Bill Prusinowski, at the International Boxing Hall of Fame in Canastota, New York.
This work is an account of two sons of the first wave of Polish/Lithuanian immigrants, and their unavoidable involvement with the American underworld of the 1930s -1950s. Babe Risko (Henry Pylkowski) would go on to win boxing’s Middleweight Championship of the World. Brother Vince was his “acting manager,” being at odds more than not with the proclaimed “Czar” of Boxing, Frankie Carbo and his mobster minions. The story is based upon Babe’s victory in the Ring and life in the Risko/Pelkowski family as they navigated the changing customs and mores of the times. After Babe’s untimely death, Vince continued as an “entrepreneur” before the term made its permanent indent into American society. Times were tough and the attraction of the bizarre and often profane world of professional wrestling, the brutal world of pro-boxing, the rebellious world of rock and roll, stage shows, musicals and Broadway shows, the founding of the National Football Shrine and Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, and various entertainment productions.
