Anthony J. Longo Sr., a former featherweight boxer known for his powerful left hook and strong chin, died Thursday at Francis Scott Key Medical Center after suffering a heart attack at his Highlandtown residence. He was 66.
"They rang the gong 10 times in tribute to Tony before the matches Thursday night at Teamsters Hall," said Ray Klingmeyer, president of the Veteran Boxers Association Inc. International Ring 101.
Mr. Longo was most likely drawn to boxing because his three brothers -- Nick, Johnny and Joey -- fought professionally. He turned professional at 16, having had one amateur bout and only six months' training. In his 1945 debut, he knocked out Jim Cotton in the first round.
"He was a rough guy, a slugger, who was ambitious in the ring and came after you," said Joe Camarata who fought Mr. Longo several times. "But outside of the ring, he was known as a kind-hearted fighter."
"He was no Fancy Dan but simply a puncher," said Joseph Zannino, who described him as "reserved, quiet and religious, a good family man who never missed Mass on Sunday."
"In his career, he certainly fought some world class fighters," said Ray Leonard, past president of the V.B.A. International Ring 101.
Mr. Longo fought featherweight champion Willie Pep in Miami in 1953. He recalled the bout some years later in an interview with the VBA:
"Pep was my idol and it was such an honor to box him. Each official scored it 7-3 so I figured that I couldn't be too bad of a fighter to win three rounds from the master. And he was every bit of what they say he was. You'd feel a little tapping on your body or jaw and then two rounds later, you felt like the roof caved in on the very same spot!"
According to boxing records, in a career that ended in 1957, Mr. Longo had 87 bouts and compiled a record of 60-20-7. He was inducted into the Maryland Boxing Hall of Fame in 1978.
Reflecting on his career, he said he must have been able to take punches well "because I was only on the deck once. Bobby Courchesne put me down but it was really a slip."
Born and reared on Exeter Street, Mr. Longo attended parochial schools. He served with the 112th Infantry in Germany as an athletic instructor from 1951 until 1953 when he was discharged with the rank of private.
For many years, he coached the Highlandtown Exchange Club's Little League Dodgers team.
He retired in 1991 after working 37 1/2 years as a machine and fork lift operator at the G. Heileman Brewing Co.
A Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10:15 a.m. today at Our Lady of Pompei Roman Catholic Church, 227 S. Conkling St., Baltimore.
His wife, the former Beulah Eva Whichard, whom he married in 1959, died in 1985. He is survived by two sons, Anthony J. Longo Jr. of Dundalk and John A. Longo of Highlandtown; a daughter, Rosalie Ann Hughes of Shrewsbury, Pa.; a brother, Joseph Longo of Baltimore; a sister, Mary Fogler of Overlea; and six grandchildren.
=1 Memorial donations may be made to the church.