OLD BOXING FRIENDS:

THE CONNECTION BACK TO BOXING's PAST By Brian Zelley

Over the last year< I have managed to connect with former club mates
and/or team mates of the past - including Mike Lazare and Gordie Lawson.
Looking back, Mike and I trained in Nanaimo at the old
Newcastle Boxing Club in the mid-Sixties and
Gordie and I trained at Vancouver's Firefighters Boxing Club
in the late Sixties.


Both Mike and Gordie became champions in various
Provincial tournaments and one thing both could
do very well was throw effective body punches.

Both Mike and Gord have been mentioned many times
in various stories, but when you connect with those you
hadn't seen for many decades, it makes for an interesting story.

Over the last several years, I have reconnected with many more
from the past days of boxing in the Sixties and Seventies

such as
Freddy Fuller,  Glenn McGee, Jack Snaith,
Dan Wright, Mike Caird, Ian Weir, Bob Lewis
 Jim McFadden, Clark MacLellan

(photo shot: Brian Zelley and Clark MacLellan)



THE GORDIE LAWSON BOXING STORY, FINDING THE GOLDEN KEY
is located on the following site:
http://zelleyonboxing.blogspot.com/

BC BRONZE GLOVES

BC BRONZE GLOVES - history and current events
- by: brian w. zelley

May 2011 - another tournament takes place in Parksville.
and an added bit of drama takes place at a special
general meeting where a motion to remove the president of BOXING BC
is on the agenda on an early afternoon of Saturday May 28th.

ORIGINAL PURPOSE OF BRONZE GLOVES

The original purpose of the annual BRONZE GLOVES
was to provide an opportunity for novice junior boxers.
During the Sixties, the club responsible for hosting the
tournament was the North West Eagles Boxing Club
in North Vancouver under the direction of 
TOMMY PAONESSA and later ELIO IUS.

THE SIXTIES

Some names from the past include MIKE LAZARE, KEN STANT,
RICK JOHNSON, KELLY BARROWS, TERRY LEWIS and
many more.

Sixties Bronze gloves boxer Terry Lewis, coach George Nepper and 
1968 Silver Gloves boxer Bob Lewis of Nanaimo's Newcastle club in 
1967 training photo.

                 (1965 original courtesy of John Paonessa and recopy by B. Zelley)

Over time, the Bronze Gloves has been expanded to
include other boxers and from time to time, other
 special bronze gloves were held such as the mid-Seventies
when the Nanaimo Boxing Club hosted a tournament with a twist
 Olympic boxer Chris Ius faced Nanaimo boxer Mickey Griffin in
a special bout.

THE SEVENTIES
In the Seventies some of the tournaments were held at the
PNE "Exhibition Gardens" such as the one November 1976.
As an example two of the '76 Champions were Nanaimo boxers
MARK BARR and MALCOLM ELDRIDGE.  Barr also earned
the "Bronze Boy Runner-up" award.  Eldridge had previously won in the 
1975 Vancouver Island Bronze Gloves.

THE EIGHTIES

For the Eighties some of the tournaments would be held at the BC Boxing
Training Centre such as the one held on October 20, 1984 with the SIN 
Tournament held the next day.

The 1984 Bronze Boy was TYLER PIDDOCKE of the Prince George
"Spruce Capital Boxing Club".  The Bronze-Boy Runner-up was
TRENT STOREY of Gold River.  The Best Bout featured
Kevin Blatter (Maple Ridge) vs Curt Lowe (Hastings).

Some other boxers that would on to higher level tournaments
included the likes of DEAN MCDONALD (Parksville), and
SHANE MORIN (Vernon).  Some other Island boxers were
Campbell River's Herman Frisch and Mike Margetts while
Victoria boxers included DON and KEN JAY. Gold River
boxer DEAN TOWNSEND would drop a decision in
 prelim action but would return to the ring with some excellent results.

1983 BC BRONZE GLOVES - November 8, 1983
(Development Training Centre, Burnaby, BC)

1983 Bronze Boy - CLINT DUMAIS, Queensborough Boxing Club
Bronze Boy Runner-up - Mike Marrello, Kingsway Boxing Club
Best Bout:  Daryl Dickson (Williams Lake) vs David Slack (Langley-Aldergrove).
Special Bout:  Wade Stewart vs Terry Copeland.

BOXING BC Officials - Bert Lowes, Sid Knopp, Rudy Bianco, Larry Krangle,
Brian Zelley, Lindy Lindmoser, Jack Mellor, Vic Murdoch, Earl Vance and
Bob Newbrooke.  Glovers - Dave Wylie and George Swanson.
(as reported in the December 1983 issue "BC Amateur Boxing News")


2011 BRONZE GLOVES Host Club:

Genesis Boxing and Fitness

Owner and Head Trainer - RICK RAE
-former boxer at the North West Eagles

Grand Opening of Genesis - Aptil 3, 2010

CLUBS EXPECTED
Two early announcements of expected participation include
2 Rivers Boxing Club from Quesnel and the Nanaimo Boxing
Club.  Also, Canadian Champion KENNY LALLY of Prince George
is hoping to attend and will likely be involved in an exhibition match
with one of BC's promising young boxers.  Also, Boxing BC president
and coach CHRIS JONES of Victoria's Capital City Boxing Club will be
 in attendance and at least one of the Capital City boxers.
One of the Nanaimo boxers hoping to see action in 
the women's boxing is MADI HICKS who has  trained at the
Nanaimo Boxing club under coach BARRY CRESWELL.
Three Quesnel boxers looking for action are
DAN MOTT, DARYL PETSUL and RAY BEAULIEU.

MORE COMPETITORS EXPECTED FROM KELOWNA
At least two boxers from Kelowna's MadKatz Boxing are hoping
for action in the tournament:  Ryan Kehoe and Danny Buckley.
Coach for the Kelowna club is Geoff Lawrence

COACHES' CORNER

                          Coaches Bob Pegues and Wally Doern
                           Bob (Prince George) and Wally (Quesnel)

SPECIAL GUESTS
Two former boxers will be special guests of the Genesis Boxing club for
the 2011 Bronze Gloves, Art Senft and David Ius.  ius was one of the many
boxers that trained at the North West Eagles Boxing Club in North Vancouver.