View source for Robert Carmody

{{short description|American boxer}}
{{For|the former American college football coach|Bob Carmody (American football)}}
{{Infobox boxer (amateur)
| name           = Bob Carmody
| image          = 
| caption        = 
| full_name      = Robert John Carmody
| nicknames      = Butterball
| birth_date     = September 4, 1938
| birth_place    = [[Brooklyn, New York]], U.S.
| death_date     = October 27, 1967 (aged 29)
| death_place    = near [[Saigon]], [[Vietnam]]
| height         = {{cvt|1.58|m|ftin|0|order=flip}}
| weight         = {{cvt|51|kg|lb|0|order=flip}}
| weight_class   = [[Flyweight]] (-51&nbsp;kg)
| show-medals    = yes
| medaltemplates =
{{Medal|Sport|Men's [[boxing]]}}
{{Medal|Country|the {{USA}}}}
{{Medal|Competition|[[Boxing at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[Boxing at the 1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo]]|[[Boxing at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Flyweight|Flyweight]]}} 
{{Medal|Competition|[[Boxing at the Pan American Games|Pan American Games]]}}
{{Medal|Bronze|[[1963 Pan American Games|1963 São Paulo]] |[[Boxing at the 1963 Pan American Games|Flyweight]]}}
}}

'''Robert John Carmody''' (September 4, 1938 – October 27, 1967) was an American [[Boxing|boxer]] whose career, which had included a bronze medal at the [[1964 Summer Olympics]] in [[Tokyo]] as part of the flyweight division, was cut short when he was killed in action serving with the United States Army in the [[Vietnam War]].

==Early life==
Born  in 1938 to lower-class parents in [[Brooklyn]], Carmody learned his trade in street fights near his home before joining the Army in 1957 and signing up for boxing classes with a close friend.

==Amateur career==
Carmody proved a natural, and was quickly chosen to represent the [[11th Airborne Division]], continuing in this position after their deployment to [[Germany]] in 1958. In 1961, Carmody won his first All-Army flyweight boxing title, retaining it for the next four years until 1965. He also won the International Military Sports Council title in 1962 and garnered a bronze at the [[Boxing at the 1963 Pan American Games|1963 Pan American Games]].

Attending the Olympic trials at the [[1964 New York World's Fair]] the following year, Carmody won a shock victory over the favored [[Melvin Miller]] to secure a place on the 1964 Olympic team. At the training camp, Carmody formed a close friendship with [[Joe Frazier]], at one point reportedly talking Frazier out of quitting the sport following an unexpected defeat. At the Olympics Carmody suffered a bruised hand, but still beat the Nepalese Thapa Namsing and the German [[Otto Babiasch]] before losing in the semi-finals to the eventual winner [[Fernando Atzori]], thus claiming a bronze medal.

===1964 Olympic results===
* Round of 32: bye
* Round of 16: Defeated [[Nam Singh Thapa]] (Nepal) RSC
* Quarterfinal: Defeated [[Otto Babiasch]] (Unified Team of Germany) 4–1
* Semifinal: Lost to [[Fernando Atzori]] (Italy) 1–4 (was awarded bronze medal)

==Outside the ring==
After the Olympics, Carmody met and married Merry Sykes in Germany, and the two settled down into army family life, Robert and Merry had two children, Terri a daughter who lives in Roseville, CA and Robert Jr. a son who lives in Reno, NV with Carmody training several boxing teams at the International Military Sports Council games, including the U.S. Army squad and the Iraqi army boxing team.

==Death==
In June 1967 Carmody was called up to go to Vietnam with his unit, D Troop of the [[U.S. 17th Cavalry Regiment]]. Several weeks after arriving, Carmody was killed in action while on a routine six-man foot patrol just to the north of [[Saigon]] when the patrol was ambushed by [[Viet Cong]] guerillas. Four other members of the patrol were killed and the single survivor reached safety after an arduous journey of eleven hours. Sergeant Carmody was posthumously awarded the [[Bronze Star Medal|Bronze Star]] for his valor for his actions during the ambush.

==References==
{{reflist}}
*[https://www.espn.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2439789 ESPN Web Biography]
*[http://www.virtualwall.org/dc/CarmodyRJ01a.htm Memorial at the Vietnam Virtual Wall]
*{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Bob Carmody |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ca/bob-carmody-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161203001644/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ca/bob-carmody-1.html |archive-date=December 3, 2016}}

==External links==
* {{Olympics.com|robert-john-carmody|Robert John Carmody}}
* {{Olympedia|name=Bob Carmody}}
* {{InterSportStats|3000519782|Bob Carmody}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carmody, Robert}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Boxers from Brooklyn]]
[[Category:Flyweight boxers]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in boxing]]
[[Category:Boxers at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:United States Army non-commissioned officers]]
[[Category:American male boxers]]
[[Category:Boxers at the 1963 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1963 Pan American Games]]
[[Category:Pan American Games bronze medalists for the United States in boxing]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel killed in the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]