Car dealer who turned his lot into boxing camp dies

Although his ramshackle boxing camp operated in North Las Vegas for just five years, Tony Gravanti left a lasting impression on hundreds of boys who dreamed of one day becoming pugilistic champions.

Always dressed in fashionable suits and forever keeping his salt-and-pepper hair neatly coiffed, Gravanti stood in striking contrast to the amateur boxing camp he founded on his Clark County Motors used car lot in 1978.

The decrepit ring long sat under a torn canvas surrounded by rotting wooden chairs. But to more than 600 boys and several area boxing coaches it was a godsend.

Anthony N. Gravanti, a community-spirited businessman who earned praise from North Las Vegas city officials who nevertheless tried to shut down his boxing camp because his land was not zoned for it, died Monday in Las Vegas. He was 75.

Services for the North Las Vegas resident of 30 years will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Bunker Chapel. Visitation today will be 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Interment will be at St. Joseph Cemetery in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

Gravanti, who survived two brain tumor operations -- the first in his late 30s and the other in his mid-60s -- died of cancer at a local hospice with several family members at his side.

On his death bed, Gravanti, ever so concerned about his appearance, asked his brother, Bob Gravanti, of Niagara Falls, to pluck the stray hairs between his eyebrows.

"He was sharp to the end, telling us he had lived a good life and that he loved us," Bob Gravanti said. "He was a tough guy who always fought for the underdog."

Before Gravanti underwent his second brain cancer operation 10 years ago, his longtime friend, former North Las Vegas Constable Lou Tabat, gave him a silver rosary ring for luck. Gravanti kept it pinned to his shirt during the surgery and had worn it on his right pinky finger every day since.

"Tony brought amateur boxing to North Las Vegas," said Tabat, a longtime professional and amateur fight judge.

"All he wanted to do was give young kids a chance to box. He not only spent a lot of his own money to keep the camp going, he also gave up a lot of space that could have been used to sell cars. But to Tony the kids came first and foremost."

During the first year of Gravanti's camp, juvenile crime in North Las Vegas dropped by 12 percent. But the soft-spoken Gravanti often said that the majority of the youths who came to his facility were good kids from good families.

One of them was Ken Fujii, who boxed for Gravanti from 1979 until the camp closed in 1982 when Fujii was 14.

"It (the camp) taught me discipline -- it taught me the importance of working hard," Fujii, now 30, said Tuesday. "He (Gravanti) was such a cheerful guy who always treated us like we were family."

After the camp closed, Fujii gave up boxing. He wrestled and played football at Rancho High School. Today he is married and is a Clark County firefighter.

But there were other kids who were not so fortunate -- the troubled ones who Gravanti helped set on the right path with the lessons learned at his facility.

"There have been times I wanted to say the hell with it," Tony Gravanti said in a 1980 interview. "But then I think of these kids and I know that what I am doing is for them. Many of these boys can easily get into trouble at night. But they stay here and work out until 10:30. When they get done, they're so tired they go home to sleep."

Born May 4, 1923, in Niagara Falls, Gravanti for many years operated a juke box and vending machine business as well as a used car lot in upstate New York. And, not surprisingly, he was heavily involved with youth boxing there.

Gravanti came to Las Vegas in 1968 and initially worked as a 21-dealer at the Stardust hotel-casino. He opened Clark County Motors in 1971 and sold it in 1987.

His car lot boxing camp catered to low-income families. Not only did Gravanti pay all of the operational expenses, he never charged any boy a fee to use the facility.

Some of the area's finest amateur coaches, including Glen Powell, Bob Galtney, Jake Simidian, L.C. Morgan and Tony Mora, trained fighters at the camp.

In the early 1980s, then-world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes made several appearances at Gravanti's camp and donated money to help the facility.

Gravanti's boxers drew crowds in excess of 700 fans for several cards at the Silver Nugget hotel-casino, which turned its huge bingo room into a makeshift arena for the events.

Gravanti had several battles with City Hall because his business was zoned for a used car lot, not a youth recreational camp. Although many city officials openly admitted that they admired Gravanti's efforts, they said they could not allow him to skirt the law while forcing other businesses to obey it.

That government pressure and a lack of funds contributed to the camp closing in 1982.

In 1981 and '85, Gravanti made unsuccessful bids for the North Las Vegas City Council.

He was a past president of the North Las Vegas Veterans Boxing Association.

In addition to his brother, Gravanti is survived by his wife, Josephine Gravanti of North Las Vegas; two daughters, Marie Genova of North Las Vegas and Kathleen D'Angelo of Niagara Falls; another brother, John Gravanti of Niagara Falls; two sisters, Theresa Palmisano and Helen Zito, both of Niagara Falls; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

archive