Editing Rocky Marciano (section)

==Early life==
Born Rocco Francis Marchegiano on September 1, 1923, Rocky was raised on the south side of [[Brockton, Massachusetts]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Rocky Marciano|url=https://www.biography.com/athlete/rocky-marciano|access-date=August 2, 2021|website=Biography|date=July 23, 2020 |language=en-us}}</ref><ref>Casey Sherman & Dave Wedge: ''[https://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/2018/10/17/peter-marciano/ The Rocky Road of Peter Marciano]''. [[Boston (magazine)|Boston]], 2018,</ref> His parents, Pierino Marchegiano and Pasqualina Picciuto, were both immigrants from Italy.<ref name=":0" /> His father was from [[Ripa Teatina]], [[Abruzzo]], while his mother was from [[San Bartolomeo in Galdo]], [[Campania]]. Marciano had two brothers, Louis (aka Sonny) and Peter, and three sisters, Alice, Concetta and Elizabeth. When he was about 18 months old, Marciano contracted [[pneumonia]], from which he almost died.[[File:Main Street, Looking North From Crescent, Brockton, MA.jpg|thumb|The Main Street of [[Brockton, Massachusetts]], Rocky's hometown]]In his youth, he worked out on homemade [[Weight training|weightlifting]] equipment (later in his life, Marciano was also a client of [[Charles Atlas]])<ref>[http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/Muscle-Man.html?c=y "Charles Atlas: Muscle Man"] by Jonathan Black, ''Smithsonian'' magazine, August 2009.</ref> and used a stuffed mailbag that hung from a tree in his back yard as a [[heavy bag]]. He attended [[Brockton High School]], where he played both baseball and football. However, he was cut from the school baseball team because he had joined a church league, violating a school rule forbidding players from joining other teams. He dropped out of school after finishing tenth grade.

Marciano then worked as a chute man on delivery trucks for the Brockton Ice and Coal Company. He also worked as a ditchdigger, railroad layer and shoemaker.{{sfn|Skehan|1977|p=32}} He was a resident of [[Hanson, Massachusetts]]; the house he lived in still stands on Main Street.

During the [[World War II|Second World War]], Marciano was drafted into the [[United States Army|US Army]] in March 1943, serving for three years. Stationed in [[Swansea]], [[Wales]], he helped ferry supplies across the [[English Channel]] to [[Normandy]]. After the war ended, he completed his service in March 1946 at [[Fort Lewis (Washington)|Fort Lewis]], Washington.{{sfn|Skehan|1977|p=39}}