Tuesday, March 25, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Back in 1953, Johnny Tocco didn't know he'd be spending the next 44 years in Las Vegas when he came here from St. Louis for a boxing title fight.
Now he has been named the city's Citizen of the Month for April.
The Las Vegas City Council Monday officially presented him with the award.
The 87-year-old Tocco, owner of Ringside Gym on East Charleston Boulevard at Main Street, decided the desert was a good place to open a boxing gym. He said he has been in the boxing business for more than 75 years.
"This was a little honky-tonk town at (that) time," Tocco said. "I've watched it grow from a little hick town to what it is today."
He said he came to Las Vegas for a title fight featuring Nino Valdez and Archie Moore and "I've been here ever since."
Tocco's Ringside Gym is legendary.
"He's the man who created dreams," Councilman Michael McDonald said as he presented Tocco with a key to the city. "He has impacted more lives in a silent way than we'll ever know."
Tocco, in turn, presented McDonald with a pair of boxing gloves, noting that "Michael met me when he was 5 years old. I think a lot of kids need to be taken off the street. When they come to me, I've always tried to help them."
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