No Zivics won Olympic medals. The four older brothers all generally fell short in other amateur tournaments, though Pete, Jack and Eddie would turn into good pros. Joe worked as a referee following a briefer amateur stint.

Jack and Pete retired before the 1930s began. That left the fistic future of the Zivics firmly in the hands of Eddie and Fritzie, who was the youngest of the bunch.

Boxing wasn’t introduced to the Olympics in Antwerp, and in fact it made its debut at the Games in 1904. But it wasn’t until a teammate of Jack and Pete’s named Frankie Genaro won a portion of the flyweight title in 1928 that anyone saw an Olympic gold medal turned into high level pro success.

Back in Pittsburgh, an iconic building was on the cusp of becoming one of the area’s most reliable sports venues. The Motor Square Garden hosted most of the city’s notable fight cards in the 1920s, including about a dozen featuring Harry Greb, “The Pittsburgh Windmill.” More importantly, at least to Fritzie, Jack and Pete both fought at the Motor Square Garden multiple times.

The Zivics grew up in Lawrenceville, the ninth of Pittsburgh’s 32 wards or subdivisions. Fritzie later recalled his frequent street skirmishes, and ones that would inevitably take place between two or more of the five brothers. Fighting was a veritable rite of passage with the Zivics, the sons of Croatian and Slovenian immigrants, and all of them were trained by Jack Metz at the Willow Athletic Club in Lawrenceville.

Working class cities like Pittsburgh absorbed the effects of the Great Depression like any tough fighter might absorb punch after punch. Even so, boxing drew crowds in the roughest of times, making Pittsburgh the perfect setting for a fighting family like the Zivics. While neither Jack nor Pete became world class fighters, they both faced and occasionally defeated their share of recognizable fighters. Jack in particular became famous for being the only fighter to stop Lew Tendler, one of the greatest fighters to never win a world title, and it happened at Pittsburgh’s Motor Square Garden.

The city of Pittsburgh knew the Zivics well and counted them among their sporting icons. Fritzie’s decision to compete as an amateur made the front page of the sports section in the Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph in 1929 when he was just 16, and local newspapers followed him closely as he navigated local Golden Gloves tournaments and even as he competed in the national Amateur Athletic Union tournament in New York.

Like his brothers before him, Fritzie fell well short in major tournaments. Between major competitions, however, Zivic did well on one-off amateur cards often covered by writers who recognized his last name, and he won a few regional titles. He was “clever” and had a “good stance,” they said. Over the course of about two years, training took Zivic from flyweight to featherweight as he joined with local manager Luke Carney. Pittsburgh newspapers reported that Fritzie would be turning pro on October 5, 1931, 95 years ago today, at the Motor Square Garden.

At only 18, Fritzie was almost universally considered agreeable and quick-witted outside the ring. The Pittsburgh Press described him as “a likeable youngster with a most pleasing personality,” and a doppelganger of his older brother Jack. Fritzie even wore a robe with “The Fifth Zivic” embroidered on the back.

The problem was Fritzie’s humor and smile masked a vicious, ruthless fighter whose style later earned him the reputation as one of boxing history’s dirtiest operators. He was even affable while in the act of fouling. When interviewed in his mid-60s, Zivic once said: “I’d hit guys low, choke ‘em or give ‘em [a headbutt]. My best punch was a left hook to you-know-where. Me, a dirty fighter? Nah. Every time I hit a guy low I’d say, ‘Pardon me.’”

There was no sense in wasting that enthusiasm in the amateur ranks. Carney angled for Fritzie to debut as the second bout on a four-fight card at Pittsburgh’s Garden against an opponent to be named later. A few days before the card, newspapers reported that another Pennsylvania fighter named Al Rettinger would take on Zivic.

“Who ever heard of an amateur being given anything but an opening number on entering the moneyed ranks?” asked Pittsburgh writer Fred Wertenbach. In other words, were the Fighting Zivics so beloved by Pittsburgh that a boxing promoter would break some loosely-held tradition? The answer was an emphatic yes.

About 2,500 attended the card, making for a half-full Garden. Unfortunately for all involved, it wasn’t an exciting event overall, with the opener ending on a cut between rounds and the last two fights going to boring decisions. In that sense, it was a fitting environment for the debut of a future world champion who ultimately retired with a dreadfully unimpressive record: unspectacular.

Fritzie Zivic attacked Rettinger and ended the fight in the opening round, with his opponent barely putting up a fight as he hit the deck once, and never fighting again. Chester L. Smith, sports editor of the Pittsburgh Press, wrote: “[Al Rettinger] is still wondering why they tied those leather things to his hands.”

The Ring reported on Zivic’s debut under its “Pittsburgh Gossip” section in the December 1932 issue, though by then Fritzie had already lost a fight. In his first 10 pro bouts, Fritzie went 7-3, seemingly destined to follow the same path as Jack and Pete, middling fighters who saw the top but never reached it.

Considering his opponents, Fritzie took by far the most difficult path of the five Fighting Zivics. But, by laces, headbutts, elbows and thumbs, he got there. Fritzie fought 12 more times at the Pittsburgh Garden before eventually graduating to headlining at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where he vanquished Henry Armstrong for the welterweight title to become the greatest of the Zivics.