Gene Pantalone to be Inducted into NJFHOF
Gene Pantalone of New Providence will be inducted into the 2022 class of the New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame as a writer/historian on November 10, 2022. Past inductees include Mike Tyson, Donald Trump, James Braddock, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Gerry Cooney, Marvin Hagler, Mike & Leon Spinks, and Jersey Joe Walcott.
He’s been researching since 2000 and has accumulated a significant amount of NJ boxing information and photos. The data has been turned into books and articles on sites such as The Weigh-In Podcast, and the Garden State Legacy.
He single-handedly resurrected Madame Bey and her camp that was located on River Road in Chatham Township, which hosted more than 80 International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees and 14 heavyweight champions from 1923-1968; a rich NJ boxing history that would have been lost. Some of the more famous attendees were Joe Lous, Rocky Mariano, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Max Schmeling, Floyd Patterson, and James Braddock. It even garnered international attention and spread the word to Turkey, where Madame Bey was born. The Turkish embassy donated $10,000 to resurrect a monument in Chatham in her honor.
His books are available on Amazon and have been reviewed in many prominent boxing publications both in the US and UK. Positive reviews and commentaries on the books have been given by prominent boxing personalities such as Thomas Hauser, Randy Roberts, Frank Stallone, Al Bernstein, Nigel Collins, Ken Hissner, Gordon Marino, and more.
He was nominated for the 2021 Richard J. Hughes Award, which recognizes outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of New Jersey history. It is given annually to an individual in recognition of a series of contributions in the areas of scholarship, public history, conservation and preservation, and teaching.
