Local boxing legend honored
By MELISSA DIPENTO
The Cherry Hill Sun
6/1/2011

You may have heard of Joey Giardello, the boxer who bears the title ‘middleweight champion of the world’ from 1963 to 1965.

But what you may not know is that Giardello, actually Carmine Tilelli, has quite a history in Cherry Hill.

Friends say he changed his name so he could join the Army at 17.

Giardello was born in Brooklyn on July 16, 1930. He spent his young adulthood in South Philadelphia.

He married Rosalie, won the world championship and moved his young family to Cherry Hill, where Rosalie still resides today with two of her four adult sons. Giardello passed away in 2008.

About three years ago, artist Carl LeVotch created a statue of Philadelphia boxer Bennie Briscoe.

At its unveiling ceremony at the Boxing Hall of Fame Dinner, people started questioning when there would be a statue of Giardello.

John DiSanto, who founded PhillyBoxingHistory.com, kicked around the idea with other boxing organization members from the Veteran Boxers Association and the Harrowgate Boxing Club.

From there, the decision was made. There would be a Joey Giardello statue commemorating his career.

LeVotch was commissioned to create the statue.

Organizers then started the process of where to put the statue in Philadelphia, where he spent most of his time practicing and competing.

“He was very respected and super popular,” DiSanto said. “Everybody seemed to like the idea a lot.”

LeVotch, who graduated from Cherry Hill West, said he was excited to get to work on the statue. LeVotch now lives in Haddon Township, but said he spent many years in Cherry Hill.

LeVotch recalls seeing Giardello walking down Chapel Ave. and feeling excited to see the middleweight champion of the world walking around in his neighborhood.

“One can’t think of a greater subject of artwork than a boxer,” LeVotch said. “I couldn’t ask for a better subject.”

It took LeVotch, who has created about 10 bronze statues in Cherry Hill and the surrounding region, about eight months to complete the work on the statue, with the help of Anna Krukles.

But LeVotch did more than just study photos of Giardello.

He met with Rosalie throughout the creation of the sculpture, he said, to talk and get to know her and her family.

“She played a major role. We had numerous conversations about her husband and her life. Her home is filled with incredible boxing memorabilia,” LeVotch said. “She painted a picture, I just put it into bronze.”

LeVotch even took things one step further.

He noticed something in one of Giardello’s sons, Paul, that caught his attention.

“Paul had been a professional fighter. I saw his father’s eyes in him,” LeVotch said.

LeVotch used Paul as an inspiration for the statue, he said.

The statue was unveiled on May 21 at Passyunk Ave. and Mifflin St. in Philadelphia.

More than 300 family members, friends and fans came out to see the statue in all of its glory.

“It was overwhelming, such a tribute to my husband,” Rosalie said. “It was nice to honor him in some way.”

The statue, including construction and maintenance, cost about $100,000, DiSanto said.

DiSanto said the project received a $10,000 grant from Pennsylvania, so the rest of the money was raised through business and union donations, selling stickers and T-shirts, and beef and beer events.

“It was a labor of love,” DiSanto said.

Giardello’s wife, children and family were present at the statue dedication.

Rosalie said her husband Joey isn’t the only member of her family with a large fanbase.

Her second oldest son, Carman, who has Down Syndrome, began working with Cherry Hill Township’s maintenance department in 1978.

He retired from the township in 2005.

Rosalie said Carman would go into the offices, collect recyclables and set up chairs in the community center.

“He was all over the place. Everybody knew and loved him,” she said.

Rosalie, Carman and her youngest son Steven still live two blocks away from Town Hall and the Community Center, renamed the Carman Tilelli Community Center in 2005 in Carmen’s honor.

Paul Tilelli also lives in Cherry Hill and Joseph Tilelli lives in Marlton.

Mayor Bernie Platt was also a good friend and fan of Giardello’s. Platt said his influence is still felt throughout the township.

“Joey Giardello was a legend in the boxing world and an institution in Cherry Hill. Whether he was playing cards at the American Legion or in the township community center, named after his son, he was a special part of our community. This statue dedication and Carl’s work is a fitting memorial for a boxer who shocked the world and an iconic figure who lived in Cherry Hill,” Platt said.