Roy Scheider - Wikipedia

Scheider was born in Orange, New Jersey,[2] the son of Anna (née Crosson; 1906–1984) and auto mechanic Roy Bernhard Scheider (1903–1976). Scheider's mother was of Irish descent with an Irish Catholic background. His father was a Protestant German American.[3][4] As a child, Scheider was an athlete, participating in organized baseball and boxing competitions, for which he was classed as a welterweight, weighing in at 140 lb (63.5 kg).

Scheider competed in the Diamond Gloves Boxing Tournament in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey, graduating in 1950, and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 1985. He traded his boxing gloves for the stage, studying drama at both Rutgers University and Franklin and Marshall College, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.[5][4]

Amateur boxing

Between 1946 and 1949, Scheider boxed as an amateur in New Jersey.[6] Scheider said in a television interview in the 1980s that he took up boxing to lose weight. He said he had no desire to fight, but that his trainer, Georgie Ward, encouraged him to compete.[7] In his second bout, at the 1946 Diamond Gloves Tournament (Golden Gloves), Scheider suffered a broken nose and lost by technical knockout in two rounds to Myron Greenberg. He went on to post an 11–1 (six knockouts) record,[6] reversing his defeat by Greenberg in the process.[6]

Military service

From 1955 to 1958, Scheider served in the United States Air Force as a first lieutenant in air operations. He then became a captain in the Air Force Reserve Command until 1964.[8]