Charley Norkus, '82
Boxer, Actor
Charles E. Norkus was a top-ranked heavyweight fighter and a character actor... In a professional career that began in 1948, Mr. Norkus amassed a record of 33 wins - 22 by knockout - and 19 losses. He came within one fight of a championship bout against Rocky Marciano but lost in a close 1955 decision to Ezzard Charles.
Mr. Norkus' most famous fights were a pair of 1954 defeats of light-heavyweight contender Danny Nardico, the only boxer to have knocked down Jake LaMotta.
Mr. Norkus was born in Bellerose, Queens, and moved to Port Washington in 1954, settling in Wantagh in 1963.
A standout athlete in swimming, pole vaulting and diving at Jamaica High School, Mr. Norkus twice took second place in Golden Gloves boxing contests and remained undefeated as a boxer in the U.S. Marines in 1946-1947. He was chosen as an alternate to the 1948 Olympic Games in London, after which he turned professional, fighting out of Bayonne, N.J., where he was known as "The Bayonne Bomber."
Mr. Norkus earned the right to fight Marciano in 1955, but after Marciano pulled his thumb, instead fought Charles, losing in a close decision. He never got another chance at Marciano, though he built a reputation as a spoiler for other contenders.
"You had to go through my father to get a shot at Marciano," said his son, Charles Norkus Jr. of Seaford. Mr. Norkus retired from boxing in 1959. He landed bit parts in the movies "Mad Dog Cole" and also "Splendor in the Grass," in which he played a thug who beat up Warren Beatty. Mr. Norkus also appeared in "Requiem for a Heavyweight," "Breakfast at Tiffany's," "West Side Story," "The Hustler" and other films.
Mr. Norkus owned a tavern in Manhattan before working as a liquor distributor on Long Island, often showing old films of his bouts to his clients. He worked in the 1970s as a New York State Boxing Commission referee and in 1982 was the third recipient of the Downtown Athletic Club's Boxing Legends Award.
Though he often wondered how he would have fared against Marciano, Mr. Norkus never was bitter at losing his chance, said his son. "He had a wonderful life." ...
Quoted from:
"Charles E. Norkus, 67, Was Top-Ranked Boxer"
By Geoffrey Mohan. Newsday. Long Island, N.Y.: Mar 25, 1996. pg. A.33
JAMAICA HIGH SCHOOL NOTEWORTHY ALUMNI : : : : : : : : 12/31/05