When Notre Dame football safety Tommy Zbikowski climbs through the ropes Saturday at Madison Square Garden and adds his name to those who have boxed in the legendary arena, he won’t be the first fighter to assure himself of a big splash in his first professional bout.
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Pete Rademacher took an even bigger jump nearly half a century ago.
Recalling his thoughts about turning pro after winning the heavyweight boxing gold medal at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, Rademacher said, “I knew Rocky Marciano had retired, Archie Moore was old and Floyd Patterson was a young kid.
“I figured it was a good time for me to take a chance at becoming heavyweight champion of the world, and to grab for it right away.”
When 21-year-old Patterson won the heavyweight title Nov. 30, 1956, by knocking out Moore two weeks shy of Moore’s 40th birthday, Rademacher began calling out the new champ.
After all, 28-year-old Rademacher had boxed in high school and college, and had knocked out all three opponents at the Olympics. He felt ready to move directly to the peak of the pros.
It took some doing to persuade Patterson’s promoter, Cus D’Amato, to make the title fight.
“We put up a $250,000 guarantee and a clause granting Floyd a rematch if I won,” said Rademacher, 77, who now lives in Medina, Ohio, and still works occasionally as a licensed fight judge.
The Patterson-Rademacher title fight was set for Aug. 22, 1957, just after Rademacher’s 29th birthday, at Sicks’ Stadium in Seattle. Rademacher was born in Grandview, Wash., and had played college football at Washington State.
As confident as he was in convincing business partners to finance the event, which he now says ended in a $75,000 debt that D’Amato forgave, Rademacher did not have to look far to find doubters.
When he told his trainer, George “the Greek” Cheremeres, that he was going to win the heavyweight crown in his first pro fight, “George said, `Pete, keep your mouth shut and don’t embarrass yourself,'” Rademacher recalled. “I told my mother the same thing and got a similar reaction.”
But that was nothing compared to the level of support he got from his wife, Margaret, whom he wed in 1952.
“When we were married, he promised me he would never box again,” she said.
While he was in the Army, she remembered, “we were at a cocktail party and a colonel’s wife congratulated me on Pete training for the Olympics.
“Yes, I was surprised. I really didn’t want him to fight.”
He conceded “the worst fight I ever had was the two weeks when I tried to talk her into letting me go to the Olympic trials.”
Noting that their 53rd anniversary is in September, Margaret allowed that “I guess it all worked out all right.”
Rademacher’s pro debut against Patterson started better than that. He floored the champion in the second round.
“But I think that just made Floyd angry,” he said.
By the time Rademacher was counted out in the sixth round, Patterson had knocked him down seven times.
In his second fight, rising challenger Zora Folley knocked him out in the fifth round.
Rademacher had a respectable career thereafter, winning 15 of his next 21 fights with eight knockouts. He had victories over George Chuvalo, Lamar Clark and Carl “Bobo” Olson, and losses to Moore, Karl Mildenberger and Brian London.
“I love the game,” he said of boxing. “But you have to know when to quit. I left when I was 33 years old, in a great marriage with three fabulous kids.”
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Besides having a similar passion for boxing inherited from his father, playing football in college and making a pro boxing debut far from humble beginnings, Rademacher has something else in common with Zbikowski. Each worked with legendary trainer Angelo Dundee.
Asked what pugilistic advice he would give Zbikowski, Rademacher said, “I would tell any guy starting out to focus on and repeat basics like stance, counterpunching, slipping punches and parrying until you can do it instinctively.
“Then go ahead and take your chances.”
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