Vincent A. Pacent

Vincent Alfred Pacent (Vinny) died on July 29 while residing at Sage Living in Jackson. He was 88. The following was provided by his former wife, Sharene Garaman.

Vinny was born on Sept. 17, 1936 in Merrick, New York. He was the youngest of four children born into the Italian family of John and Louise Pacent.

By all accounts, he was a shy young man while growing up but blossomed into an excellent athlete at Mepham High School. Vinny lettered in wrestling, football, and baseball. His high school wrestling team only had one tournament loss in 20 years.

At the age of 18, Vinny left New York and moved to San Diego, California to join the Navy. He thought San Diego was heaven. He met his first wife, Maybelle Smith, there and they married in 1960. They had a son, John Anthony Pacent, who now resides in La Jolla, California. Vinny also raised a stepdaughter, Nora Proctor, who is now living in New York.

During his training in the Navy, in 1955 Vinny received one of its highest awards, that of Honor Man. It was awarded to recruits “by virtue of superior aptitude.” The award honors attention to duty, dependability, and aptitude for naval life. It was presented to him by Rear Admiral John M. Hoskins, Commander, Fleet Air Quonset, Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Vinny proudly displayed this award in his office.

In 1956, he was a member of the Navy wrestling and football teams. In 1958 he was an All-Navy wrestler. Vinny also coached wrestling at the U.S. Naval station in Washington, D.C. He qualified for Olympic regionals in 1956.

During college at San Diego State, Vinny was the 1960 California AAU champion wrestler. He graduated from San Diego State with a bachelor of arts in physical education and a master’s degree in literature.

Vinny worked for the state of California for many years, as a workman’s compensation supervisor and as a boxing commissioner from 1972-1992. He loved the job as commissioner where he met all the great professional boxers of the 1970s and ‘80s — Mohammed Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Kenny Norton, Oscar de la Hoya, Sugar Ray Leonard and many, many others. That was a very fun time in his life.

As boxing commissioner, Vinny had to deal with a lot of unique and notorious characters. One night a guy in a fancy suit came up and said, “I want to get in the dressing room.” Vinny replied, “No one is allowed in there unless you are licensed to work with the fighters.” Someone nudged Vinny and quietly said, “Do you know who this is? It’s Carlos Gambino” (a famous Italian mobster). Without missing a beat, Vinny replied “I don’t care if it’s Al Capone.” Gambino then took out a $100 bill and stuffed it into the breast pocket of Vinny’s suit, and said, “Go get yourself something better than that Sears suit.” He then walked off and entered the dressing room anyway.

Vinny followed him, took the $100 bill out of his breast pocket and stuffed it into Gambino’s, and replied, “One good thing about Sears is that you get Craftsman tools as a bonus when you buy a suit.” Gambino laughed and said, “I like your style.” He left the dressing room.

Vinny was divorced from his first wife in the 1980s. He then met Sharene Garaman, who was to become his second wife. She was attending graduate school in San Diego. Their first date was a professional boxing match where Sharene was seated ringside. An unconventional first date to be certain, but it worked for them. Sharene’s father, Abi Garaman, was an avid boxing fan, so it was familiar territory.

They married in 1990 at the base of Rendezvous Mountain in Teton Village and eventually moved from San Diego back to Sharene’s hometown of Jackson. Vinny worked at Under the Willow Photo Gallery, which displayed his father-in-law’s photography. During that time, Vinny became very involved in the Kiwanis club, becoming president of the organization and Special Olympics winter games director.

To the delight of his local Jackson friends, he performed in the legendary Kiwanis Follies. His most famous role was that of Henry Gibson, the mild-mannered character on Laugh In. When Vinny stepped onto the stage in his elf costume clutching a sunflower, the crowd laughter erupted for almost 15 minutes before he could even utter his first line, “A poem by Henry Gibson.”

Throughout his life, Vinny had two primary passions, pocket watches and the New York Yankees. He was fascinated with the stories behind each intricate timepiece and treasured each one. He loved trading and talking watches with one of his best friends, Kristopher Johansson.

The Yankees were ubiquitous throughout his home. There were books, banners, magazines, autographed baseballs, photographs, jackets. No one loved the iconic Yankees more than Vinny Pacent.

Vinny is survived by his son, John Anthony Pacent; step-daughter Nora Proctor; many nieces and nephews; and Sharene Garaman.

Vinny was buried at Aspen Cemetery. A service will be held later in the fall at the Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in Jackson. Notices with details will be posted in the newspaper.