FYI Websites:

Down syndrome

www.ndss.org — Official website of the National Down Syndrome Society

www.ndsccenter.org — Official website of the National Down Syndrome Congress

www.nads.org — Official website of the National Association for Down Syndrome.

www.feedamericanchildrentoday.com  —  Official website Jack Scholnick Down Syndrome Charity

Special Olympics

www.specialolympics.org — Official website of Special Olympics (I also propose creating additional online cross-promotional and cross-marketing affiliations with more than 50 regional Special Olympics websites in the U.S. market).

Miscellaneous

www.seriweb.com — Portal and reference source for Special Education.

www.thereadingtub.com — Online store for father-son books.

www.zmoz.com/sports/booksellers — Portal and sales source for sports books.

Boxing & Sports

www.espn.com — Official website of ESPN.

www.cnnsi.com — Official website of Sports Illustrated.

www.eastsideboxing.com — “Your Source for 24-hour Boxing Coverage”

www.maxboxing.com — “The Ultimate Boxing Experience”

www.boxingscene.com — “The Source for Boxing Online”

The Op-Ed piece that moved me to write Down But Never Out – Charlie Redner As published in the Arizona Daily Star, 1/5/07 Guest Opinion:  Jack H. Scholnick   Down syndrome child, can reach for the stars Re: Less invasive test found for Down syndrome, by Laura Neergaard, December 31, 2006. How dare anyone suggest that one should have an abortion and commit genocide on a selective group of beautiful children.  I am a 61 year-old father of 5-year old Down syndrome daughter. The description in Sunday's paper included information from the early 1900s.  When there was little or no major knowledge about children who had Down syndrome.  They used to be locked away in mental hospitals or in rooms within their homes so that no one would see them.

Francine Scholnick

            When we had Francine, I was not upset, because I was fortunate to know others who had Down syndrome and led productive, useful lives.  My wife was scared because the doctor and his staff did not really know how to address the fact that our daughter had an extra chromosome.  They made it seem like it was the end of the world for my wife and me.  Nothing could be further from the truth!

            Children with Down syndrome are not necessarily born mentally retarded.  Many are born with heart problems, which can cause a lack of oxygen to the brain and a problem with their learning process.  They can also have thyroid problems.  However, all children can have these problems; it is not indicative of only Down syndrome children.

            My daughter is very smart -- not because she is my daughter.  If Down's syndrome children are read to on a daily basis and treated as you would any other child in your household, they can excel.  Our early-intervention system in the United States, for the most part, is lacking. Too many people think that our children will never amount to anything.  And they are throwaways.  Too many want to teach them to bake, push brooms, serve hamburgers, clean bathrooms and do other very menial jobs.

            England, where Down's syndrome was first described in the mid-1800s, has an intervention program that allows a child with Down syndrome, to excel, to his or her highest potential.

            If you have a Down syndrome child, be proud that God blessed you with an angel.  Nurture, feed them with knowledge, don't let anyone tell you that they can't do something -- because they can.  Let your child know that there are no boundaries that can't be conquered.  And let them know that you are proud of them and love them with all your heart, as you would do with your other children.

            Do not allow anyone to tell you that your child can only function at a certain level.  Do not allow anyone to stigmatize your child.        

            It is up to the parent to push for your child's betterment.  You must read to them and talk to them every day, all day.  You must oversee their educational needs from the time they are conceived until they finish school.  They must be integrated into society so that they are socially independent, accepted and respected by all, just as everyone should be.

Contact Jack H. Scholnick at: jscholnick224@yahoo.com

DOWN BUT NEVER OUT:

A Father, A Son, and the Making of Two Champions

By Charlie Redner

The true story of former middleweight champion Joey Giardello, once baptized the ‘Bad Boy of Boxing,’ and his wife Rosalie, who redirect their lives for the benefit of their son, Carman born with Down syndrome.

AS JOEY GIARDELLO TELLS IT…

“I said, ‘Doc, what’s the matter with this kid?  He won’t sit up.’” 

“He said he was retarded.  My wife started crying.” 

“Then Dr. Spitz told us, ‘If I were you, I would put him in a home for

     retarded children.’”

“Never, we said”

He assumed a buddy’s name so he wouldn’t embarrass the family if he was knocked out. He was accused of having Mafia ties. He spent time in jail. He was the bum, the guy the world said was no good.

 “Ray Robinson, I fought him—I beat him.  They said he was old, but I was old to.”

He met governors, celebrities, entertainers. He met the Pope. He was invited to President Kennedy’s inauguration in Washington. He sat down with Sargent Shriver in 1967 to discuss a new type of competition he and Eunice Kennedy Shriver envisioned—the Special Olympics.

“I was going to be champion. Nobody could beat me that night.  Nobody!  Even Rocky Marciano couldn’t beat me that night.”

All for the love of his son. His sport. His family. This gripping saga of how a son’s love transformed his father is the greatest story of Boxing’s Golden Age never told.

Until now.

DOWN BUT NEVER OUT :

• The greatest untold story of Boxing’s Golden Age—recounted by one of its most controversial champions.

• A father-son tale that transcends sports and speaks to the ability of a child to transform a parent’s heart.

• Deep insight into how relationships change and evolve around a mentally challenged child.

• The world of the Down syndrome child—during a time when little, if anything, was known about the disease they once called “Mongoloidism” and when afflicted children were typically committed to institutions or the attic.

• Behind-the-scenes story of the advent of the Special Olympics during this, the 40^th anniversary period of the games.

DOWN BUT NEVER OUT – INTRODUCTION:

The year 1954 started out with a bang, three straight knockouts at Madison Square Garden—the Mecca for prizefighters. Then the thickest, dirtiest, blackest cloud imaginable settled over Carmine Tilelli’s head. The middleweight contender known as Joey Giardello learned that his expected title shot was given to another fighter. Then he found out his newborn son, Carman, wasn’t “right”. The downward slide accelerated: a baseball accident. A car crash after skipping training. A scuffle at a gas station that cost him a $100,000 prizefight—and five months in jail, during which his father died.

Could it get any worse for Joey Giardello? Doctors advised Joey and his wife, Rosalie, to send Carman to an institution because he’d never be normal and would cause conflict in the home. Doctors said the boy was retarded, afflicted with Mongoloidism. He was born with something Joey never knew existed: Down syndrome.

Joey hit rock bottom. He asked Rosalie, “What are we gonna do?”

Her answer zapped the stifling cloud above him and gave the self-centered, hard-living fighter a new prism through which to view life: “We’re going to stop thinking about ourselves and think about the boy!”

What follows is one of the most heartwarming stories ever associated with a sports figure, Down But Never Out. The transformation of hardscrabble Joey Giardello into one of the kindest and most generous champions—and the remarkable relationship with his Special Olympics champion son, Carman—forms the crux of this book. It follows Joey’s ascension to the world middleweight championship, which he won over Dick Tiger on December 7, 1963. Then, using the celebrity of his title, he arranged for and participated in charity bouts that raised thousands of dollars for mentally retarded and physically handicapped children, as well as assisting the St. John of God School for special needs children, which Carman attended for ten years. He did all of it to honor his family, most particularly Carman.

But Joey’s greatest gift to Carman came later in the decade. After losing the belt to Tiger in a rematch in 1965, Joey retired from the ring with a record of 101 wins (33 by knockout), 25 losses, 7 draws and 1 no-contest. (He remains the #14 ranked middleweight fighter of all time.) Then Sargent Shriver of the Kennedy Foundation contacted Joey about a competition his wife, Eunice, was considering some five years after starting a camp for mentally and physically handicapped youngsters. He explained to Eunice and Sargent Shriver how important he felt physical training was for retarded boys, girls, men and women, using his son as an example. Armed with that information and endorsement, Shriver and the Kennedy Foundation formed the Special Olympics. In the first-ever games in 1968, Carman, one of 1,000 athletes in attendance, won a gold medal—with Joey on the sidelines, cheering his every step. When Eunice Kennedy Shriver asked Joey to speak to the crowd, he couldn’t. He was overcome with emotion over his son’s achievement. The Special Olympics movement has since grown to include 2.5 million participants in 165 countries.

Joey used his fame to introduce Carman to a world of celebrities, entertainers, sports heroes, public figures, actors and politicians—Frank Sinatra, Richard Nixon, Tony Bennett, Robert DeNiro, Dean Martin, Frankie Avalon, Sylvester Stallone, Jake LaMotta…the list is long. If Carman wanted to meet a public figure, Joey made it happen.

Perhaps Joey’s greatest gift to Carman came in guiding him into a life within everyday society. As Joey settled into retirement, took back his given name—Carmine Tilelli—and faded from the limelight, Carman rose on his own star. At 23, Carman solicited and landed a job in his hometown of Cherry Hill, N.J. He maintained that job for 28 years. When he retired in 2005, the township was so appreciative of Carman’s services and enthusiasm that they named a building after him—the Carmine Tilelli Community Center. At the dedication ceremony, the once rock-hard tough guy in the ring, Joey, shed tears of realization that his son accomplished something he never did—ensuring the family name would remain emblazoned on the building long after the Giardello legacy faded away. Nothing could make him happier or prouder.

Down But Never Out looks over the shoulder of a world-class champion and his unflappable son, who provided more joy, excitement and emotional highs than all the notable events his boxing career could have provided: the Middleweight Championship, induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame, selection to the President’s Council for Physical Fitness and Sports. This is the story of a father’s love for his son, and how that love reversed a man’s downward spiral and launched him to accomplish goals beyond his greatest dreams. It’s a story about a boy who spread as much joy as possible to all who met him while achieving feats that doctors and experts deemed impossible—winning Special Olympics gold medals, holding down a job, retiring with a building named in his honor.

Recently, after a lengthy home interview with Joey and Carman, now retirees spending their life together with Rosalie, a newspaper reporter ended his story by writing, “It’s a strange house. You have to keep blowing your nose and wiping your eyes.”

Having spent weeks in the same chair as that interviewer, I know the feeling. The story behind that feeling now emerges in my book, Down But Never Out.

"Needles Peak 2"   12" x 16" oil on canvas

DURANGO

Note:  All art in this website by my wife Judith Redner,
please visit www.jdiart.com for more of her work.

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Copyright ©2007 Charles J. Redner
Manuscript excerpts provided for review purposes only and may not be reproduced without  written permission from the author.