By Rebecca Goodman
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLLEGE HILL - Virgil Cole was proud to have beaten Pete Rose in a boxing match when they were teenagers.

The year was 1957 and Mr. Cole, then 16, represented the Findlay Street Neighborhood House. Rose was 14 and fought for the Jolly Athletic Club of Delhi Township. Both boys weighed 112 pounds.

As was reported in Pete Rose: My Story, published in 1989, Cole "pounded Pete hard in the body and face. Pete's own punches, when he got any off, were wild. Mostly his role in the fight turned out to be target."

Mr. Cole went on to win amateur boxing tournaments around the Midwest. Rose, of course, went on to become Major League Baseball's hit king.

Mr. Cole, 62, died Saturday after a brief illness.

Born in Cincinnati in 1941, Mr. Cole was third in a family of nine children. He attended Withrow High School before graduating from Central Vocational High School, where he studied automotive repair.

During his boyhood he was an active Boy Scout who earned several badges.

Mr. Cole was small for his age and it bothered him. "When he'd stand next to somebody, he'd try to be taller," said his wife, Virginia.

But he was brimming with a moxie that served him well when he boxed.

Mr. Cole was also a hard worker. Employed for 18 years by the Leblond Machine Tool Co., he had been a janitor for Cincinnati Public Schools for the past 17.

"He only missed two days work in 17 years," his wife said. She said that he came down with the flu last week. "His boss came over to check on him because he never missed any work. People he worked with just cherished him."

His wife found him on the floor after she returned from Christmas shopping. "We were all bubbly and wanting to show him what we bought," she said. "I was calling, 'Virgil, Virgil,' turned the corner and there he was.

"He was a good man. He went to church. He was good to people."

In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Virgil Jr. of Forest Park and Corey of College Hill; three stepchildren, Charles Finneran of Pleasant Ridge and Isaiah and Gina Jackson, both of College Hill; three brothers, Gerald of downtown and Eugene and Ronald, both of Mount Healthy; three sisters, Carol Clark of Mount Healthy and Betty Cole and Christine Freeman, both of Winton Place; four grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Visitation is 10 a.m. to noon Friday followed by the funeral at El Bethel Baptist Church, 3869 Vine St. Interment is at Walnut Hills Cemetery.