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Ron Silverberg holds the championship belt won by his father, Pinky Silverberg, in 1927.
Pinky Silverberg was a pretty unassuming guy.
The Ansonia resident who died in 1964 didn’t make a big deal of his professional boxing career, his son Ron said Thursday while showing off the World Flyweight Title belt won by his father in 1927.
“He kept it in a sock drawer,” Ron said. “I keep it in a safe deposit box.”
Silverberg, a New York City native who rose to national prominence in the late 1920s, was honored by Ansonia Thursday with the unveiling of a street sign in his honor at the corner of Father Salemi Drive and Main Street.
Before the Flood of 1955, the Silverberg family lived in an apartment building at the intersection, part of the city’s Front Street area, which was largely leveled and redeveloped after the flood.
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Ron Silverberg points to his former home in Ansonia.
Mayor David Cassetti said at Thursday’s ceremony that he was inspired by Silverberg’s story to take up the sport himself while growing up.
Silverberg was born in the Bronx but his family moved to Ansonia in 1920 as his father sought work in one of the area’s then-booming factories. The family had relatives in the area who had recommended the move.
That same year, Silverberg, who was only 16, added two years to his age so he could debut as a professional boxer.
He was a state champion within five years, and a world champion two years after that.
Silverberg had the distinction of only being knocked out once in his career.
In 1925 he won the Connecticut Flyweight Championship by taking a 10-round points decision inside the Ansonia Opera House.
He took the world flyweight title in 1927 in a fight with Ruby Bradley in Bridgeport during which Bradley was disqualified for a low blow.
The Silverberg story inspired many, the mayor said — including himself.
“It was an inspiration and eventually led to me becoming middleweight boxing champion of Connecticut,” Cassetti said. “Today marks a heartfelt desire of my own initiative to recognize a perhaps previously forgotten hometown sports hero and bring his legacy to the forefront once again.”
In addition to the sign unveiled Thursday, Cassetti started a youth boxing program named in Silverberg’s honor last year.
“I think his name will now be mentioned alongside other noteworthy Ansonia residents, both past and present,” Cassetti said.
About a dozen people attended Thursday’s ceremony, including Silverberg’s son, Ron, along with his wife, Susan, and daughter, Tina. The family lives in Bethany.
Years ago Ron spearheaded an effort to have his father recognized as a former champion, even though his name wasn’t listed in many record books, according to a 2005 story in “The Ring” magazine.
The story says Silverberg was stripped of the title after losing a non-title bout — the only time in boxing history that’s happened — and promised another title shot that he never got due to the fractious politics of boxing during that time.
Click here for more background on the controversy.
Click here for a 2012 New Haven Register story about Silverberg.
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Ron Silverberg stands next to a street sign erected in honor of his father, Pinky Silverberg.
Ron thanked Cassetti and the city for honoring his father after helping the mayor unveil the sign in Pinky’s honor Thursday.
“It was 90 years ago that he won his world championship,” he said. “And now Ansonia will finally have a permanent marker.”
He also noted a neat dual meaning of the “Champion’s Corner” sign unveiled Thursday.
“The street corner is one meaning, of course,” he said. “But a boxer is used to being assigned a certain corner of the boxing ring before a fight. So, in this corner, Pinky Silverberg, world champion from Ansonia, Connecticut.”
