American Serb History 101
with Baba Mim....
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Serbian History 101
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Petar Kokovich (Kovich)-Olympic Gold Medalist 1912
Petar Kokovich-Peter Kovich
“Peter the Great,”
Olympic Gold Medalist 1912
Part 2 in our Series of Serbian Immigrants in America from research begun by Milan M. Karlo by Milana Karlo Bizic
from the American SRBOBRAN of Wednesday, June 3, 2020, pp.12,13.
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“Sećanje na zaslužne i drage pokojnike nikada ne bledi, nikada se ne gubi:
“The memory of the deserving and dear deceased never fades, is never lost.” So began a beautiful obituary in the Slobodan-Liberty newspaper in the Tuesday, September 4, 1968 issue of Petar Kokotovich.
My story begins with finding a package sent to my dad, Milan Karlo, on September 19, 1985 forwarded from the Diocesan Observer office in Gray’s Lake, IL to his then home at 3003 W. Broadway, in Tucson, Arizona, 85745.
Inside this package I inherited was a letter from Peter’s daughter, Dorothy Stepan, who has since passed away, but then lived at 180 Turtle Lake Court in Naples, Florida. The package also included the SLOBODA obituary which Dorothy was sorry she couldn’t read as it was in Cyrillic, and a write-up from the Campbell Soup Company News.
Finding these wonderful stories about our early Serbian immigrants to America is one of the good things that has come from being confined to my apartment here in Sewickley, PA during this COVID-19 virus. My dad and his wife, Helen Vuckovich Karlo, had traveled the country, putting on 100,000 miles, collecting stories for their book(s) EARLY DAYS: Serbian Settlers in America, published in 1984. Because the book with almost a thousand photographs became too thick with just the WEST stories, plans were made to make another one for the Serbs in the Midwest, and then one for the East. Time and money ran out.
Now, 35 years later, I hope to resurrect these gems of started stories Dad collected for all of us to enjoy and learn from. They’re great ones for sure!
What an honor it is for me to reintroduce you all to “Petar Mile Kokotowitsch,” a Serb born on September 28, 1888, in Plaški, Karlovac, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was such a great middleweight wrestler, he won 22 medals and 3 world championships in Vienna. In 1912, he represented Austria at the Olympic games held in Stockholm, Sweden and won the Olympic Class A Middleweight title at 160 pounds.
Trying to research that Gold title, at first I was unsuccessful. “Maybe he was there in Stockholm, which is an accomplishment in itself,” I said to my disappointed self, thinking perhaps the story was exaggerated through the years. But I was persistent, and lo and behold, it’s there!
Olympic Gold! Petar M. Kokotowitsch!
As I’m typing this story for you, a photograph of all the delegates and officers of the Serb National Federation’s Fourth Convention in Pittsburgh, PA, Sept. 12-18, 1943, including my dad sitting Indian style on the floor, are looking down on me and my computer. I KNOW they’d all be thrilled to hear that good news!
Even better news is this. Peter came to America on a bet, under the most unusual circumstances. He had a backer who promised him a thousand dollars (Can you just imagine!) if he could beat one of Chicago’s top wrestlers, a heavyweight of 245 lbs. At this time, Pete only weighed 175.
In the Campbell Soup article, it is written that the match lasted two house before Pete finally managed to throw the heavyweight. And that started him on a professional wrestling career in the Chicago area. He is said to have wrestled such old time greats as Johnny Meyer, Joe Catonan and his toughest was “The Mysterious Conductor.” Peter’s professional name was “Peter the Great.”
My ancestry.com research asserts that on May 27, 1929, Pete was 40 years old with a wife and daughter, and made a declaration of intent to become a U.S. citizen, while at the same time, changed his name from Kokotovich to Kovich. His witnesses were Mirko Ladjenic and George Maslach.
Peter came to America to be a professional wrestler. However, as a proud Serb and a true athlete, he could not stand to participate in the set "matches" where upon request, he had to lose to the celebrator himself, so he was indignant, and let go of wrestling, devoting himself to the locksmithing business that he studied in Belgrade.
Let us recall the words of Serbia’s famous son, Jovan Jovanovic-Zmaj: “Integrity cannot be bought, because an honest man wouldn’t sell it not even for all the greatest treasures. A dishonest man would sell it, but he doesn’t have it!”
So, giving up his wrestling career in 1931, Peter worked as a machinist and later became Division Manager for the Continental Can Company, always moving up because of his expertise and fine manner-his integrity. His only child, daughter Dorothy, relayed in her letter: “During the period from 1931 to 1938, he traveled all over the United States, living in probably 14 different cities. Wherever we settled in, he would search out our Serbian people and give jobs at the can company to any that were out of work—- and believe me, there were many during the depression period.”
The 1940 census shows at this time, Pete was 51, his wife, Katherine (Katica Milosevich Kovich) was 47 and Dorothy was 15. He was living at 4007 West Argyle St. in Chicago and was making a goodly sum of $5,000 per year working 40 hours for 52 weeks. The Census revealed he had two years of High School training.
A dear friend of Peter Kovich, who I only know as Mr. M. Popovich, wrote in his obituary in SLOBODA: “He was born with an ingenious clarity of spirit, a desire to sprint to the top, and a developed sense of honesty and responsibility to work, inherited from his parents at home. He worked hard and progressed in his business, took care of his family but also took a very active part in all Serbian activities and organizations throughout his lifetime, so much so, he became one of the most recognized American Serb pioneers, whose respect and sympathy he deservedly gained and enjoyed.
“He had an innate sense of business and took great care of his family responsibilities, but he also found time to serve as Vice President for the Serbian Brothers Help (Srpsko Narodne Odbrane), the Serb National Federation, the Serbian-Canadian Diocese, our church schools, and more. But the most distinguished examples of his generosity came in helping the newly arrived displaced Serbian immigrants fleeing from the Communists in Europe, come to America. He found the Serbian patriots employment with the company he worked for, but they came to the job interview with an enviable level of training from him first, leading to a great deal of confidence, so that with his recommendation, everyone was accepted into work.
“Cika Pero” even bought them clothes until they were fit to stand on their own feet. He not only helped those who sought his help, but he went after those he had heard of or felt needed his help. He showed them a dignified, discreet, distinguished and sincere heart, never asking for gratitude, accolades or recognition, just “od srca scru,” from heart to heart.
Peter was known throughout the country as an authority in the canning industry, and served also as a consultant for the Campbell Soup Company. But he was always active and zealous in the fight against communism, even after being retired from his decades of hard work. He was quoted as saying, “Retirees and old people can have some private life and work, but for the fight of the Church and the Holy See, there must be neither pensioners nor the elderly, we must all work until our last breath.”
When Peter died at age 80 in 1968, his friend Popovich wrote: “This son of Lika was one of the most extraordinary dearly beloved Serbian patriots, whose whole life was devoted to love for his Serbian people and all things Serbian. “Pero iz junacke Like.”
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Serbian History 101
PA
United States
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