My Dad

Imagine being a boy growing up in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn and being able to brag in the schoolyard to any other boy, no matter how big they were, or how old they were, that, "my dad can beat up your dad, even if your dad is Rocky Graziano," a middleweight boxing champion, and have it be true.

Such was Leonard Riggio's life starting out before he became famous for buying a Barnes and Noble book store and turning the business into a nationwide chain, selling way more than books and making money doing it. Expecting people to pretty much read what they bought. The mind boggles.

The Barnes and Noble that existed when I was in high school in the mid 1960s was a single store located on the southeast corner of 5th Avenue and 18th Street, which in today's real estate market would be called The Flatiron District; then only known as 18th Street and 5th Avenue. Times change.

If you haven't heard the news, Leonard Riggio passed away the other day at 83. His father Stephen was a cab driver and a professional prizefighter who really did beat Rocky Graziano twice. Just not for a title.

Leonard was born in 1941. His father's fights with Rocky were in 1943 and 1944 in New York's Madison Square Garden. Stephen Riggio won both fights on points. They were non-title events. Rocky would eventually win the Middleweight title.

Stephen's career was not so ascendant. His ring record was 33-17-3, and he would be considered a journeyman, fighting from 1939-1948; he would be considered an "opponent."

That didn't mean that you would want to fight Stephen over a parking space. While driving his cab he kept in shape by hopping out at red lights and doing push-ups on the sidewalk, waiting for the light to change. "My dad can beat your dad, even if your dad is Rocky Graziano."

I would have been too young to ever see Rocky fight. I was born in 1949 and Rocky's last fight was in 1952, finishing his career with a 67-10-6 record. I did however see him in his Kip's Bay pizzeria on Second Avenue sometime in the 1970s, popping pies into the oven from the wooden spatula, shuffling his feet in an on-your-toes dance, showing off to a youngster at a nearby table a boxing drill with his hands, alternately flipping one hand front and back on the table, while tapping with it the other hand. A speed bag drill with no speed bag. Try it. Not as easy as you'd think to keep it up.

Rocky was a bit of a media favorite. He did commercials for Breakstone's yogurt, claiming it was "cultured,"  while even in his tuxedo he didn't appear to be, speaking in a somewhat lovable, punch drunk voice.

Rocky appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson and talked of growing up with Jake LaMotta, who eventually became another champion middleweight. He described their youth as stealing anything with an "A" in front of it: a car, a bike, a piece of fruit, a lot.

Leonard Riggio's career was not in the boxing ring, but rather in the corporate world of the boardroom. He was a restless entrepreneur who took the one Barnes and Noble store there was and within 5 years saw the sales grow from $1 million to $10 million. He was off to the races, and eventually had a nationwide chain of stores.

The emergence of Amazon put a fair size dent in Barnes and Noble, and Mr. Riggio eventually sold his business in 2019 for $683 million to the hedge fund Elliot Advisors. Thankfully, there are still stores around fit for browsing.

Unmentioned in the NYT obit, but mentioned in the WSJ obit is that Mr. Riggio owned some thoroughbreds and raced them on the NYRA circuit. Occasionally I would see a Leonard Riggio horse's past performance in the Daily Racing Form and recognize his name as being associated with Barnes and Noble. I don't remember any horse's name, and I don't think he won any Grade 1 races, but he was an active owner for awhile.

I once told a Barnes and Noble employee the story of the store starting on 18th street and 5th Avenue selling civil service and Regents review books in the 1960s.

Maybe they read the obituaries and learned even more. Especially about this father.

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