John's Boxing Club: 
   A South Bronx Field of Dreams

Bobby Gleason's gym, now a parking lot, located to the right

Ray Kinsella’s built his Field of Dreams, a baseball diamond, on his Iowa cornfield. In the 1989 movie of the same name, a voice told Kinsella, played by Kevin Costner, “If you build it, he will come.” Kinsella did and deceased ballplayers emerged from the cornstalks behind the outfield.


Pashk Gjini, a seventeen-year-old Albanian immigrant has his Field of Dreams in a run-down former post office in the South Bronx. Located on a desolate stretch of Westchester Avenue John’s Boxing Club is surrounded by a parking lot and elevated subway tracks. In America’s poorest Congressional districts the American dream thrives.


Pashk came to the US at 8. His older brother Gjin, 34, arrived in the late 1990’s. In 2004 Ginj took over the Jerome Boxing Club, founded about 1981, and renamed it John after his son.

Pashk and  banner of world ranked  Clottey and Agbeko, 

At 13 Pashk began working at the club on fight nights. He collected admissions, cash only, at the front door. In 2008 he started working part-time. Pashk, who has a brown belt, said, “I was teaching martial arts but my brother needed me.”


Pashk manages John’s part-time after classes at Cardinal Hayes High School. He captains their playoff soccer team and belongs to the Martin Scorsese Media Center. Scorsese, a Hayes graduate, won an Oscar for Raging Bull, about Bronx native Jake LaMotta.


 “Owning a business is my dream. Pashk pays his tuition with the money he earns. Pashk learned the business with little input from Gjin, a tile setter. “I thought I was too young to work here. My brother believed in me.”


Soon Pashk computerized the business. “Before we kept names and dues on index cards in a box, in no special order.”  He created a website, a Facebook page, used You Tube to showcase events, and listed the gym on search engines. He handed out fliers. He sold tee shirts and hoodies with John’s name. When he broke even he gave the rest away. “Let people wear them instead of collecting dust on a shelf. It’s free advertisement,” Pashk said. His efforts paid off. Membership swelled to over 400 from about 125.


Accepted by several local colleges he plans to study business. A wiry built six-footer, the sandy-hairedPashk spoke no English when he arrived. Today he speaks fluently. He is polite, bright and personable. He deals with the club’s many personalities in a friendly and engaging manner.

Photo from Jerome Boxing Club's heyday. Lamboy in photo.

Boxing clubs once dotted the city’s neighborhoods. They lacked the amenities and sparkle of Equinox or Crunch. Places like Stillman’s, Gleason’s, (original one was next door to John’s) or Gramercy Gym captured the city’s gritty underbelly. They became office or hangout for gangsters, bookies, promoters, hustlers, trainers, pro and amateur fighters, wanna-be-tough guys and boxing devotees.

Sparring session in first ring. Boxers and trainers watch

One Thursday afternoon in late December thirty people work out. Two fighters pound the heavy bags with the intensity of prizefighters. Two jump rope; a fifth, strapped with weights, climbs the tread master. Another weaves his body as if avoiding imaginary punches while popping the N-bag; a seventh pummels a speed bag. A woman zaps her trainer’s padded gloves with hard jabs; a pair of boxers spars in each ring watched by their trainers.


Lulu Arroyo, of Harlem, joined John’s that day. She paid three months dues and extra for a trainer. John costs $50 per month. Trainers charge $35 a week. “My uncle told me this is the place to learn boxing and prepare for the golden gloves,” Ms. Arroyo said. When asked about the mostly male environment she said, “Here they respect boxers male or female.”

John’s members come from Brooklyn, Manhattan and other parts of the Bronx. They are fast food workers, messengers, security guards, immigrants, firemen, cops, teachers, single mothers and golden gloves hopefuls. They hail from Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. Mike Tyson and Roberto Duran have here. CSI NY and Nike filmed here. Evander Holyfield made a commercial.

Nigerian Blessing Afolayan 

John is home to former IBF champions from Ghana, Joshua Clottey and Joseph Agbeko. A huge banner with their photos hangs on the wall by the main ring.

“Imagine “The Hitter” fought world champ Manny Pacquico in Cowboys stadium before 53,000 on Showtime,” Pashk said referring to Clottey who lost the 2010 fight. Albanian heavyweight, two-time Golden Gloves champ Stivens Bujaj calls John home.


John’s trainers are ex-pros or amateurs. Boxing is in their blood. Understanding Allah, Lorenzo Cidd, Billy Giles, Don Kirschner, and Edwin Viruet bring character and soul. Viruet won 31 fights. He fought Roberto Duran twice, once for the lightweight title. Eastside boxing blog www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=480&more=1 described the Puerto Rican born, Viruet as fearless. Howard Cosell called him courageous and classy. With the grace and movement of Muhammad Ali taunted Duran and smashed him in the face before losing a close decision.
Viruet has trained Wesley Snipes and gangster Sammy Gravano. A boxer’s life is hard. Dreams are fleeting. Today Mr. Viruet squeezes by on social security and food stamps.


Blessing Afolayan trains three to four times a week. He balances work, a family with hard workouts. His girlfriend and their infant sit nearby as he works out.

Afolayan, a native of Nigeria, with a rich boxing tradition, has a 7-2 amateur record. He rips the heavy bag relentlessly. He wants to turn pro soon. “Good fighters here. Good history,” he said. Others like Marcial Lamboy, 55, come here to stay in shape. Lamboy boxed in the Spanish gloves and has trained at this site for 30 years.

Dedicated Lamboy veteran of Jerome Boxing Club

At 80, Don Kirschner is the elder statesman. He is a trainer, an ex-Marine Corp boxer and  co-manager. A South Bronx native, Kirschner and his two brothers trained at Cus D’Amato’s Gramercy Gym for 25 cents apiece. He remembers watching champions Floyd Patterson and Jose Torres. “Cus told a trainer ‘take the three blondies and start them with uppercuts. I want perfection.’”

Kirschner in club's office filled with boxing photos

He teaches principles he learned from D’Amato. He cautions boxers to always defend themselves. “I stress jabs. Counter a punch with your forearm and cover your face. Don’t get hit.”

John is a family affair. “Fathers and daughters train here; couples work out together. Mothers sign up sons to keep them out of trouble,” he said.

The monthly fee is less than at other places yet it is a hardship for many. Kirschner often waves his fee.

Don K, referee,  singer's Noam Weisntein's (L) CD 

With his blonde wavy hair he looks younger than his years. He is sharp-minded and insightful. His hands are cat-quick. His air punches attest to this. He asks boxers “Why do you come here? Do you see yourself as a boxer,” he said “Honesty, concentration and inspiration builds confidence.”

Kirschner said two types come here: those who want to become boxers and kids who want to defend themselves against bullies.

“The bully learns boxing is hard and he is not so tough,” he said.

Membership has fallen as the club fights to survive. The club has had a month-to-month agreement with the city since 2011 and will close soon. A new development is planned for the site.

“John is important to many people. The area has many problems and few resources,” Pashk said. “It gives people an interest, a place to come and feel good and do something positive.”

Kirschner sums it up best.  “We dream of turning pro, training the next champ. We dream to do better. Dreams offer hope.”


Photos by Rudi Papiri; Jerome Boxing Club photo from Marcial Lamboy.
Editor's Note: John's Boxing Club, at 436 Westchester Avenue (between Bergen and Brook), Bronx, NY closes at the end of February. John's is moving one block away to 450 E. 149th St. Located on the second floor the new site will have about 5,000 square feet. The grand opening is slated for March 5.

   Searching For Joe Garagiola
        at the Polo Grounds

Mays catching the ball a few feet in front of the wall.

For most people “seeing is believing” but not for Anthony Scillia.

Dr. Scillia, a psychiatrist from Denville, New Jersey is a life long San Francisco Giants fan. His allegiance to the team dates back to its days at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan, across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium.

When Dr. Scillia read Joe Garagiola, had a direct view of “The Catch” Willie Mays’ dramatic game-saving over-the-head grab of Vic Wertz’s 450-foot blast in the eight inning of game one of the 1954 World Series against the Cleveland Indians, he wanted proof.

Who could blame him?

(First, for most of us, “Who is Joe Garagiola?”)

How did Garagiola, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Chicago Cubs wind up at the game? And how did he have one of the best seats of the 52,751 fans there.  A journeyman player, his best-known baseball achievement is growing up in The Hill section of St. Louis, near his close friend, New York Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra.

“I was not the best catcher in baseball. I wasn’t even the best catcher on my block,” Gariagola once said.

His career took off after his playing days ended. Author of “Baseball is a Funny Game” he hosted NBC’s Today Show and its Saturday Game of the Week. He often guest-hosted Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show including the Beatles only appearance on that show and was a panelist on To Tell The Truth

 “THE CATCH”

The score tied 2-2 and no outs, base runners on first and second, power hitting Wertz, a four-time all-star slammed Don Liddle’s fourth pitch to centerfield. When Wertz connected with the ball, Mays known for playing a shallow centerfield, turned and ran over 130 feet with his back to home plate. If the ball remained in play everyone knew Willie would catch it. And he did! His throw to the infield prevented runners from scoring. The Giants won the game and swept the series; their last in New York. They moved to San Francisco in 1957.

While reading “Baseball’s 25 Greatest Moments” published by The Sporting News (the catch ranked ninth) the following quote spurred Dr. Scillia’s interest.

“It was an impossible catch, but what amazed me was how quickly Mays turned and fired the ball all the way to second base," said Garagiola. “He had to leave skid marks there-that’s how quickly he stopped and braced himself to throw.” Garagiola saw the play from a clubhouse window 483 feet from home plate, less than 30 feet from Mays.

After making his over-the-head catch of Wertz's blast Mays stops quickly
ready to throw the ball to the infield. Garagiola watches from the window.

He called his friend, Carl Kahn, a Brooklyn Dodger fan and a sports memorabilia collector. Kahn who knows Garagiola personally told Scillia “If Joe said it, then it is true.” Dr. Scillia thumbed through his baseball video library. He played his film and saw someone in the seventh window, on the far left side of the clubhouse. He noticed another face by the second window but that person had an obstructed view.

Scillia  had a quote and a photo but he needed more.  This had personal ties.

“My parents who are deceased were enthusiastic Giant fans. My best friend is a Yankee fan. He always urged me to become one,” he said. “If I had I would abandon my father.

 “Rooting for the Giants keeps me connected with my parents. As a fan I was curious but I had to do it for my father.”

Dr. Scillia visited baseball’s Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. He found his evidence in their archives, a photo showing the entire clubhouse with Garagiola hunched by the window. He sent the picture to Garagiola who signed it.

So how did Garagiola wind up in the Giants clubhouse?  He played five games with the Giants - batted 11 times, with three hits, two doubles. The Giants did not add him to their World Series roster and he watched the game from the clubhouse. “I had nothing to do with the outcome of the game,” he said.

Borrowing a phrase made popular by the late Red Barber, a sportscaster for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, Garagiola had the enviable position of sitting “in the catbird seat.”

Funny Store: TIMES SQUARE RELIC THRIVES ON LAUGHTER AND MAGIC

Filled with pranks, jokes, magic toys, and much more, the Funny Store is the last old-time novelty shop in Times Square. Every inch of this emporium of laughs and tricks, no bigger than a Manhattan studio, is crammed with fun items.

As I entered the store one morning a dancing George Bush puppet greeted me singing Louis Armstrong’s song Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen; Little Johnny-Boy, a figurine wee-wee squirter sprayed me; a foul-mouthed Polly-the-Parrot insulted me; a black spider-on-string dropped from the ceiling landing on my shoulder; and a trap crunched a twelve inch rat - fake, of course.

The store carries old favorites - hand buzzers, whoopee cushions, blue mouth candy, itching powder, bleeding knives, squirting doorbells, disappearing ink, spy glasses, room stinkers, flaming wallets and a magic coloring book which changes blank pages to colored objects by saying Abracadabra.

The number one item, is actually number two - a large mound of rubber turd. He sells security badges, custom made newspaper headlines, ID cards and passport photos. At Halloween the store becomes costume central with its huge collection of masks - Feddie Kruegger, Michael Jackson, Trump and many celebrities.

Times Square, the Great White Way, known for its movie houses, theaters, clubs but novelty/magic shops, arcade playlands, burlesque joints and flea and dime museums share in the area’s history.

Few are more familiar with this than Arnold Martin, The Funny Store's 47-year-old manager, who began working in Times Square as a 14-year-old from Queens.
"I was fascinated with magic and silly things," he said. "I first saw a magician perform at Macy's in Queens. He noticed how spellbound I was and gave me a free pass to watch him at the American Theater of Magic in midtown. Soon I was selling novelties and demonstrating tricks at its souvenir counter."

It opened a new world for him. There he met Lady Esterline, the Ringling Brothers sword swallower, Otto and George the ventriloquist, Tommy Laird the magician and Congo the Witch Doctor, who walked on broken glass and ate lit cigarettes. “It was a carnival with ten bizarre acts,” he said.

With his dark horn-rimmed glasses, large eyes, short, black wavy hair Martin could pass for a computer geek except he is extremely personable and friendly. He resembles the comic actor, Arnold Stang, star of radio, television, famous for his twangy voice and his early 1960’s commercial "Open Wide for Chunky." At six-foot-three, he towers over the diminutive Stang.

Martin is not a magician but give him a deck of cards he becomes a slick Coney Island barker as he delivers his spiel - "Everyone can do these tricks. Just step right up, pick a card, any card, put it back into the deck - top, bottom middle - anywhere. No special skills required. Read-the-instructions once, be like me. Read them twice, be twice smart as me…."

The original Funny Store opened on the corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in the early 1950's. It closed in the mid-eighties forced out by the city’s redevelopment plans for 42nd.

Martin moved to the Fun Emporium on Eighth Avenue near 42nd Street. When the Emporium lost its lease, it moved one block north and opened shop at the Playpen Theater, formerly the Cameo Playpen Adult Theater and renamed the Funny Store.

Martin explained the store's unique arrangement with Playpen. In the mid-nineties the city passed a law that stated the X-rated business of an adult store cannot exceed 40 percent of its operation. Funny Store and a camera shop fulfill the city's 60 percent requirement as non-adult business.

The Funny Store attracts tourists, local people and Broadway professionals who shop for props, makeup, human hair, beards, masks and costumes. Clients include cast members from The Producers. Jersey commuters shop for adult toys for their bachelorette parties Mary Poppins, Drowsy Chaperone and other shows.

Actor, stand-up comedian Gilbert Gottfried, ventriloquist Jay Johnson, magicians from the Monday Night Magic Show and radio host Joe Franklin are regulars. Martin has appeared on the Howard Stern show.

If you need to shed the winter blues drop in and let Martin entertain you.

The Funny Store - 693 Eighth Avenue, near 44th Street Mon-Sunday, 212, 957-1688; email: thefunnystore@yahoo.com

Editor’s Note: Funny Store and the Playpen adult theater closed July 2007. A 33 story luxury hotel is replacing it. Photo by Straycat