On left, Boxer Billy Kiloy (in picture) in 1946
Long before New Jersey
Deputy William Ramoth was
fighting for law and order with
the Marshals Service, he was
fighting under the name Billy
Kilroy in the boxing ring. His
boxing achievements have earned
him many tributes, not the least
of which was induction into the
New Jersey Boxing Hall of Fame
in November 1978.
Kilroy first stepped into the
ring when he was a youngster in
Paterson, New Jersey, and had
fought seven amateur bouts by
the time he was 15 years old. In
1944, when he was 17, he boxed
his first serious fight while in the
U.S. Navy. His mother's maiden
name was Kilroy, and as the
fight began to go his way, the
crowd started shouting "Kilroy
was here!" The name stuck. He
fought under that name and used it
during his later movie appearances.
By the mid-1940's, Kilroy had
boxed his way to Golden Gloves
Champion in the amateur ranks.
He continued boxing throughout
his military career and in 1945
became All-Service Middleweight
Champ. Upon discharge from
the service in 1946, he turned
professional, scoring 24 straight
victories at the start of his career.
He won 35 of his 42 professional
fights, knocking out 21 of his
opponents. Among the many he
defeated were Sal Belloise, Rocky
Castellani, and Gene Boland. At a relatively young age, Kilroy
was ranked 13th best middleweight in the world.
But, when he was only 22, one
of his knock-out punches
resulted in an opponent's permanent
paralysis. Kilroy retired
from professional boxing and
began walking the beat as a
Clifton, New Jersey policeman.
A few years later, he heard
that former heavyweight contender
Anthony "Two Ton
Tony" Galento was in Hoboken
for the filming of a movie called
On the Waterfront. Kilroy
decided to stop by while off
duty. Wearing a leather jacket,
he was enjoying a beer in a
Hoboken tavern when the director
of the picture, Elia Kazan,
spotted him.
"He asked me if I
was an ex-fighter and told me my
facial features resembled Marlon Brando's," Ramoth recalls. A
natural for the part, Kilroy was
hired to double for the star in
the movie's fight scenes.
Kilroy went on to do fight
scenes and serve as a technical
adviser in 12 more films, acting
as Paul Newman's double in The
Hustler and Somebody Up There
Likes Me. He also made guest
appearances on several television
shows, including To Tell the
Truth and I've Got a Secret.
After joining the Marshals Service
in 1962, he curtailed his
involvement in the entertainment
world.
However, in 1979, Billy Kilroy entered the celebrity ring
once again, when the New Jersey
Boxing Hall of Fame honored
him before a crowd of 800 that
included many popular boxing
figures. At the same time, the
mayor and town council of his
hometown of Clifton drafted a
resolution recognizing his
outstanding boxing achievements
and congratulating him for his
induction into the Hall of Fame.
Ramoth did charity work for Fairleigh Dickinson College, and
helped coach young boys in nearby
New Jersey towns, including
Paterson, where he got his start.
Ramoth claimed that he has
used his boxing experience "all
of the time" during his eighteen year
tenure as a Deputy. "It's a mental problem to
establish rapport with the
prisoners - in a physical type of
atmosphere, many of them identify with a boxer, a fighter."
If his prisoners identified with
him, it is just as fair to say that Ramoth related well to them.
Many of his childhood acquaintances
in East Rutherford, where
he learned to box, got into trouble
with the law. As Ramoth sees
it, "There, but for the grace of
God, go I."
So, he frequently
jotted down ideas while performing
the general duties of a Deputy,
and later would try to capture the
prisoners' feelings in verse. The
author of more than 50 poems, Ramoth agreed, in a Marshals Service
publication, to share the
following, one of his favorites:
Little Old Lady
Little old lady in the courtroom there,
Tear stained face on view.
Son on trial, he wears a smile.
Cocky, he answers on cue.
Government attorney hammers away
His defense begins to crumble.
This son on trial who wore a smile,
verbally begins to fumble.
Plaintiff rests, defense all thru.
Jury takes the case.
Little old lady in the courtroom there,
Tears still on her face.
Verdict announced guilty comes forth
from the foreman loud and strong.
Little old lady in the courtroom there,
her life went right along.
-W. C. Ramoth "Billy Kilroy"