Sonny O'Day Athletic Endowed Scholarship

Sonny O’Day, “The Kid from Meaderville,” boxed his final round, hung up his gloves, snuffed his famous stogie, and exited the ring quietly in his sleep on January 31, 2001. Sonny, whose legal name was Charles Augustus George, was born Carlo Giorgi in 1913 in Lucca, Italy. He passed through Ellis Island in 1920 where the family name was Americanized to “George,” and they then took the train to the Montana mining community of Meaderville near Butte. Sonny loved all sports and was a natural athlete. Starting to box as a 10-year-old, Sonny was a protégé of Butte’s Pat Sullivan Boxing Club. He represented the club in amateur fights throughout the state. He also was an avid football player, swimmer and diver. He had a life-long commitment to family. At age 14, after his mother passed away, he returned his younger sister and invalid step-father back to the family villa in Italy. In the early 1930s, the 16-year-old orphan arrived in New York City, where he was told his pugilism could earn him money. He paid his dues sleeping in an Eastside gym and in Central Park in order to get his big break. Lying about his age, he fought amateur bouts until an agent spotted him and said, “You’ve got talent, kid, but the Irish control the game. Nobody is gonna come see an Italian boxer!” Sonny’s reddish hair and freckles were the perfect fit to a new identity “Sonny O’Day” and new birth date — St. Patrick’s Day. Spanning the next 17 years, welterweight Sonny fought 529 fights, lost 32 and had, as Sonny used to say, “some draws and the rest wins” in Madison Square Garden, Sunset Garden, and other major venues throughout the U.S. Sonny proudly served in the U.S. Army during World War II, married Carra Burton in 1944, and returned to Montana after the war, establishing his bar and tavern in Laurel. Sonny’s civic community service included 30 years as a Kiwanian, a lifetime member of the Elks, and a founding member of the Montana Gambling Commission. The Student Council of Eastern Montana College (now MSU Billings) originated the annual Sonny O’Day Smoker, a fundraiser that entertained the greater Billings area from 1975 -1981. In honor of Sonny and his life-long love of sports, his daughter, Shelley, and her husband, Larry VanAtta, established the Sonny O’Day Athletic Scholarship Endowment in 2004. The endowment provides scholarship funding to student athletes at Montana State University Billings. The first scholarship will be awarded in academic year 2012-2013.