Smith Tops Alicea in Harvard Club Tilt

If you could win a prizefight with scowls instead of punches, mean Marceline Alicea would have had no trouble dispatching young Jackie Smith at the Harvard Club's annual boxing might last night.

But under the benevolent gaze of Derek Bok's official portrait Smith fought clean and hard, 480 alumni and students cheered, and the spitting, snarling Alicea dropped a split decision after eight rounds.

Between Smith's workmanlike if less than lethal punches, Alicea scowled, laughed, blew his nose, dropped his guard and otherwise rattled the green Boston College junior.

Alicea's stunts pleased the crowd but not the judges, though. Before he started to unnerve Smith midway through the bout, Alicea had hit the deck once and taken quite a few punishing blows to the head and body.

Subway Sam Silver-man, who promoted last night's five-fight card, put Alicea's age at 26--but the grizzled, crew at Springfield native looked close to 40.

When a visitor told him Alicea didn't look anywhere near 26, Silver-man smiled and said, "Okay, maybe he's 25, Rough game, you know?"

The boxing ring was set in the middle of the Harvard Club of Boston's cavernous, wood-paneled dining hall, where the tuxedoed all-made audience ate dinner and puffed cigars while they watched cops and bartenders from the not-so-fancy suburbs slug it out.

Robert Banker '56, who has organized the club's boxing night since it started in 1968, said "I guest the fun is seeing many of these men come and yell and scream."

In the co-featured about Al Romano of North Adams took an unpopular split decision from Brockton's barrage punching Gerry Anson. Both were bleeding from eyebrow cuts and slugging wildly at each other, and they got the only standing ovation of the night when their eight-rounder was over.

Romano's brother Doug didn't fare so well, dropping a decision to Tony Girgenoff in one of three four-round prelims.

In the other four-rounders Billy Duquette dropped a paunchy, sleepy Charlie Rice twice in less than a minute to score a quick TKO, and Tommy Rose took a unanimous decision from Charlie kitredge.

Alumni would pat Kitredge on the shoulder as they walked by him after the fights, but I didn't cheer him up. "I don't know," Kitredge said, shaking his head, I walked right into him I just walked right into him."