Community Corner

For Former Levittown Boxer, A Chance to Tell His Story Off Broadway

Bobby Cassidy Sr. fought both people and alcoholism; now, he's using his tale to help others.

Bobby Cassidy Sr.’s life changed for the better on Jan. 28, 1974.

At the time, it looked like it could be a day that destroyed him. His divorce from his wife was finalized that day, on their anniversary. He showed up for a fight against Jorge Ahumada – the undercard to the second Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier heavyweight championship – after a day of, as he put it, “drinking myself to death.”

He was knocked out that day. Soon after, he decided enough was enough, and gave up drinking. He’s been sober ever since.

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Now, at 67 years old, the long-time Levittown resident is sharing his story of survival in a play titled "Kid Shamrock" that will open a 10-day off-Broadway run this Friday.

"It can reach a lot of people [when you're] the one who nearly drank himself to death for two-and-a-half years because I lost a fight," he said. "I was having a pity party in my own brain, and that was the last straw, in a sense."

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To call Cassidy’s childhood rough would be putting it mildly. He bounced around various Queens neighborhoods as a toddler before his stepfather settled on Levittown. His mother and father were, as Cassidy called them, "stone cold alcoholics.” Once his stepfather came into the picture, he beat Cassidy every day.

Cassidy learned quickly that he was a good fighter and used street fighting to escape his surroundings. "I was in about 80 street fights," he said. "I loved the elation. People would say 'That's Bobby Cassidy, he knocked out the other guy.'"

The street fighting had to stop, however, when Cassidy knocked an opponent through a window and was arrested. A judge gave him the option of training professionally or going to prison. Naturally, he chose the former, where he learned to hone his craft.

"They didn't like fighting me because I was a southpaw,” he said. “I had tremendous power in my left hook."

Cassidy originally planned to fight in that year's Golden Gloves tournament before turning pro, but it was canceled. As a result, he took a risk and turned pro without an amateur fight. He started the difficult transition by knocking out his first opponent in 38 seconds, and won 18 of his first 19 fights.

As competition stiffened, though, Cassidy's results became mixed. The title shot he thought he earned never came. He started drinking and personal problems crept into the ring.

By the time of the fight against Ahumada in 1974, all of the problems had converged. A few months later, he hit a lower point at a bar on Levittown Parkway when he knocked out a 360-pound man on his way out of the bar. As he left the bar, he realized he needed to change … and he did.

"I went home and prayed to God that I wouldn't drink again, to give me the strength," he said. "Thirty-seven years later, I have not drank."

Part of the reason Cassidy stopped was so he could keep a relationship with his two sons. His relationship with them is strong; Bobby Cassidy Jr. wrote a long-time boxing column for Newsday, while Chris's photography career included taking photos of fighters.

Bobby Jr. wrote the script for Kid Shamrock, which is being praised for its authenticity. The cast, filled with former professional boxers, re-creates Cassidy's fights and demonstrates the emotional swings that a fighter goes through.

Cassidy even goes out on stage at one point and pours out his emotions through monologues. "It goes pretty well," he said. "I do monologues and I get emotionally involved. … In the beginning I was nervous, but [Thursday] I felt fine."

“We all have skeletons in our closet,” said Patrick Connolly, who plays a devoted Cassidy fan that meets an older version of Cassidy in a bar. “Most people keep them right there. He lets it all hang out there, and to watch somebody do that is quite amazing.”

Kid Shamrock will run from Nov. 25 to Dec. 4. For more info, check out the play's Facebook page.


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