The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
HEASTIE TOURS BOXING HALL
NewYork Assembly: Speaker joins Bill Magee, praises community for keeping history alive
CANASTOTA, N.Y. » New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie visited the place where legends live forever with local leaders in Canastota while touring New York state.
Heastie does a state tour every year and this year, Assemblyman William Magee, D-121, suggested one of the stops be at the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Magee said the Boxing Hall of Fame is a good stop because it tells the history of boxing and Canastota’s place in it. Two Canastota locals, Carmen Basilio and Billy Backus, earned their place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame after becoming world champions.
Joining Heastie andMagee was Town of Lenox Supervisor Rocky DiVeronica and Canastota Mayor Carla DeShaw.
“This place has so much history,” DiVeronica said.
Heastie was given a full tour of the International Boxing Hall of Fame by Executive Director Edward Brophy. There, Heastie was taken back to boxing’s early days to something closer to home.
“You know, I never rooted for Mike Tyson. I rooted for everyone against
“Growing up, my householdwas an Ali household. The boxers I likedwereAli, SugarRay, Evander Holyfield and Trinidad. They were the guys I really liked. Larry Holmes, too.”
— Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
him,” Heastie said. “Growing up, my household was an Ali household. The boxers I liked were Ali, Sugar Ray, Evander Holyfield and Trinidad. They were the guys I really liked. Larry Holmes, too.”
“There were people rooting for Muhammad Ali to be beat when he fought, so it was kind of the same thing,” Brophy said. “Joe Frazier and Ali, when they fought each other? You were either a Joe Frazier fan or Ali fan and people would argue. And there were friendships ended over who won that fight.”
Heastie was stunned to see the fist castings of boxing legends and one in particular - Primo Carnera. His hand was easily twice as big as Heastie’s - and everyone else who was part of the tour.
“This is actually somebody’s fist?” Heastie asked. “Did this guy ever lose?”
World Heav yweight Champion from June 1933 to June 1934, Brophy said Carnera has the biggest fist of any fighter in the ring.
Heastie also got a chance to compare fist sizes to Ali and take home some memorabilia by the end of the tour.
“The Boxing Hall of Fame museum is full of boxing memorabilia dating back to the 1800s,” Heastie said. “This wide array of historical mate- rial helps educate all generations about this great sport. Seeing the original boxing ring used in the Ali and Frazier fight was interesting. I did not know it was sent from New York City’s Madison Square Garden and housed here until today.”
Heastie said sports are a quintessential part of the history of New York and the entirety of the United States. Places like the Boxing Hall of Fame help keep the sport of boxing alive by making accessible relics that all generations can enjoy.
Before he left, Heastie was approached by DeShaw and DiVeronica about an issue involving the village of Canastota and the Department of Transpor- tation.
The NewYork State DoT has said the intersection of Center Street and North Peterboro Street does not meet current federal and state warrants due to the number of vehicles utilizing Center Street and the low accident history; however, DeShaw, DiVeronica and community members are fighting to keep the stoplight in for a number of reasons.
“We were told the light was under study and would likely be taken down,” DeShaw said.
DeShaw said the intersection sees a lot of traffic and is very busy, from people going to Dunn’s Bakery, New York Pizzeria and other businesses. But the biggest issue is the Canas- tota Fire Department.
“The fire department uses that intersection as their only entrance out to Peterboro when they have a call and has to come out that way. The DoT thought they could solve that by having the fire department come out on Diamond Street,” DeShaw said. “That little bridge over the canal is not weighted for 18,000 pounds.”
When the Canastota Fire Department is out on a call they, like other fire departments, can change the light from red to green so they can get where they need to faster. But since the light is under study, it has been kept at flashing yellow.
“The fire department had a call and they were stuck at that light and we’ve had several near miss pedestrian incidents in the last two months,” DeShaw said.
There’s currently a petition of more than 900 signatures to keep the light and DeShaw said she has around 30 letters addressed to Regional Traffic & Safety Engineer Linda Lubey.
DeShaw and DiVeronica said they have reached out to Magee and Senator David Valesky, D-53, for help regarding the light.
After hearing what they had to say, Heastie said he would ask about the light and see what he could do to help.
“It’s not a small thing and I’m luckier than most people,” Heastie said. “I can call the governor directly.”