James Brienza was born in Newark, New Jersey on November 20, 1892. He was married to Lillian R. Brienza, and had a son named Paul J. Brienza. James, a graduate of the New York Law School, never ended up practicing law. Instead, he became involved in the boxing game. James Brienza filled many roles as a part of the boxing game, which include managing fighters and setting up boxing matches. He was also the secretary and president of the New Jersey Boxing Agency, as well as one of the co-organizers of the Sportius A.C., a training facility for amateur boxers. If it had anything to do with boxing in New Jersey, James was apart of it.
James also had a love for writing. James wrote under a pen name, Sportius in 1914-1918. He wrote letters to the editors of sporting columns, questioning their opinions. From 1949 - 1955 he also wrote his own column in the New Jersey Italian American, called "My Scrap Book." And another column called "In This Corner with James Brienza."
James was an Italian man who took great pride in his heritage. In 1917, he was involved with The Italian League and headed up a movement through the Red Cross, to send an ambulance core to Italy, through their local Italian Embassy. During the first world war, James also served as a member of the American Red Cross. He was an assistant field director from 1942-1946 and served on the U.S.S. Thomas H. Barryin 1945.
James also had a military career where he served at Camp Dix as a linguist. He also served as a director for the Federal Census in 1950 as well and was a real estate negotiator for the Newark Housing Authority in 1952. James Brienza was involved in many other careers but his love was boxing. He spent his life looking for a heavy weight champ. From his Quest project 1940, Jimmy got many responses from potential champions, but none of them ever developed. He was best known for fight matchmaking and his fighter incubating. Although he never did get his heavy weight champ, James Brienza died June 4, 1964, as one of the most respected men in all of New Jersey Boxing circles.
Paul J. Brienza, was a graduate of Barringer high school in New Jersey. Paul was the captain of his fencing team at Barringer and one of the top fencers in the state of New Jersey. He was also the President of the student class and President of the League of Future Voters. Paul went on to graduate from Barringer in 1938.
While Paul was in high school he enrolled in the Citizens Military Training Camp, and after he took Army extension courses he enlisted in the reserves. Paul went to Seton Hall University in New Jersey. At Seton Hall Paul became very involved. He was a member of the fencing team. In addition to being an athlete at Seton Hall, Paul got involved with student affairs. Paul headed up organizations like the Student's Crusade for Americanism and the New Jersey Committee Against Intolerance in Education while at Seton Hall.
In 1940, during his junior year at Seton Hall Paul was called by the Army into active duty. Paul Brienza had a prominent military career. At his post in New York he inducted more than 35,000 draftees into the Army, and during his tenure as a training officer he trained more than four thousand combat soldiers. Finally he was a captain by the time he was discharged honorably in 1945. After Paul came out of the military, he was the Director of Veterans Rehabilitation Services at Seton Hall in 1946-1949. He specialized in placing war Veterans in college. Paul married Jeanne Steuart Geddes in 1943 and had a son named James Steuart Brienza in 1944.
The Brienza Family Collection, 1914-1964 highlights the life achievements of both James V. Brienza and Paul Brienza. The collection is a large accumulation of newspaper clippings for both father and son as well as two scrap books for each of them with their personal and professional achievements. Additionally in the scrap books you will find many personalized documents and many business cards too. It identifies careers as well as civic and recreational duties to their communities and country. The collection also represents their pride and patriotism not only toward the United States but also to their Italian heritage.
James V. Brienza was a Graduate of the New York Law School. However, he never went on to take the bar nor practice law. Instead he fell in love with boxing. Jimmy Brienza is one of the largest names in all of amateur boxing in New Jersey. Among his many tasks were Promoting, Matchmaking, Managing, Training, Announcing, Refereeing, Writing, and Incubating. If it had to do with boxing in New Jersey you would certainly find Jimmy in the mix. In this series we see various columns written by Jimmy, and there are many letters written by Sportius, Jimmy's pen name. He also wrote "In this Corner," and "My Scrap Book" in two different newspapers, the N.J. Italian American and the Verona-Cedar Grove Times. The largest collection is his writing in the N.J. Italian American, "My Scrap Book." The articles are generally related.
Not only did Jimmy write his own columns, there are columns written about Jimmy. The series and file folders contain articles from a vast amount of sources on the life of Jimmy Brienza, boxing specialist. The major columns were "Punching the Bag" by Willie Ratner, in the Newark Evening News "Between you and Me" by Donovan, in the Newark Ledger "From Pillar to Post" by Anthony Marenghi, in the Newark Star Ledger as well as "From Where we Sit" by John J. Hall, and "the Listening Post" by Bill Wathey. One of the clippings to highlight would be "Who's Who in Local Sports" in the Newark Star Eagle, 1930. In this clipping it talks about the "Wanted" heavy weight letter to the editor. Jimmy sends letters out to many different editors of national newspapers, in search of the next Heavy weight champion of the world.
The series also contains correspondence both to and from Jimmy. In two separate file folders you will find correspondence to Jimmy. First, we see personal correspondence. Next is a file folder that contains some of the responses from the "Quest" for a heavy weight along with pictures of the gentlemen who sent responses. There are also some letters from Jimmy as well. The next correspondence we see is a letter of return to the heavy weights who responded to the "Quest" and the next steps they need take as candidates as the next heavy weight contender.
The series also contains some tools of the trade for a boxing promoter. In the series we see an envelope that has Jimmy's office address on it as well as Spark Plug Russell, and Jimmy running toward the World Bantam Weight Championship. Spark Plug Russell was one of Jimmy's fighters who was very good and had potential to become the Bantam weight champ. In addition to that the series also has both a blank and an active boxing contract from 1929. The next tool of the trade is the boxing promoter's matchmaker book, which he records weekly fights. The books span from 1930-1932. Next the series has a pair of tickets for a boxing card at the Plainfield Academy March 28, 1933. Jimmy Brienza was the matchmaker. By the way cost of the tickets, a cool $1.65. The last document is a small article in the New York Times Magazine, titled "Man in the Middle" by David Dempsey from 1949.
While Jimmy Brienza's passion was in boxing Jimmy was also called to serve his country both over seas and at home. The series also has newspaper clipping from when Jimmy served in both the Army as an investigator and as an Assistant Field Commander for the American Red Cross. Included in the newspapers were, Il Progresso Italo-Americano in 1946, as well as The Sunday Call. Other clippings include "Punching the Bag" in 1945 and "From Pillar to Post." There is also some printed items about Jimmy's tour with American Red Cross. The printing is called "The Home Run" which is a paper printed on a ship called the U.S. Thomas H. Barry, where Jimmy served as a member of the Red Cross.
The collection also includes many of the business cards that Jimmy had over the years. Some of these cards are in a folder while the others remain in the scrap books. The business cards and identification cards that have separated are: American Red cross member card in 1942, Assistant Field Director, American Red Cross 1945, New Jersey Sports Association Boxing Manager card 1950, and his Press Card, for representing the N.J. Italian American for police in 1955. Another file contains his Army Name Plate, which he received during his active duty in the Infantry.
Included in his collection is his appointment to head the Census in 1950. Jimmy was the head of the enumerators in the 10th Congressional District in Newark and suburbs. In the newspaper article it lists the pay for all positions involved in the census and the district leaders. Papers included are N.J. Italian American, Newark Sunday News, Daily Mirror, and The Herald News all from 1950. In addition to Jimmy's role as the head of the 10th district we also see two years later, two real estate journals of Jimmy's, that are dated 1952.
The series is tied up at the end with a picture of James V. Brienza, dressed in his always dapper attire and memorial cards from his service, dated 6/4/1964.
Paul J. Brienza, son of James V. Brienza, served in the United States Army. The series has a number of newspaper clippings about his years in service. Highlighted in the clippings is his Promotion to Captain. Paul also swore in the first draftee from New York. The series contains many photographs of Paul swearing people into the Army. There is also correspondence to and from Paul in this series. The series contains Paul's honorable discharge certificate and his promotion documents from the Army.
In this series there is a lot of correspondence from Paul. There are letters written to local government officials from Paul. First, there is correspondence from Paul as the president of the Student's Crusade for Americanism, as the Director of Veterans Rehabilitation Services at Seton Hall University, and finally his role in the New Jersey Committee Against Intolerance in Education. Also included are the correspondence to Paul in his role as the Director at Seton Hall and Student's Crusade.
A really interesting story is about Red Cochrane. He was the welter weight boxing champion. He spent time in the Navy during the War. When he came back to the United States he enrolled in school at Seton Hall under the G.I. Bill. Paul was instrumental in helping Red Cochrane get enrolled at Seton Hall, as the Director of Veterans Rehabilitation Services.
The series contains many newspaper Clippings regarding Red and Paul. It also contains clippings about other Veterans Paul helped enroll at Seton Hall. In the series you will find a copy of the G.I. Bill of Rights, by Fethers, as well as internal press releases by Seton Hall and other clippings about Paul accomplishments during his tenure as Director of Vet's Rehabilitation.
The Series concludes with a miscellaneous folder. In the folder there is a book called Patriotism, as well as Paul membership card for the American Legion Post # 10. It also includes one, two page boxing outline by Freddie Red Cochrane. Finally the series contains a script from a radio program that mentions Paul's name, by the Port of New York Authority.
The series is a scrap book of newspaper clippings about James Brienza, the fight promoter and matchmaker. It also has many of his letters to the editor under the name Sportius. The series contains correspondence to James from the Newark Chapter of the American Red Cross, 1917 and two letters from the Italian Embassy, regarding the ambulance corps and the news papers clippings that go along with it.
The series also contains the actual letter which Jimmy typed up in 1921, for his quest for a heavy weight champion. Included in this section are some of the actual newspapers that ran the advertisement. Included are The Sun, The New York American, Elizabeth Journal, Star Eagle, and New York Herald. Along with the newspapers there is an actual response from a gentleman from New Zealand.
On another page there is an actual fight ticket from the Lyric Theater, another venue in which James was the matchmaker. It is dated May 12, 1927. Finally the series includes some written correspondence from the red cross to James and his deployment in 1945. The last pages of the scrap book are posters of some his fighters and matches that he made. Some of the names include, Joe Fragola, Johnny Dixon, and Spark Plug Russell.
This series consists of another scrap book for James Brienza. It begins with more newspaper clippings about Jimmy's boxing career. In the next section of the scrap book it gives a description of James career with the American Red Cross. Also included is correspondence from the Red Cross on assignments and duties as well as his dismissal in 1947. The next section of the scrap book shows the role James had as a National Census head. Included are correspondence from the census leaders, as well as newspaper clippings.
The next section of James scrap book has all his different IDS and business cards dating from 1914-1950. And finally it has playbills and newspaper clippings from the shows that he put on in the Mosque Theater dating 1959.
Scrapbooks are housed together in Box 3. Please note that the collection does not contain a box 4.
This series consists of a scrap book of Paul J. Brienza. The scrap book contains newspaper clippings from Paul's days at Barringer High School through his days at Seton Hall and ending at his call to active duty in the Army. Most of the clippings are about Paul as a fencer both with Barringer and Seton Hall. The clippings also include Paul, the President of the League of Future Voters.
In the series there are also some typed pages. They include the commencement paper from 1938 Barringer High School class. As well as a list of students that achieved honors at Seton Hall. Paul was listed on this page as a Freshman. Some of the other papers include a meeting agenda from the third meeting of the Student's Crusade for Americanism and also scoring sheets for fencing matches. The series includes Paul's military papers and some other personal stationary for the League of Future Voters.
The series contains newspaper clippings from 1940-1944. Most of the clippings are about Paul and his military career. The clippings are from many different newspapers. The newspaper included are the Newark Star Ledger and the Newark Evening News. The clippings show Paul's climb up the Military ladder. The first clippings are about Paul being called to active duty at the 71st Regiment Armory induction office in 1941. An interesting article on Frank Giordano, the first person sworn into the Army after the draft was reactivated. Paul was the officer who inducted him and that Paul inducted more than 35,000 people into the Army.
The next group of newspaper clippings is from 1942. These clippings include Paul's promotion to 1st Lieutenant. Next the series contains clippings from 1943. These are clippings about Paul's promotion to Captain. Finally there is a baby book in the collection which from 1958.
The series also contains clippings about Paul's personal life as well. They include clippings about his Marriage to Jeanne Geddes in 1943 and the birth of his son, James Stuart Brienza in 1944.
Brienza Family Collection. North Jersey History Center, The Morristown and Morris Township Library.
Arranged by Michael J. Masotti, Spring 2004.