May 16, 2008

1928 Olympic Gold Medal Donated to Hungary in Titusville, Florida

Mr. Antal Kocsis (1905-1994) was a Hungarian flyweight boxer and gold medalist in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games. Born in Kispest, Hungary, he became a boxer of MÁVAG Sport Club in 1923. Between 1924 and 1930, he was a member of Ferencvárosi Torna Club (FTC). He became Hungarian Champion for the first time in 1926. From 1925 to 1929, he was member of the Hungarian National Boxing Team twenty times.

His international career started in 1927, and he won the gold medal in the flyweight class in the 1928 Amsterdam Summer Olympic Games, after winning the final against French boxer Armand Apell.

He was the first olympic gold medalist boxer in Hungarian sport history, winning the 18th Hungarian olympic gold medal since the restart of the olympic games in 1896. By winning this olympic gold medal, he also became European Champion, the first Hungarian boxer to achieve that.

In 1930, he continued his sports career in South America, then in the United States, where he became a professional boxer under the name Tony Kocsis. His best result was 4th place in the world rank in his flyweight class. He finished his sports career in 1935. He started a civil profession, and died in 1994 in Titusville, Florida.

In April, 2008, Mrs. Gyula Kocsis, née Erzsébet, widow of the brother of Mr. Antal Kocsis, approached the Embassy of Hungary in Washington, DC with her offer that the 1928 olympic gold medal of Mr. Antal Kocsis be exhibited as a donation in the Hungarian Sport Museum in Budapest. She officially handed over the gold medal to the Cultural Attaché of the Embassy of Hungary in her home in Titusville, Florida on Sunday, April 27, 2008. She received an official embassy certificate in exchange, and the award was consequently delivered to Dr. Lajos Szabó, Director of the Hungarian Sport Museum in Budapest, where it was exhibited in May 2008.