Why is Brockton called the City of Champions anyway? (2024)

BROCKTON— You've likely heard the term used many times: Brockton is the City of Champions.

In fact, Mayor Robert Sullivan invoked the nickname over the weekend after the Brockton High School boys basketball team won the Southeastern Conference Tournament championship.

"Brockton is once again the City of Champions thanks to the BHS Boys' Basketball team's victory last night to win the Southeastern Conference Tournament Championship!" Sullivan wrote in a Facebook post.

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Why is Brockton called the City of Champions?

Brockton's official logo on its city website sports the City of Champions moniker underneath the word Brockton, which is in capital letters.

"Dubbed the City of Champions for its rich sports history, Brockton was the hometown of boxing greats Rocky Marciano and Marvin Hagler," the city's website states.

Rocco Francis Marchegiano — or Rocky Marciano, The Brockton Blockbuster or The Rock from Brockton —was a professional boxer who finished his career an impressive 49-0, with 43 wins by knockout.

Marciano, who held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956,is largely considered one of the greatest boxers of all-time.

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Hagler, whose family moved to Brockton in 1969 after growing up in New Jersey, is another boxing giant.

He earned a 62-3-2 record during his 14-year professional career and was an undisputed world champion.

Both Marciano and Hagler arein the International Boxing Hall of Fame and the World Boxing Hall of Fame.

The city has also seen many great high school sports teams, and has been known for its successfulfootball program, including 14state football championships, nine of which were won under the legendary late head coach Armond Colombo.

When did the nickname begin?

Brocktonhas laid claim to the nickname City of Champions for more than 65years.

The city is believed to have started using the description sometime after Marciano's rise to fame.

Marciano's first championship fight and victory was on Sept. 23, 1952, almost 70 years ago.

The nickname has been used ever since.

In 1997, Brockton kicked off a bumper sticker campaign while going head-to-head with the town of Natick, which sought to name itself "Home of Champions."

But isn't Boston the City of Champs?

There's another Massachusetts city that also claims to be the City of Champions.

Boston— known as Titletown for the success of theBoston Red Sox,Boston Celtics,Boston Bruins andNew England Patriots— often uses the City of Champions or Champs nickname.

Boston also has several other notable nicknames, including Beantown, The Hub and The City on a Hill.

There was once somewhat of a battle between Brockton and Boston for the City of Champions nickname.

In 2005, then-Brockton CityCouncilor-at-large Thomas Brophyfiled a resolve proclaiming Brockton as the one, true City of Champions in the commonwealth.

It came afterthen-Boston MayorThomas Menino used the City of Champions name in describing Boston after the Patriots' Super Bowl win.

“As happy as most of us were with last week's Super Bowl win, it was soured a little bit by the fact that the mayor of Boston is trying to usurp our name,” Brophy said at the time.

Similar to the 1997 campaign, the city launched another bumper sticker campaign in 2005.

The red, white and black bumper stickers were given to schoolchildren and school groups to sell as fund-raisers.

Is the nickname official?

It turns out there is a law on the books proclaimingBrockton the City of Champions.

"An Act Designating the Town of Natick as the Home of Champions and the City of Brockton as the City of Champions" was passed by the acting governor on Dec. 31, 2006.

"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows: The town of Natick shall be designated and known as the home of champions and the city of Brockton shall be designated and known as the city of champions," according toChapter 401 of the Acts of 2006.

But Brocktonians didn't need to know it was official to call Brockton the City of Champions.

Sullivan, the mayor, used the nickname three times in his recent State of the City address— his first as mayor and following a year that was dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Brockton residents: Continue to fight. We are the City of Champions, we will overcome these challenging times and we will persevere together," Sullivan said to conclude his speech.

Enterprise senior reporter Cody Shepard can be reached by email atcshepard@enterprisenews.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @cshepard_ENT.Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today.