BC GOLDEN GLOVES - Golden Dreams, Memories & Anniversary -

[Zelley]

GOLDEN DREAMS, GOLDEN MEMORIES & THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY - By Brian W. Zelley

The 2010 BC GOLDEN GLOVES takes a new twist on April 16 and 17th when it leaves the
Greater Vancouver and heads for the Vancouver Island community of Langford
at the Eagle Ridge Community Centre where the boxers in competition have "Golden Dreams" while the members of the Golden Gloves alumni will have "Golden Memories"
and one ex-boxer that should be remembered is the 1960 BC Golden Boy ALAN CURTIS.
For former Esquimalt boxer Curtis, the 2010 event will be the "Golden Anniversary"
of the "Golden Boy".

The tournament will be the 70th. tournament in 71 years. The first event took place i
in 1939 and one of the original champions included boxer KENNY LINDSAY who fought as
a pro boxer in the Forties.

In the early days the competitions were held in the Hastings Park Forum and later
during the Eighties they would be held at the Boxing BC Training Centre in Burnaby, BC.
The first Golden Boy was PHIL VICKERY followed by many others such as
Portland's RAY LAMPKIN (1968) and Seattle's NEIL KNIGHT (1969). In Junior Golden Gloves action, one name to remember is Victoria's CLIFF BALLENDINE, a three-time
BC Jr. Golden Boy.

[Zelley]

GEORGE CHUVALO will arrive as a special guest for the Golden Gloves tournament
but I wonder how many of the folks at the event will remember George hitting the heavy bag in the Northwest Eagles gym in North Vancouver in 1972 or his two bouts in Vancouver against CHARLIE CHASE and MUHAMMAD ALI..

Drifting through the history of Golden Gloves action or even the non-action in British Columbia has its share of interesting stories - but how many of the current boxers,
coaches, officials, volunteers and fans will have their 2010 Golden Gloves
experience told in ten or twenty-five year :??

Some of us have likely been involved in a few of the pages of the BC GOLDEN GLOVES
chronicles as boxers, coaches or officials and some all three but then the story
continues for another year with weigh-ins, draws, change room happenings and the
fast walk to the gloving table, the long wait and then the opening bell. But nobody
can write the story until the last bell rings and the bright lights fade to black. :idea:

When coupled with the other Pacific Northwest tournaments in places like Tacoma
Seattle and Portland, the stories that we could tell - like the time light-heavyweight boxer RICK FLECK from Vancouver's Astoria Boxing Club was running in the hall in a hotel. in '68. and crashed into JERRY QUARRY as Jerry was leaving his room.

[Zelley]

For those with an interest or some past involvement with
BC GOLDEN GLOVES you may want to be in the picture on
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=340523515949
:idea:

[Zelley]

MOMENTS TO REMEMBER

As we drift through the faded pages of the BC GOLDEN GLOVES storybook there are many interesting pages
from 1939 to the pre-fight activity of the 2010 BC GOLDEN GLOVES.

RAY LAMPKIN - I remember Portlands Ray Lampkin very well from my fights with him in 1968 in Tacoma and then the finals of the Seattle Golden Gloves & Pacific Northwest AAU Championships, but I also remember him winning against 1967 Canadian featherweight champion WAYNE BOYCE.

Based on my previous fights with Boyce in 1967 and my Tacoma bash with Ray, I didnt think Boyce would win.
I remember being on the receiving end of Rays right hand feint and sizzling left hook that rocked the sweat right off of my socks - by some lucky chance Ray did not follow up with the short right hand, so I lasted the distance and he earned the decision. With Boyce in Vancouver, it was a different story.

To set the finals of the feathwerweight contest one could predict Boyce was going to have a serious problem with Lampkin based on his earlier fight with Nanaimo rookie TONY JAMES who some say won the fight but got robbed of the decision by the Vancouver based officials

When it came time for the finals it was no real contest, Ray nailed Boyce with a sizzling left hook and sent him and his shiny trunks to the canvas then followed-up with rocking right hands.

For Lampkin, this was nearing the final days as an amateur
before turning pro and blasting his way to a lightweight title fight with ROBERTO DURAN. For Boyce, it was the beginning of the end. :>

[Zelley]

1946 Vancouver Sun sponsored BC Golden Gloves was the first post WWii
tournament. Selected as Golden Boy was NORMAN DELAIRE. Another interesting
aspect was three boxers from the Universty of British Columbia would compete
with ART BEAUMONT winning his division. Of interest, the name of the trainer for the UBC boxers was JOHNNY OWEN and the coach was HEC MACDONALD.

[Zelley]

1967 BC CENTENNIAL GOLDEN GLOVES, recently found the faded old black and white newspaper clippings of the 1967 Tournament with some great bouts with the best voted bout being the
the bout between DICK FINDLAY and FREDDY FULLER

Those fighting in the finals after the prelim action and the semi-finals"
Derek Austin, Randy Jones, Ray Lampkin, Frank Scott, wayne Boyce, Brian Zelley, Dick Coulson, Philip King, Dick findley, Freddy Fuller, Lennie Erdmann, Steve Tohill, Gordon Sinclair, Colin coleridge, Ron Manson, Ron Wilson, Ken Tommy, Marion Kolar, Wes Craven and Jack Meda.

Those eliminated semi-finals action Ervin Combs, Murray Renshaw,
Orland Ralph, Stephen Flajole, Bob Kacer, Alec Stevens,Clarence Hammick, Les Vegas, Pat O'Reilly jr.,Fred Desrosiers, Jack White,
Dennis Rorick, Clint Page, Richard Barbee, Glenn McGee, Ken Alexander, George Van Nockey, and Andy Nacosti.

[Zelley]

FAST FORWARD TO 2013:
The 2013 BC Golden Gloves was recently hosted in Cranbrook, BC
hosted by the Cranbrook Eagles Boxing Club and sanction by
Boxing BC, the provincial arm of Boxing Canada.