Thomas Peter Rademacher (November 20, 1928 – June 4, 2020) was an American heavyweight boxer. A gold medalist at the 1956 Olympics, he became the only person to challenge for the world heavyweight championship in his first professional bout when he faced

Floyd Patterson Floyd Patterson (January 4, 1935 – May 11, 2006) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in his ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

on August 22, 1957. He compiled a 15-8-1 record over 23 professional bouts. A former

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

player at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, Rademacher took up boxing as a form of rehabilitation during his recovery from

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a streptococcal throat infection. Signs and symptoms include fever, multiple painful jo ...

, which he contracted in military school.

Amateur career

In his amateur career, Rademacher won 72 bouts and lost 7. He won a series of tournaments, including the 1949 and 1951–1953

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

(he lost in 1950 to

Zora Folley Zora "Bell" Folley (May 27, 1931 – July 7, 1972) was a mid-20th century American heavyweight boxer, known for his defensive game and punching ability. Early life Born in Dallas, Texas on 27 May 1931, Folley moved with his family to Chandler ...

, who was his frequent opponent throughout his boxing career), and the US Amateur Championship as a

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

in 1953—avenging his earlier loss to Folley. He captured the

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Golden Gloves, the All-

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

championship, and the Service championship in 1956, before qualifying for the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

team. At the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

he captured a gold medal in the heavyweight division and served as the

U.S. flag The national flag of the United States of America, often referred to as the ''American flag'' or the ''U.S. flag'', consists of thirteen equal horizontal stripes of red (top and bottom) alternating with white, with a blue rectangle in the ca ...

bearer at the closing ceremony.

1956 Olympic results

* Round of 16: bye * Quarterfinal: Defeated Josef Němec KO 2 * Semifinal: Defeated

Daan Bekker Daniel "Daan" Wepener Bekker (9 February 1932 – 22 October 2009) was a South African boxer, who won the bronze medal in the Heavyweight division (+ 91 kg) at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, Australia. Four years later in Rome he ...

(South Africa) KO 3 * Final: Defeated Lev Mukhin (Soviet Union) KO 1 (won gold medal) Rademacher also attended college, playing offensive line on the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team for

Professional career

After winning the gold medal, Rademacher started saying that he would be able to become world heavyweight champion in his first professional fight. He made his belief public and was able to lure world Heavyweight champion

into defending his crown against him in his professional debut. It is the only time to date that a fighter making his professional debut has challenged for the world heavyweight title. The bout, at

Sick's Stadium Sick's Stadium, also known as Sick's Seattle Stadium and later as Sicks' Stadium, was a baseball park in the northwest United States in Seattle, Washington. It was located in Rainier Valley, on the NE corner of S. McClellan Street and Rainier Av ...

in Seattle, was refereed by former light-heavyweight champion

Tommy Loughran Thomas Patrick Loughran (November 29, 1902 – July 7, 1982) was an American professional boxer and the former World Light Heavyweight Champion. Statistical boxing website BoxRec lists Loughran as the #7 ranked light heavyweight of all time ...

, who himself had contended for the heavy crown once, vs.

Primo Carnera Primo may refer to: People *DJ Premier (born 1966), hip-hop producer, sometimes goes by nickname Primo *Primo Carnera (1906–1967), Italian boxer, World Heavyweight champion 1933–1934 *Primo Cassarino (born 1956), enforcer for the Gambino cri ...

, in 1934. Rademacher dropped Patterson in round two, but Patterson recovered and knocked Rademacher down seven times, defeating him by a

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

in round six. Legendary boxing promoter

Jack Hurley Jack Hurley (December 9, 1897 – November 16, 1972) was an American boxing promoter. Working in boxing for over 50 years, he was well known and appreciated both in the sport and by journalists, although he never managed a champion.(18 November 19 ...

promoted the match. Rademacher fought

Brian London Brian Sidney Harper (19 June 1934 – 23 June 2021), known professionally as Brian London, was an English professional boxer who competed from 1955 to 1970. He held the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title from 1958 to 1959, and twice ...

George Chuvalo George Louis Chuvalo, CM (born September 12, 1937 as Jure Čuvalo) is a Canadian former professional boxer who was a five-time Canadian heavyweight champion and two-time world heavyweight title challenger. He is known for having never been kno ...

, Buddy Turman, and the former world light heavyweight champion,

Archie Moore Archie Moore (born Archibald Lee Wright; December 13, 1913 – December 9, 1998) was an American professional boxer and the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion of all time (December 1952 – May 1962). He had one of the longest ...

. He lost to Moore, Folley and London but beat Chuvalo,

LaMar Clark LaMar F. Clark (December 1, 1933 – November 5, 2006) was an American professional boxer who fought in the heavyweight division. He was active from 1958 to 1961 and fought a recorded 46 times in his 3 year-career, mostly in his home state of U ...

, and Turman, among others. His last bout was with former world middleweight champion Carl "Bobo" Olson, whom he beat by decision.

Personal life

Rademacher had

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

ancestry; his maternal grandparents were immigrants from

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. He was married to Margaret and had a daughter Susan (born c. 1954–1955). In addition to boxing, he was a salesman and inventor. He was president of the company Kiefer-McNeil which was founded by fellow Olympian,

Adolph Kiefer Adolph Gustav Kiefer (June 27, 1918 – May 5, 2017) was an American competition swimmer, Olympic competitor, the last surviving gold medalist of the 1936 Summer Olympics and former world record-holder. He was the first man in the world to swi ...

. Rademacher died in

Sandusky, Ohio Sandusky ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Erie County, Ohio, Erie County, Ohio, United States. Situated along the shores of Lake Erie in the northern part of the state, Sandusky is located roughly midway between Toledo, Ohio, Toledo ( wes ...

on June 4, 2020, at the age of 91. Goul, Matt (June 6, 2020
Olympic boxing champion Pete Rademacher, 91, dies
cleveland.com His brain was donated for medical research.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Alternate record site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rademacher, Pete 1928 births 2020 deaths Boxers from Washington (state) Heavyweight boxers Washington State Cougars football players American football offensive linemen People from Yakima County, Washington Players of American football from Washington (state) Boxers at the 1956 Summer Olympics Olympic boxers of the United States Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers Medalists at the 1956 Summer Olympics American male boxers Olympic gold medalists for the United States in boxing American people of Finnish descent United States Army soldiers