DAWN MARIE SANNWALDT Dennis Cronin, the director of the Knights of Columbus Boxing Club, works with North Brunswick’s Roberto Basan at the club’s gym in South River on Monday.
They say old-time boxers never really fade away. Most of them stay involved in the sport in some way.
Fortunately for the Knights of Columbus Boxing Club in South River, there’s a lot of truth to that.
The local boxing gym on Jackson Street has been a fixture since the early 1970s, when the late Tony Gabriel started it. Since then, hundreds of kids throughout Middlesex County have been taught the art of the sweet science inside the gym’s walls.
"We’re there from 6 o’clock to 8:30, 9 o’clock three nights a week during the summer and in the winter five nights a week," 72-year-old Dennis Cronin, a former boxer himself, who now runs the club, said. "We’re open year-round, and we average around 40 to 45 kids a night. It’s unbelievable."
DAWN MARIE SANNWALDT Lisa Pensak of Monroe works on a heavy bag at the Knights of Columbus Boxing Club in South River on Monday.
Cronin is one of several ex-boxers who volunteer their time running the club.
Born in Staten Island, N.Y., raised in New Brunswick and a resident of North Brunswick since 1960, Cronin has made boxing his life.
"I spend all my spare time with it," he said. "I love it."
In fact, Cronin was a Golden Gloves and state champion as a youth, while he also boxed in the navy and even fought professionally as a middleweight and light heavyweight in the 1950s and 60s.
Once his fighting days were over, however, he began training fighters as a way to stay close to the sport he loved.
"I worked with Eddie Willis at the Willis Boxing Club in New Brunswick from 1975 until Eddie passed away in 1988. I used to bring fighters over there all the time," Cronin said. "Then I went to the Knights of Columbus Boxing Club and worked with Tony Gabriel, and after he passed away five years ago, I took over running the gym.
"But it’s still Tony’s club," he quickly added. "He built the club, and we’re just continuing his work. We still got his name up in the gym. He’ll always be there."
Thanks to volunteers like Cronin, Gabriel’s legacy at the gym has been preserved. People like Max Fleming, John Silogy, Ron Brown, Steve Rivers, Skeeter Davis and Bob Valine have also devoted their free time to continuing the tradition of teaching young people how to fight the right way.
"They’re all ex-boxers, too," Cronin pointed out. "Once you’re in boxing, it gets in your blood. We have many volunteer trainers, and we also have some professionals who help out."
And the results would seem to indicate the kids at the club have been getting pretty good training, too.
"We’ve turned out many Golden Gloves champions through the years," Cronin noted. "And quite a few have fought professionally. Bob Murphy is a former successful amateur and pro boxer who started with us. Now he helps train kids in our gym."
But whether the kids at the Knights of Columbus Boxing Club achieve success in the ring is not the most important thing. The club definitely serves a purpose.
"We’re about the only active boxing club around now," Cronin pointed out.
"The only other active gym in this area is in Newark. I’d say we have between 50 to 60 active kids right now from 12 years old on up. It’s the type of place mothers and fathers can drop their kids off and don’t have to worry.
"We have three heavy bags, a couple of speed bags, and a lot of jump ropes. Whatever you want. And, we’re packed every night. We have so many kids, you have to wait in line to get on a heavy bag. But we have a ring, and there’s a lot of sparring. We even have some older guys in their 30s and 40s, who come just to stay in shape."
And the club is not restricted to just male fighters, either.
"We also have girl boxers and trainers," Cronin said proudly. "One who is very successful is Lisa Pensak. She’s 31 and she fights and helps train other girls."
Although the Knights of Columbus Boxing Club is a nonprofit organization, there are still expenses to meet.
"We charge dues, $15 a month or $3 a night if you don’t have the $15," Cronin explained. "But we never turn away anyone for lack of money.
"We also get people who subsidize us like the Knights of Columbus in South Brunswick, the New Brunswick Knights of Columbus 257, and the Electrical Union 456. They all help us and we appreciate everything they’ve done.
"All the money we get pays for insurance and equipment. We have over $2,000 in equipment."
The local boxing club should raise some more money when it runs its own show Oct. 12 at the Knights of Columbus building.
"We hope to have about 10 fights on the card," Cronin said. "We want to really showcase our kids’ talent that night."
And luckily for those young fighters, the older ones never fade away.