Legendary Speaking

By Joe Broadmeadow

Billy "V" Vigeant, born an ordinary kid in the Silver Lake section of Providence, Rhode Island, created an extraordinary career in radio, television, sports marketing, and acting.

He produced exclusive one-on-one interviews with more than 300 Hall of Fame Athletes and Entertainers in his thirty-year career. And he

• Language: English
• Publisher: JEBWizard Publishing
• Release date: Apr 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781736828885

Book preview

Introduction

I was invited into the world of Billy Vigeant back in 2020 when we discussed my working on two books about Billy’s life.

One would be a biography to tell the remarkable story about a kid from Silver Lake in Providence and where life took him. The second would be a collection of the best images of the many experiences and the people he came to know during his time on his TV and radio show.

Telling Billy’s story would not be easy for him; like everyone, there were dark moments, disappointments, and heartache.

Yet, there was something unique about him as well. Where some would see failure, he saw an opportunity. Where some saw insurmountable obstacles, he saw challenges. When most would just give up and surrender to circumstances, Billy would fight back.

In researching and writing this book, those words he often repeated took on more than just a catchy ambiance. Instead, they resonate with some elemental truths from which we can all learn something.

Conceive it. Believe it. Achieve it.

Simple words to live by.

Billy made his mark on the world with words. His voice was his canvas. He would use his personality, wit, and sense of humor to get people to talk to him when others failed.

There could be no better way to tell this story than in his own words. So, wherever possible, that is precisely what I did.

For those of you who know him, as you read this story, you’ll hear his voice. For those of you who may never have met Billy, imagine an actor playing the best part of his career…and you will hear his voice weave a most remarkable tale...

Joe Broadmeadow (September 2021)

In the Beginning

This is a story about a kid who grew up in the Silver Lake section of Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1950s and 60s. Just an ordinary kid who would rise above his circumstances to find success in the most unlikely of places.

No one could have imagined the places he would go.

Providence was a mostly working-class city dotted with distinct, often entirely different neighborhoods jammed right on top of each other yet with equally distinct territories.

Some of the neighborhoods were indistinguishable from the ones on the next street. Some, like Federal Hill, had reputations known nationally as the home turf of the New England Mob.

Silver Lake was more closely aligned with the Hill than other areas, but it had its own distinctive flair. It was into this world that Billy Vigeant, who would come to be known by all as Billy V, would arrive.

Billy Vigeant was born on November 25, 1959, to William Joseph Vigeant and Josephine Joan (Pazienza) Vigeant. His mom was eighteen when she married, his father was twenty. His parents would divorce, and his father would be dead by the time Billy was eight years old.

Billy has few memories of his father. Just a few photographs of the man are all that remains of that time. As a young boy, Billy may not have known what was wrong in the household, but he certainly knew something was wrong.

Divorce tears families apart even under the best of circumstances. The effect often lasts a lifetime, casting shadows over future relationships and family ties. For Billy’s mother, a now divorced woman with two children and limited opportunities, it was the stark reality of little money, an uncertain future, and little guidance for young Billy.

His mother’s second marriage did not bring much improvement. Domestic violence, alcohol abuse, physical punishments all took their toll.

His stepdad, Americo DiRuzzo, was a barber by day and gambler by night. After his losses, he would be violent, bringing turmoil into Billy's world, often threatening him. In addition, he would be argumentative and violent with Billy’s mother.

Until one day, Billy confronted hum and giving him a piece of his mind.

Here are Billy's own words recalling his early family life.

Yeah, my father came from the Southside of Providence. And he was a little worldly versus the fact that my mother was more wholesome. But I think that appealed to him because, being a worldly guy, you always want what you can't have.

And I guess because my mother, being pretty and cute at the time, was a bit naïve, my father sincerely enjoyed that, instead of just having somebody that knows everything and carried themselves in certain ways.

But my grandfather was very strict, so it wasn't like he allowed my mother to go many places.

He asked her to invite him to the house. Those days were different, maybe they could go to Roger Williams Park with my Aunt Anna and my Uncle Ronnie God rest his soul. My Aunt Anna was a year apart from my mother, so they're more like sisters.

And they would spend a lot of time together.

So, they got married after going out just a short time, and my mother believe it not, was only 18 years of age, and my father was 21. In these times, those are babies. So, they got married on June 2, 1956.

They made their life their own way. My father had sinus problems, so they ended up making a move to Florida, so my father’s sinuses didn't have to bother him.

Funny enough, they moved into a trailer. My mother lived out of a trailer because my father didn't have a lot of money.

It just wasn't happening.

Other people start talking about their parents. How my parents are. They talk about the different occupations. They say different things. My parents were in the iron and steal business; my mother used to iron, and my father used to steal.

So they made a move to Florida. My grandfather took it really hard. He used to make runs down to Florida. Believe it or not, on a Friday afternoon or Friday night, and drive straight through just to go see my mother. That's how much he missed her.

He was something else, my grandfather.

But they made their life out there. My mother. She was a secretary for three lawyers, and my father, believe it or not, was a pool boy. Provided towels for women and men and by the pool.

But unfortunately, you know, my father was a streetwise guy. He was good-looking, handsome. He attracted different women his way. And my mother, being very naïve, even when they got married, was shy.

Sex was not her forte.

I'll never forget my mother telling me my father called back here after being married. He spoke to my grandmother. What did you do to this poor girl? he said. Because I'm married three days, and I still haven't had sex.

But that was it. You know, my mother was what she was. She was just a good woman. And my father, just.. you know him being who he was, was a lot to handle.

So they stayed there for a while, then they eventually made a move back here. And then back in 1959, November 25th, I was born. But, unfortunately, it took three days to have me, my poor mother. What she had to go through. Yeah, for three days of pushing, shoving, screaming, yelling.

And I didn't want to come out.

Finally I came out breeched, sideways, with the cord wrapped around my neck, they weren't sure what to do. Finally, they figured it out, and here I am.

I was born.

I was a big baby over 9 pounds. But the thing was, I was a sick baby.

I couldn't keep anything down. I would soil my diapers. I would vomit.

And they couldn't figure out what I had.

They thought I had leukemia. Then something else, the doctors had no idea why I was sickly. Finally, they come to find out, believe it or not, that I had celiac disease. You can imagine that going back in 1959, I often tell people I was the first diagnosed patient in the state of Rhode Island with celiac disease.

I grew up having to figure out what I could eat, what I couldn't eat.

So as time went on, my father and mother tried their best to make a go of it, and I guess they got tired of it.

You know of my father's way of life; he loved the fast lane.

He used to run with a guy named Gerard Ouimette, who was his friend. The Ouimette brothers coming from the Southside. Ouimette would go on to a notorious career with the Patriarca crime family. My father enjoyed the atmosphere around Ouimette and the places he frequented.

The street life, the wine, women, and song.

My mother wasn’t about to tolerate this, so my parents got divorced. She took on a challenging role as a single woman, one income, two kids.

Fortunately, we had my grandmother and grandfather. They played a big hand in our growing up.

Can't say enough about them.

I miss them dearly every day. My grandmother, Concetta and my grandfather., Angelo Pazienza

Well, my mother moved on and changed her life's direction. She first worked as a secretary for three top judges in RI.

She got involved with Providence school system. She was elected the Providence School Committee chairwoman.

I think she first got involved in the PTA due to a friend by the name of Charlie Pisaturo. She liked to get involved in what was going on with us in school, and from there, she ran for office.

My mother was well-spoken, outspoken. Unafraid to speak her mind. There's no guesswork. She got things done.

After that, she ran for City Council. At the time, it was a big deal for a woman.

She ran unendorsed. And there was a considerable alliance against her. They were determined that she wasn't going to get in. So they wanted to make it a point that she wasn't going to get in. But she worked very hard. She served 28 years on the City Councilperson. The longest serving person in