Gennaro gets second title
Tuesday, Apr. 15, 2008 @ 1:03 am
The first title was for his fallen father, Saturday’s championship was for himself
Thomas Gennaro had a lot of family members to thank.
After he won his second National Collegiate Boxing Association championship on Saturday, Gennaro thanked everyone who helped him get to that point and said they were all family to him.
“I can’t thank everyone enough,” Gennaro said.
He thanked his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers, his mother, his friends, his coaches, but it was his dad he wanted to thank most.
Gennaro’s father died in 2005, before Gennaro won his first collegiate boxing championship.
“When I think about the sacrifice he made, moving me from (New York City) so I didn’t grow up in the streets,” Gennaro said. “I’m the first male to go to college (in my family). “My sister was the first person in my family to go to college. I don’t know anybody except maybe a fourth or fifth cousin that graduated from college.”
Gennaro won the championship immediately after his father’s death, but lost last year. Gennaro was determined to win in his final collegiate fight Saturday against Army boxer Steve Henoa-Escobar.
“I just knew I had more energy and more stamina than any athlete in this nation,” Gennaro said. “There was no way anyone was going to outplay me. I wanted to see how deep (Henoa-Escobar) could swim tonight. I wanted to see if someone could out swim me in the deep water. There was no one who could out swim me.”
Gennaro said that the 2006 championship was for his dad, but this championship was for him.
Gennaro started slowly in the first round, but took control in the second. He attacked Henoa-Escobar with powerful combinations, using his energy to his advantage.
Gennaro raised his arms at the conclusion of the fight, confidant he had won. After he left the ring he was mobbed by dozens of people who wanted to congratulate him.
A small boy asked if Gennaro would sign his arm, but Gennaro said, “I’ll have to get you a Sharpie (for writing on skin), meet me in the back.”
Other than his father, Gennaro specifically thanked his boxing coach Greg Rice.
“God bless him,” Gennaro said. “He’s been like a grandfather to me. He would have me over at his house for dinner, multiple times, knowing I was hungry. I was kind of broke at the time and he would give me food to go home with. That’s what it’s about: The family that we have.”
Gennaro said he would miss being an active member of the Nevada boxing family.
“I feel I am leaving this program better than it was when I came here,” Gennaro said.
He said the person he will miss most is his best friend and also national champion David Schacter.
“He helped me so much in boxing,” Gennaro said. “Schacter is my best friend, my roommate; he’s like my Jewish little brother. He’s been a blessing in my life. He’s taught me so much. He had so much (boxing) experience coming into college. I had zero experience.”
Gennaro said he is looking forward to graduation this May.
“That’s what it’s all about, graduating,” he said.
See Joey Gilbert’s poem about Gennaro and Gilbert’s coach, Greg Rice, here.
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