The Bell from Meadowbrook: Richard Taskin's Oral History
Title
The Bell from Meadowbrook: Richard Taskin's Oral History
Subject
Boxing in North Adams
Description
This oral history describes a bell from a boxing ring in North Adams, MA, where famous boxer Archie Moore trained for his heavyweight title.
Date
ca. 2018
Contributor
Richard Taskin
Format
Video
Language
English
Type
Oral History
Interviewer
Rosie
Interviewee
Richard Taskin
Location
MassMoCA
Transcription
Rose: Richard
Richard: Good morning
Rose: Good morning. Tell me all about your item that you brought in today.
Richard: Well this is a bell from what which would have been used in boxing and it is from the Meadowbrook arena. Which was located in North Adams um I don’t have the exact dates but probably 1930s, 40s, and 50s. As very small child, when it was closed, I remember seeing it as a sort of this pile of white stuffed building before it was demolished it was located near the site of where currently McCant pack is.
Rosie: Ok.
Richard: And. of course, boxing was one of the primary sports in America during the 1930s and 40s and 50s. Baseball, horse racing and boxing were probably the three big sports and uh as such it was popular throughout the country. Um I know there were matches certainly in the 40s. There’s a retired North Adams superintendent of schools named Robert Maroney who once told me the name of a boxer who was killed in the ring there in 1949. In the age of the Internet, you’re able to look that person up see their record. And you were also able to see the record of the winner and I looked at his record. He was subsequently killed in the ring. But Meadowbrook is best known because um in 1955, again when boxing was a huge sport, Archie Moore the only fighter to have ever fought Mohammed Ali and Rocky Marciano trained for his heavyweight championship fight um in fall of 1955 which was held at Yankee Stadium. Rocky and Zel Rocky and Ronnie Marciano, Archie Moore fought him and trained in North Adams. There’s a Youtube of that fight where You can see it and in the end Marciano won. He got knocked down in the first round but won. He never lost. And um at the end of the fight, Marciano gives a post fight interview and answer was Moore a tough opponent by saying—he wouldn’t have said talking smack—but I mean he would have said something to the effect that he wasn’t talking nonsense up in North Adams, MA. He actually says it in a Youtube interview.
Rosie: Was this one of the bells?
Richard: Was one of the bells. I don’t know if it was the primary bell.
Rosie: How did you come by it?
Richard: I had an uncle, Harold Taskin, North Adams, life-long North Adams resident 1919-2001. And uh he ran our family, along with my father, my other uncle, and my grandfather. We had a furniture store in North Adams for 77 years. And uh my uncle Harold was uh a lieutenant in World War II and one of those guys, unlike a lot of those guys of that generation, and you look at that guy and say that guy was in the war but he was also—he had great skills, he was a glass man, he was sort of a natural. And he would occasionally go around to places when they were being torn down and pick stuff up and hoarded things. So I would from about 1960 until 2005 this was in the cellar of his residence. My aunt lived until a few years ago, his widow, but um she gave me the bell which my uncle Harold had picked up.
Rosie: It’s very cool.
Richard: Are you curious as to whether it still works, Rosie?
Rosie: I am actually.
Richard: Would you like to lean over and um where’s the thing and about an 1/8 of an inch, see if you can get any sound out of it
*Bell rings*
Rosie: It’s loud
Other Interviewer: Yeah
Richard: I actually keep it in my office and occasionally ring the bell for some of my clients of mine. As a criminal defense attorney, We’re not going to say which ones.
Rosie: Well, thank you, Richard
Richard: You’re very welcome.
Rosie: [Unintelligible] An item with all this information behind it, that’s great
Richard: Well, you’re welcome. Thank you. Good luck.
Richard: Good morning
Rose: Good morning. Tell me all about your item that you brought in today.
Richard: Well this is a bell from what which would have been used in boxing and it is from the Meadowbrook arena. Which was located in North Adams um I don’t have the exact dates but probably 1930s, 40s, and 50s. As very small child, when it was closed, I remember seeing it as a sort of this pile of white stuffed building before it was demolished it was located near the site of where currently McCant pack is.
Rosie: Ok.
Richard: And. of course, boxing was one of the primary sports in America during the 1930s and 40s and 50s. Baseball, horse racing and boxing were probably the three big sports and uh as such it was popular throughout the country. Um I know there were matches certainly in the 40s. There’s a retired North Adams superintendent of schools named Robert Maroney who once told me the name of a boxer who was killed in the ring there in 1949. In the age of the Internet, you’re able to look that person up see their record. And you were also able to see the record of the winner and I looked at his record. He was subsequently killed in the ring. But Meadowbrook is best known because um in 1955, again when boxing was a huge sport, Archie Moore the only fighter to have ever fought Mohammed Ali and Rocky Marciano trained for his heavyweight championship fight um in fall of 1955 which was held at Yankee Stadium. Rocky and Zel Rocky and Ronnie Marciano, Archie Moore fought him and trained in North Adams. There’s a Youtube of that fight where You can see it and in the end Marciano won. He got knocked down in the first round but won. He never lost. And um at the end of the fight, Marciano gives a post fight interview and answer was Moore a tough opponent by saying—he wouldn’t have said talking smack—but I mean he would have said something to the effect that he wasn’t talking nonsense up in North Adams, MA. He actually says it in a Youtube interview.
Rosie: Was this one of the bells?
Richard: Was one of the bells. I don’t know if it was the primary bell.
Rosie: How did you come by it?
Richard: I had an uncle, Harold Taskin, North Adams, life-long North Adams resident 1919-2001. And uh he ran our family, along with my father, my other uncle, and my grandfather. We had a furniture store in North Adams for 77 years. And uh my uncle Harold was uh a lieutenant in World War II and one of those guys, unlike a lot of those guys of that generation, and you look at that guy and say that guy was in the war but he was also—he had great skills, he was a glass man, he was sort of a natural. And he would occasionally go around to places when they were being torn down and pick stuff up and hoarded things. So I would from about 1960 until 2005 this was in the cellar of his residence. My aunt lived until a few years ago, his widow, but um she gave me the bell which my uncle Harold had picked up.
Rosie: It’s very cool.
Richard: Are you curious as to whether it still works, Rosie?
Rosie: I am actually.
Richard: Would you like to lean over and um where’s the thing and about an 1/8 of an inch, see if you can get any sound out of it
*Bell rings*
Rosie: It’s loud
Other Interviewer: Yeah
Richard: I actually keep it in my office and occasionally ring the bell for some of my clients of mine. As a criminal defense attorney, We’re not going to say which ones.
Rosie: Well, thank you, Richard
Richard: You’re very welcome.
Rosie: [Unintelligible] An item with all this information behind it, that’s great
Richard: Well, you’re welcome. Thank you. Good luck.
Duration
4:25
Citation
“The Bell from Meadowbrook: Richard Taskin's Oral History,” North Adams Archives, accessed May 3, 2024, https://northadamsarchives.com/items/show/244.
Added by Madeleine
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