If you lived in Carnegie and were itching for a good fight, the Adragna brothers were ready to oblige. Helen Adragna recalled how her husband, Jimmy, and his brothers, Jackie, Sammy and Dominick "Mimi," set up a makeshift boxing ring in a double garage in back of the family home on Cubbage Street and would take on all comers. James V. "Jimmy" Adragna, of Swedesboro, N.J., who lived in Carnegie for 81 years, died of cancer on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2002, in his home. He was 86. He was preceded in death by his three brothers, Jackie, a paratrooper who was killed in action in World War II during the Battle of the Bulge, Mimi in 1997 and Sammy in 1999. Sammy Adragna, a welterweight, went on to achieve national recognition with fights against Sam Secreet, Charley Affif and Chuck Taylor, and battled to a split decision in a 1947 fight with Livio Minelli in Madison Square Garden in New York City. "I lived on the same street as the brothers," said Jimmy Adragna's wife, Helen, "and I can remember seeing as many as seven or eight young men taking turns to spar with the boys. They were all in their teens. "My husband's brothers might've been tough in the ring, but they were gentlemen who worked hard, attended church with their parents and took care of their families." Helen Adragna said her husband, who was the oldest of the brothers, never turned professional. "Jimmy enjoyed sparring with his brothers and helping them with a lot of the details before a match. I can still remember going to the Pittsburgh Lyceum (Uptown) with Jimmy, when he would pick up his brothers and take them home. "I got to meet Fritzie Zivic, Billy Conn and Sam Secreet," she said. "When the boys were amateurs, I'd watch them box at Fritzie Zivic's gym in Millvale and the Duquesne Gardens." In 1939, Jimmy Adragna, while employed at Superior Steel in Carnegie, married his neighbor, Helen Santavicca. In 1943, he entered the service and was assigned to the 20th Armored Division, 9th Tank Battalion, and saw action in France and Germany. "Jimmy was in France when the Battle of the Bulge took place," his wife said. "He never forgot the day when an officer took him for a walk in the woods and told him that his brother, Jackie, had been killed during the Battle of the Bulge. It devastated Jimmy. They were all so close." Following his discharge in 1946, Mr. Adragna returned to Carnegie and Superior Steel, where he worked until the plant closed in 1962. He then went to work for the U.S. Postal Service and retired in 1982. "Jimmy never forgot the men he served with during World War II," his wife said. "He kept in touch with several of them, and we had the opportunity to visit one of his buddies down South." Mr. Adragna is survived by his wife, Helen Santavicca Adragna; a son, James Adragna Jr. of Imperial; daughters, Patricia Blum of Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Maureen Fraser of Snellville, Ga.; and Gemma Ivol of Swedesboro, N.J.; 10 grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren, and a sister, Pauline Keifer of Palm Bay, Fla. Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Leo J. Henney Funeral Home, 323 Second Ave., Carnegie. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday in Holy Souls Church of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, with the Rev. Joseph Luisi officiating. Interment will follow in Holy Souls Cemetery, Robinson Township.

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