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3. The Kenosha Kid
- University of Wisconsin Press
- Chapter
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The theories abound as to what thoughts were flowing through the sixteen-year-old’s head the day he marched down th Street to the Kenosha County Courthouse to officially change his name from Lino Dante Amici to Alan Dante Ameche. Was it that he didn’t like the name Lino because it wasn’t tough enough? Or perhaps it was a little too Italian for his taste? Or maybe he didn’t like the name that Augusto and Benedetta bestowed upon him because his brother didn’t like it? On the same day that Lino plunked down cents to became Alan, Lyndo was by his little brother’s side, officially changing his name to Lynn. Most people who know Alan Ameche, including those who knew him best, go with the “too Italian” theory. “That’s what I think,” said Dick Nicolazzi, Ameche’s football teammate at Kenosha High School and the University of Wisconsin. “I think that ‘Lino’ just didn’t sound American enough for Alan. It wasn’t that he didn’t like being Italian, he just wanted to be American first.” Nicolazzi’s theory makes as much sense as any. Certainly if Ameche made the switch because “Lino” didn’t sound tough enough, he could have found a more macho-sounding name than Alan. Rocco, Duke, or Butch come immediately to mind. Ameche’s young sweetheart at the time, Yvonne Molinaro, who eventually became his wife, is the best source for this story. “I remember he was giving me a ride on his bicycle, and I said to him, ‘You know Lino is a very strange name. It sounds like Rinso or something you would wash your clothes with.’ The Kenosha Kid the kenosha kid “You know what he said to me? He looked right at me and said ‘You know what Yvonne? I think if I were you, I’d get my teeth straightened out.’” Message received. “That was his way of fighting back. It was his way of saying nobody is perfect and maybe I should take care of my situation before I criticize him,” Yvonne said. “To make a long story short, he changed his name and I got my teeth straightened. To be honest, I love the name Lino and I called him that till the day he died. But apparently he didn’t like it and wanted it changed.” So why Alan? Yvonne knows the answer to that question as well. “I think he changed it to Alan because I was madly in love with the actor Alan Ladd,” Yvonne theorized. “It wasn’t to be tougher. Alan never had to worry about that. It was about being more American. He felt ‘Lino’ was too foreign sounding. “I remember we were sitting on the steps to my basement one day. We had cement walls in the basement, and Alan was writing on the wall with chalk. He wrote a bunch of names on the wall, all the different names that he was considering changing his name to. “I always thought Lino was such a beautiful name, too. I always called him Lino. “I don’t remember what other names he was considering, but I can see him standing there with that chalk in his hand, writing names on the wall. I think maybe the reason he picked Alan was to please me.” Yvonne reflected more about the day that young Ameche was writing on the basement wall of her family’s home at th Avenue. “I remember we laughed about the name because there is an area in Kenosha called Allendale. It’s where all the wealthy people in Kenosha lived at the time.” The Molinaro home was in a better neighborhood than the Ameches’, but it certainly wasn’t Allendale, either. Her father, Michael Molinaro, had started as a laborer at the American Brass Company, or “the Brass” as it was known by Kenoshans, and he had worked himself up to the position of foreman. “We lived in a little bit nicer area than where Alan lived, but it was still working class,” Yvonne said. “Everybody was just happy to have a job in those days.” Although the young lovers were both born and raised in Kenosha, they never officially crossed paths until fate placed Yvonne in the seat behind Alan in Mr. Molstad’s ninth-grade social studies class at Washington Junior High. [3.95.39.127] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:53 GMT...