1975 Boxers In Western Canadian Games

WESTERN SUMMER GAMES:  by Brian Zelley

It was the mid-Seventies and in August 1975, BC 
amateur boxing would field a winning team to 
compete in the Western Summer Games held 
in the city of Regina.


Team members expected to compete were:


Mickey Griffin, Ed and Joe McCaffrey, David Ius,
Jim Stevenson, Mike Wilson, Jamie Ollenberger,
Steve White, Buddy Hutchinson and Brian Jones.


At the completion of the tournament, BC boxers
won a number of Gold medals including:
 Nanaimo boxer Mickey Griffin, it was one of his best
showings in the featherweight division.

Also earning gold were  Ed McCaffrey, Joe McCaffrey,
David Ius, Jim Stevenson and Brian Jones.

Six months later in February 1976, the amateur
boxing journey of Nanaimo's Griffin would come to
and end with the announcement in the Feb. 26, '76
"Nanaimo Daily FreePress":
"BOXER GRIFFIN IS QUITTING SPORT"
Griffin cited unfair judging by BC boxing
officials as the reason for his decision.

 A Nanaimo coach spoke about a
bout  between Griffin and Chris Ius as an
example of unfair judging by BC officials.
The local news stated:

1976 Some Golden Moments in 
Vancouver and Victoria 
despite the shadow cast over boxing
in Nanaimo boxing continued to improve
with the June 1976 staging of the 
two tournament affair between the Select
junior boxers of BC and a team of English
schoolboys.


The Victoria tournament was hosted by 
the London Boxing Club on June 6 th,
The Vancouver tournament took place
June 4th. at the PNE Exhibition Gardens.
In the various programs there was a 
"Welcome" message by WALTER BOYCE,
prsident of the BCABA.  Also, there was a
message from JOE WEBB, boxing co-ordinator
and a message by BERT LOWES, the director
of regerees and judges for C. A. B. A.


Some of those assisting in the affair in Vancouver 
Jim and Sylvia  Gallagher, Pat O'Reilly, John Connolly,
Kurt Wold, G. Cote, J. McCaffrey, Peter Froloff,
Key Victoria help came from Howard Curling,
Mike Caird and Brian Zelley and various 
members and executive of the London Boxing Club.


THE BC BOXERS:
Dale Walters, Billy Hardie, Barry and Wayne Blatter
from the Burnaby Boxing Club,
Steve Gallagher and Mike Cote - Cloverdale Boxing,
Derrick Hoyt, Peter Blair, Leonard Halm,
Jim Blair from the Cranbrook Boxing Club,
Mike Bonneau, Alan Price, David Hodgkinson 
from the "Duhamel Boxing Club, 
Edie McCaffrey and John Herman, Richmond,
Kurt Lang, and Hamid Ismail of Ladner Boxing,
Danny Neal , Alex Bernard and Thomas Bernard
of the Ringside Boxing Club.

1968: THE TWISTS AND TURNS FOR BC BOXERS

 REVISITING 1968 WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED

THE END GAME FOR BC BOXERS:  by brian zelley

When all was said and done, only one BC boxer  made it

into the 1968 Olympic Games and that was DICK FINDLAY

who joined MARVIN ARNESON,  WALTER HENRY
 and DONATO PADUANO.

But, there were other BC boxers that started the journey

beginning in September 1967 including some that made

the 1967 Pan Am games Canadian boxing team such

as FREDDY FULLER, FRANKIE SCOTT and 

                   Zelley (Firefighters) vs Boyce (Astoria)

                 . compete in the 1968 BC Olympic trials in May 1968
                 (but by a twist of fate neither one of the two active boxers
                         would make it into the finals of the Olympic trials.
                           That distinction would fall on the shoulders of 
                               Ron McEachern who would drop a decision
                                       to boxer Ted Billinsley. 



The other Canadian champions were:
Frank Scott, Ted Billinsley, Marvin Arneson,
Jim Titley, Gordon sinclair, Rick fleck and Earl McLeay.


RON MCEACHERN.  Ron lost to Billinsley in the 
finals in the featherweight division.




Some of the BC boxers eliminated in the 
preliminary action were:
Ken Henderson, Dave Allerdice, and Les Vegas.  

                                Donato  Paduano  and Dick Findlay
                                                   Walter Henry

THE SIXTIES and SEVENTIES REVISITED

BOXING IN THE SIXTIES and SEVENTIES;  by Brian Zelley

To-date, I have not worked on this site but will attempt to recap the
history of this period in the near future.

As it relates to BC boxers of the Sixties and Seventies, it is also
important to remember the coaches, trainers and officials.
This site will also look at the boxing clubs that existed.

There are some boxing clubs in British Columbia that
have existed for 40 plus years such as the
CAMPBELL RIVER EAGLES BOXING CLUB
(now called the Campbell River Boxing and Fitness Club).
Also, the Nanaimo Boxing Club that started in 1971.
Some other old clubs would be the Spruce Capital Club
in Prince George and the Cranbrook Boxing Club.