ?” little Mark Ippolito asked James J. Braddock.
“Well, I was,” the champ said.
Instead of being angry, Braddock invited the little boy and his friend into the house to see pictures of him in action, autographed a picture to each boy and sent them on their way.
Just like we always knew. “The Cinderella Man” was indeed a gentleman to the very end. Thanks to Ippolito for sharing his story about the champ….
–Jim Hague