not exactly crazy but interesting. my grandfather was the world lightweight boxing champion (1917-1925), benny leonard. his birth name was leiner but due to his parents being orthodox jews (immigrated from russia) he changed it in order to not cause embarrassment to his parents. now, if you look up his history you won't find a legal (marital) connection with my grandmother, kathrine 'kitty' abrams because they weren't married. seems my grandmother worked as a dancer with a short stint as a 'zeigfield girl' who performed in the zeigfield follies on broadway. her family immigrated from poland to escape building persecution against the jews. in fact, she and her twin, who did not survive, were actually born in international waters outside the united states when coming into the country. the story goes that my grandmother caught benny's eye one night (not sure if was during a show or somewhere else) and he pursued her. as it is obvious, one thing led to another and my father was the result. while they never married apparently benny did keep in touch at least for a while when my father was a young child. after i became an adult and felt comfortable in doing so, i asked him if he ever got to know his father. my dad replied that he did have some contact with him in later years but it was after he had retired from boxing. i asked him what he was like, especially since he had come from such an orthodox family. my dad said that he didn't think benny was very religious but he was very fond of his mother whom he spoke of to him. however, he said he also felt that he had some kind of brain damage because he was temperamental and volitile in mood so he really didn't want to have too much contact with him. my dad also casually mentioned that some of his personality/mood could have come from the fact that he was a bit bitter from losing all his money. then, dad really didn't want to talk about him anymore.
from my own research it seems he had been doing quite well after he retired from the ring but the crash of 1929 pretty much took everything he had worked for and established. so maybe my dad's perception of his bitterness was correct. i also discovered that he has been inducted into several 'halls of fame' including both the international jewish sports and international boxing halls, ring magazine hall, and national jewish sports hall.
now, as for a tad bit of craziness in my family: obviously, my dad was jewish and raised with in a reformed jewish family. however, my mom was catholic. my maternal grandmother was very strict in controlling her daughters dating so she was very inquisitive of those that showed an interest in any man who was interested in her or my aunt. somehow my dad picked up on this and claimed to my mom that he was catholic in order to date her. it wasn't until after they were married (they eloped) that mom found out he was jewish. my nan was far from pleased - especially when mom converted to judiasm.
from my own research it seems he had been doing quite well after he retired from the ring but the crash of 1929 pretty much took everything he had worked for and established. so maybe my dad's perception of his bitterness was correct. i also discovered that he has been inducted into several 'halls of fame' including both the international jewish sports and international boxing halls, ring magazine hall, and national jewish sports hall.
now, as for a tad bit of craziness in my family: obviously, my dad was jewish and raised with in a reformed jewish family. however, my mom was catholic. my maternal grandmother was very strict in controlling her daughters dating so she was very inquisitive of those that showed an interest in any man who was interested in her or my aunt. somehow my dad picked up on this and claimed to my mom that he was catholic in order to date her. it wasn't until after they were married (they eloped) that mom found out he was jewish. my nan was far from pleased - especially when mom converted to judiasm.