BOXING BC Prepares for 2011/2012

BOXING IN BC READY FOR ACTION IN 2011/2012 by Brian Zelley
BOXING in BRITISH COLUMBIA AT THE BELL

THE BOXING BC CLUBS are warming up for potential action in the ring
with tentative schedule of events:

BC PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
THE FIRST major tournament will be the Provincial Championships
scheduled for Vancouver Island November 26 and 27th.

This tournament is an important first step in establishing the
various teams for action in National oompetition in junior,
youth and senior open competition.

The senior and youth novice tournament is expected to take
place in December, and all the other regular tournaments
will take place in different regions of the province.
They would include Diamond Belt, Silver Gloves, Emerald
Gloves, Golden Gloves, Bronze Gloves and the Buckskin Gloves.

RECENT YEARS EVENTS:

A previous S.I.N. Tournament was jointly hosted by two Kelowna based clubs.

FORMER GOLDEN BOYS FROM 1968 and 1969 BC GOLDEN GLOVES tournaments include
1968, RAY LAMPKIN of Portland, and 1969 NEIL KNIGHT of Seattle.

The 2012 BC GOLDEN GLOVES is expected to be held in april in
the Okanagan region, in 2010 it was held in Langford community of
Greater Victoria when the 1960 Golden Boy, Al Curtis was recognized.

The Golden Gloves is the oldest annual tournament in British Columbia
and was started in 1939 with the help of The Vancouver Sun newspaper
and The Active Club. In 1967, Dick Findlay become a double golden boy,
he had won the special award in 1966 and 1967, and in 1968 he was named
Golden Boy runner-up. The 1959 Golden Boy was Jack Straza

DIAMOND BELT CHAMPIONSHIPS

Names from 2011:
Abdul Hamil, Christopher Cordova, Dave Funk and Dylan Bishop.

Tournament expected to take place in January 2012. The tournament
has an interesting history with the 1967 tournament being one of
the 2011 inductees into the BC AMATEUR BOXING HALL OF FAME.

Guest referee for the 1967 tournament was ROCKY MARCIANO. The Diamond Boy
was Dave Wylie. Dave defeated three opponents to win the
special award during the Cenntenial year of 1967.

BC Boxers in the finals:
Derek austin, Ron MacEachern,
Frank Scott, Wayne, Boyce,
Brian Zelley, Dick Coulson,
Freddy Fuller, Pat O'Reilly jr.,
Dennis Rorick, Ron Wilson,
Marijan Kolar, Bill Taylor.

some of the other boxers were;
Dick Findlay, Kalman Santosi,
Clint Page, Rick Fleck,
Chester Douglas and Ed Williams.

EMERALD GLOVES
The Emerald Gloves will be a
March 2012 engagement in Delta.

The Emerald Gloves as a long history
that was founded by Bro O'Grady
The first double Emerald Boy was
JIMMY WALTERS On a traditional
basis it was for many years a junior
open tournament, but now it is wide open.

in the mid-Sixties one of the Emerald
Gloves champions was the London Boxing
Clubs' Gary Van Buskirk and
the Nanaimo Newcastle Boxing Club's
Mike Lazare. Of course, over
the years there have been many boxers
that have gone on to open class senior
competition with a variety of results.

2011 EMERALD GLOVES

SILVER GLOVES
The Silver Gloves will take place at the end of
February 2012 in the Fraser Valley region.

During the Sixties some of the shows were hosted by the Richmond
Boxing Club. In 1968, Nanaimo boxer Tony James competed
in the Silver Gloves and then turned to 1968 Golden Gloves
held in Vancouver and in his opening bout, James faced 1967
Canadian Featherweight ChampionWayne Boyce, Astoria Boxing Club.
Wayne won the decision, but many thought the unknown
Tony James earned thedecision.

Over the years the Silver Gloves gave Novice senior boxers an opportunity to
gain experience, and for many it served as a stepping stone towards open
senior activity.

In 1981, the tournament was held in Campbell
River. Now, thirty years later it will be
held on the mainland, but the thrill for
the many boxers competing in their
first tournament will be the same.

1979 Flashbacks
In Chilliwack, Nanaimo boxer Lee Campbell scored three KO's
to win the 1979 Silver gloves middleweight division.
But, Nanaimo boxer Norm Greenwell
lost a decision to Kelowna's Joe Mercer in
the finals of the light-welterwight division,
Dale Walters of Burnaby edged Don Preston
of the Nanaimo Boxing Club.

BUCKSKIN GLOVES
This tournament was revived in the Seventies
due to the efforts of ED WILLIAMS and ROGER ADOLPH.
For 2012, this tournament will be the last in the 2011/92012
BC Amateur Boxing season. It is expected to take place in
June 2012 in the Vancouver Squamish region.

CHANGES in the PROCESS for BOXING BC
As of October 2011, Boxing BC has three interim executive members
until additional steps are taken to elect a new president
and other executive members and board of directors.

There are no clear front runners for the position of president.
But, recently a name that has come forware is ROGER ADOLPH.

SIXTIES FLASHBACKS - ROGER ADOLPH

COACHES CORNER

UNSUNG HEROES, Assistant coaches and Trainers: By Brian Zelley

photos, Alan Brown and Dan Wright

Looking through the pages of old boxing programs or the list of
clubs on an old BOXING BC annual report will seldom
include the many names of all of the coaches and trainers
many of which are the key reasons boxers become skilled.

Looking back to the Sixties for instance one of the coaches
was ex-boxer BILL SELFRIDGE but his name would not
appear on any Provincial tournament programs.

Take the Seventies and Eighties an the names of most
of the coaches and trainers of the Vancouver Island boxing clubs
were not high profile names on a Provincial basis such as
JOE PRESTON and CLARK MCLELLAN, DAN WRIGHT,
JACK SNAITH and active boxer ALAN BROWN and others.

In Victoria in the Seventies and Eighties, how many will
remember names such as GORDIE MCGAW and
LARRY MONTGOMERY. coach LOU BUJDOSO had to quit
the Victoria Athletic Association and form his own club
the VICTORIA JAYCEES before he was recognized.
Then there was IAN WEIR in the Nineties.

2010/2011 BC REGISTERED COACHES

some of the registered coaches that are often invisible in
publications include names such as Todd Alain, Steve Bailey,
Andre Mavros and many others,

PAST COACHES and TRAINERS
Difficult to select specific coaches for top ten rankings
because we all judge them by different yardsticks. But,
one overlooked coach was BOB DECKER. Maybe that was
because he did not coach long enough in British Columbia.
However, if we consider his performance in the Sixties in
Seattle with boxers like Gary Ferrari and Neil Knight
then our whole evaluation of him in BC would change. But, I am
sure some of the boxers that trained at the Shamrock Boxing Club
at the Main Street Gym would have to credit Decker with above
average coaching skills. Another name that is not likely to
receive wide spread ratings would be former Chemainus boxer
SKIMP WILLIAMS. When he coached, he did not try to
teach boxers his own style of boxing but was flexible. And,
for me on a personal level he was the best dude to have working
your corner. He only worked two of my fights in 1964, but those
two times cemented his standing as one of the best cornermen in
BC Amateur Boxing. He demonstrated his skills in the dressing room
and then before the opening bell and aced the corner work by knowing
what to say, how to say it and when to say it. Great timing in the
verbal corner work and the ability to get the boxer to take control
and keep it throughout the bout. I will not try to compare the others
that I had from 1964 to 1973, but if I had him in 1967 and 1968 who knows
what could of happened.

FEB. 9, 1961, Chemainus-Ladysmith Chronicle
"SKIMP WILLIMS WINS DECISION OVER DANNY MACDONALD"
The event was a boxing card hosted by the Salt Spring Island
Boxing club. Danny was from the PPCLI Boxing Club.