JACK MOONEY was the name people at Notre Dame knew him by. The
South Bend resident coached and trained students in the Bengal
Bouts charity boxing tournament for more than 50 years, most of
that time alongside the legendary Nappy Napolitano. But when "Jack
Mooney" passed away in September 2004 at age 92, most in the campus
boxing community probably were surprised to learn that his real
name was John Sekendy. He had been using his fighting name from
his youth, when he boxed in the amateur Golden Gloves tournaments.
Sekendy was born in Hungary and moved to South Bend with his parents
in 1920 when he was 8. As a child he sold newspapers on the street,
most famously to Knute Rockne, who would help him sneak into football
games by loosening a board in the fence at old Cartier Field.
The legendary coach later allowed him to jog into the new stadium
with the football team. Perhaps as payback, Sekendy, in his later
years, made it a ritual to visit Rockne's grave in Highland Cemetery,
a few miles west of campus, and trim the grass around the Rock's
headstone at least once a week. Sekendy worked at Studebaker Corporation
and boxed on the company team. After the car maker closed in the
early 1960s he was employed by AM General, maker of the Humvee
military vehicle, until he retired in 1978. Among the thousands
of students he helped train for Bengal Bouts was Jeevan "Joe"
Subbiah '98, who boxed all four years he was a student. In an
appreciation published in the South Bend Tribune, Subbiah
described his old trainer as being similar to the character Mickey,
the crusty trainer in the Rocky movies, but with an "old-school
Notre Dame Catholic twist." He had a great sense of humor and
wore a mischievous smile. If it's true that Knute Rockne's spirit
will always be patrolling the sidelines of Notre Dame Stadium,
Subbiah wrote, Jack Mooney "will always have his spirit hanging
on the ropes of the boxing ring in the basement of the . . . Joyce
Center."
(January 2005)
