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- Denis Marrese of Mansfield has been handed a sacred trust - the images of a legend and the echoes of his idolized name.

MANSFIELD

The 53-year-old Brockton native has been entrusted with keeping the name and storied feats of former undefeated heavyweight champion Rocky Marciano alive and in the public eye. For a cause.

Marrese, a former amateur fighter, himself, is the director of promotions and events for Municipal Environmental Development, a company that puts on various events and gives 70 percent of the profits away - 40 percent to city and town parks and recreation departments and 30 percent to various charities.

A family friend of the Marcianos growing up, Marrese is now vice president of sales and marketing for the Rocky Marciano Scholarship Fund. Rocky's own brother, Peter Marciano, who started the fund two decades ago to give $500 annual scholarships to Brockton High School athletes, appointed Marrese personally to take over fundraising through his various promotions, most of which are boxing shows.

Marrese, a man who has made and sold countless hats and T-shirts for numerous sporting and show business events, now wears a few.

SUN CHRONICLE: Tell me about your own boxing days.

DENIS MARRESE: I was an amateur fighter as a kid. I started at 17. I thought I could be something. I had the heart and the meanness, but I didn't have the discipline. I was a hell of a gym fighter, though.

Does (not doing it in public) make me a chicken? I think it was stage fright, more than anything else. I hated road work. I hated what it took to be a Rocky Marciano.

SC: So, did you know the family well, growing up in Brockton?

MARRESE: Our families were very close. He was everybody's ideal when I was a kid. Everyone knew him in Brockton. He was very poor. He came from nothing. Look what he made of himself.

SC: How did you get involved in boxing again and fight promotion?

MARRESE: I've always been in the T-shirt business. I've been doing that since 1989. I'm now more defined in how I do it. I've been doing custom orders for corporations and for schools. So, I got into T-shirts, and I decided to get into boxing promotions with a friend of mine. We used to box together.

I sold T-shirts to this gym in Brockton run by Mike Cappiello, and I started training fighters. I had some knowledge, but I got more knowledge with Mike. I really enjoyed it. Mike likes me, and I'm selling T-shirts to local high schools. I did a boxing event at Bridgewater-Raynham High School, and we managed to raise $4,500 to cover some of their students' sports user fees. So, I started promoting amateur boxing events for fundraising.

SC: Then, you got involved in the scholarship through Peter Marciano.

MARRESE: Well, everybody knew Peter Marciano. How I really got to know him was I owed him money! (Laughs). He asked me if I would sell T-shirts at local boxing events in Providence. He doesn't want to sell shirts, not Peter. Any memorabilia we get our hands on, we sell and give the profits to the fund. I've only been doing this since August 4, but Peter has been doing this for 20 years.

You know, Rocky had 29 of his (49) fights in Providence. Jimmy Burchfield, who is a great promoter in Rhode Island, he loved Rocky. He loves Peter. He is a huge Rocky Marciano fan and a real Peter Marciano fan. He was the guy who really got me involved in this.

If not for him, I wouldn't be doing it. I have to mention Jimmy Burchfield.

SC: How many top fighters, trainers or boxing managers do you know well, Denis? Seriously.

MARRESE: (Former world middleweight champion) Marvelous Marvin Hagler, (former middleweight champ) Vito Antuofermo, (former welterweight champ) Tony DeMarco is a 'Goombah.' He's a good friend. (junior welterweight contender) Tony Petronelli, (middleweight) Juan 'Butcher Boy' Botta, he was like my big brother. He sparred with (heavyweight champion) Joe Frazier, (welterweight and middleweight champ) Emile Griffith and (middleweight champ) Carlos Monzon, a lot of great fighters. He and (heavyweight contender) Oscar Bonavena were good friends, until Bonavena got whacked (he was shot in a Las Vegas brothel in 1973).

"Irish" Pat Stapleton was another. (Former heavyweight champion) Riddick Bowe. (Great trainers) Lou Duva, Angelo Dundee, Goody Petronelli and his brother Pat Petronelli. I just saw Angelo Dundee, a great guy. He's real.

SC: You and Antuofermo call each other a lot. Tell me one great story about him.

MARRESE: Well, Vito has a club foot. Nobody knew it. He said he could have had it corrected, but he hid it from people. I once saw Vito changing in the gym and he says, 'Denis, I'm a cripple. I'm a handicapped fighter.' And I say, 'Vito, c'mon! What do you mean?' He starts unwrapping his foot and I say, 'Holy sh--!' He says, 'Yeah, you just get used to it.'

He wants it to be part of his book he wants to write about his life story. He's a dock worker and lives in Howard's Beach, New York. He's a great guy.

SC: So, what's in your future, Denis?

MARRESE: I really want to make a lot of money for the cause. It's a blast. The most amazing thing is seeing young kids coming up to me. They see the huge banner of Rocky and I watch these young kids, they know (of) him. They still know him and they want to learn more.

The old-timers, everyone of any age, really, has a Rocky story about what he meant to them. I have an 87-year-old mother who knew Rocky. She said, 'The Marcianos and the Columbos (Rocky's best friend and co-trainer from Brockton), they don't make people like that anymore.'

I watch these young kids and I see that Rocky is still alive, as far as I'm concerned. In spirit.

Anyone wishing to learn more about the Rocky Marciano Scholarship Fund or to contribute may call Denis Marrese at 508-509-3236 or go to www.rockymarcianofoundation.com.