SOUTH HILL and FIREFIGHTERS BOXING LEGACY

SOUTH HILL - FIREFIGHTERS BOXING: by brian zelley

INTRODUCTION
Part of the story of amateur boxing in British Columbia is the
legacy of the combined South Hill and the Firefighters Boxing
Clubs operated by  BERT LOWES and PAT WEST with
a few other trainers and coaches assisting to craft the legend.

                           BERT LOWES - Coach
          South Hill  and Firefighters Boxing Clubs
     One of seven boxing folk in the BC Sports Hall of Fame

As we reach into the boxing treasure chests of the two clubs,
there are a 1,000 or more stories of the coaches, the boxers,
the club shows, tournaments, the gyms and the travels.

JIMMY WALTERS - Multi-term champion and one of
the core group of 15 inductees in 2010 into the 
British Columbia Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame along with:
Harold Mann, Dick Findlay, Freddy Fuller and Frank Scott.

HAROLD MANN - Multi-term champion - Gold Medal 1962 
British Empire / Commonwealth Games, Inductee in the
British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame, the Prince George
Sports Hall of Fame and the BC Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame.
Also, served as a coach for the Spruce Capital Boxing Club in
Prince George and served as a Team BC Coach.

DICK FINDLAY - A star boxer of the Sixties.  Two time 
BC Golden Boy and a Golden Boy runner-up, winner of
numerous competitions and a member of the 1967
Canadian Pan Am Games team and the 1968
Canadian Olympic team.  Also, a core member
 and honorary director of the BC Amateur Boxing
Hall of Fame.  Dick also has served as an official
and a volunteer with Boxing BC.

FREDDY FULLER -  A long time star of BC Amateur Boxing
with numerous titles and awards.  Member of various boxing
clubs but a valued member of the Firefighters Boxing Club.
Was a champion in the 1968 Pacific Northwest AAU
championships/Seattle Golden Gloves and the 1965
BC Golden Boy.  Also, one of the most popular Canadian 
boxers to appear in Washington State boxing tournaments. 
Was a team member of  - Dick Findlay and Frank Scott
in the 1967 Pan Am Games and was a member of the 1970
Canadian Commonwealth Games team.
Freddy is also a core member inductee and an
 honorary director of the  BC Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame.

FRANK SCOTT - A former member of the Burnaby Boxing Club
and valued member of the Firefighters Boxing Club.  Frank was
another outstanding boxer with International standing earning
a Bronze medal in the 1966 Commonwealth Games and 
Following his active  boxing, he became the founder and
head coach of the Queensborough Boxing Club in 
New Westminster and thus passing his excellence to a
new generation of young boxers.  Frank is also an
inductee of the Canadian amateur Boxing Hall of Fame
and the BC Amateur Boxing Hall of Fame.

BRIAN ZELLEY - former Nanaimo boxer joined the
Firefighters Club and engaged in numerous tournaments
and club shows.  Also a co-founder of the Nanaimo 
Boxing Club in 1971 and involved with the revival
of boxing in Victoria in 1974.  Also served as a 
director with Boxing BC and served as an interim
chairman of the Boxing Committee for the 1994
 Commonwealth Games in 1991  Currently and one of 
the administrators of the BC Boxing Hall of  Fame.

Look through the tapestry of the BC GOLDEN GLOVES
and you will see many threads relating to the alumni of the
clubs.  Look through stories of JIMMY WALTERS,
 HAROLD MANN, DICK FINDLAY, FREDDY FULLER,
FRANKIE SCOTT, DAVE WYLIE, and GORDIE LAWSON
and we see traces of the South Hill - Firefighters legacy
painted on the wall.  Then take another look and see those
such as KALMAN SANTOSI, LINDY LINDMOSER,
LLOYD DUPAS, WINNIE SCHELT, BILL ADAMS,
BOB GINETTI,  PADDY CLARK, JIMMY MACMILLAN, 
STEVE TOHILL, DEL DEUGAU,  JOHN GAMBLE       
and  others - it paints  a glowing picture of amateur boxing.

  

SOUTH HILL BOXING - FIFTIES

PAT WEST - BERT LOWES

A NEW DECADE - SIZZLING SIXTIES

1960 BC GOLDEN GLOVES

South Hill Champions

Winnie Schelt - Bill Adams - Bob Ginetti

Lindy Lindmoser - Paddy Clark

  

DAVE WYLIE  - 1967 DIAMOND BOY

1967 BC GOLDEN GLOVES - FIREFIGHTERS

A JANUARY 1968 FIREFIGHTERS BOXING CARD

An important boxing card  hosted by the Fire Fighters took

place on January 5, 1968 in Vancouver but the key objective

was to assist in the selection of the BC Team for the

1968 Tacoma Golden Gloves which would kick-off

the tournaments in the PACIFIC NORTHWEST.

Firefighters in the first 7 bouts were John Gamble,

Alf Cool, Danny Gontes, Eddie Ostapovich, 

Nicky MacDonald, Jake Wiebe and John Carr.

The top four bouts in-order featured

Brian Zelley, Frank Scott, Freddy Fuller, Dave Wylie 

A sample of the open class opponents were

Brian Gray, Jim Dixon, Chester Douglas,

Dave Allerdice, Ron McEcherin, Derek Austin

Ken Henderson, Pat O'Reilly Jr., Les Vegas

Coaches in attendance were

Len Barker, Jack Lucas, Walter Austin, Earl Thompson,

John Wylie, Elio Ius, Terry Cooke,

Pat O'Reilly, Bert Lowes, Pat West.

Continuity and Gloving - Timekeepers

Tommy Yule, Henry Wolfe, Bob Smith

Bill Cowie and Barney Deslauriers

Garry Wallace and Geo. Metkovich

CON ETHIER  KEY VOLUNTEER

BCABA BOARD

Len Robertson - Dave Brown - Ron Hollard

Stan Smith - George Sargen

A PERSONAL TOUCH

For a moment in time, I was a member of the Firefighters.
Three of the former members of the club would be part of
 another legacy - DAN WRIGHT and BRIAN ZELLEY
would be the co-founders of the NANAIMO BOXING CLUB
in 1971 and in 1973 JACK SNAITH would be the first Nanaimo
Canadian champion.  Part of the Nanaimo legacy
can be traced to the FIREFIGHTERS, Lowes and West
and every boxer that trained with the club.

                                 Dan Wright - Brian Zelley in 2010

POST 1968 -  coach PAT WEST retired and his place was filled by
former boxing star Lindy Lindmoser and others.  By 1970, two of
 the key boxers were JOHN GAMBLE and GORDIE LAWSON
 also FREDDY FULLER would be in the game for 1970 
while FRANKIE SCOTT formed a club in New West. 
called the Queensborough Boxing Club.

However, in the Seventies coach Bert Lowes  would  primarily
focus on Officiating - refereeing & judging and hosting clinics

                                     LINDY LINDMOSER
            Best known on an International basis for fighting Cassius Clay
                                   now known as Muhammad Ali
                                     1957 USA National 
                            Light-heavyweight Champion

1967/1968 A YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY

 There were also other young boxers that would be part of
 the club such as Gordie Lawson and Jack Snaith. 
 Gordie made and impression when he entered the
 1968 Silver Gloves in Richmond.  but that was nothing 
like his performance in the 1975 BC Golden Gloves.
He scored the only knockout that left his opponent
on the deck for over a minute.

The Firefighters of March 1968 :
SCOTT  -  MACDONALD - FULLER - ZELLEY- GAMBLE

1968 OREGON GOLDEN GLOVES - Portland

Three Firefighters in the finals were - 
SCOTT - ZELLEY - JAKE WIEBE
Other BC boxers in the finals were
Earl McLeay, Dick Findlay, Wayne Boyce,
 and Pat O'Reilly.  Former Firefighter Findlay was
competing for the East Vancouver Optimists club.

1968 BC GOLDEN GLOVES

At the end of the tournament, the trio of Lennie Walters,
Bill Dickinson and Don Bullough had the task of
selecting  - GOLDEN BOY  - GOLDEN BOY RUNNER-UP
Runner-up was former Firefighter DICK FINDLAY and
GOLDEN BOY was Portlandès own RAY LAMPKIN.

Firefighters in semi-finals and or finals
Frankie Scott - Brian Zelley - John Carr
Dave Codville - Ted Kellenger  - Nicky MacDonald
1968 SEATTLE GOLDEN GLOVES 
- PNW AAU CHAMPIONSHIPS-

 Of the 19 BC Team, the Firefighters were:
 Zelley, Gontes, Wylie, Scott, Fuller, Carr,  Sinitsin, and MacDonald.

STARS OF THE SEVENTIES:

Other one time Firefighters  in the Seventies:
Steve Tohill, Freddy Fuller, Frank Scott, John Gamble and others.

JOHN GAMBLE reported as a Scientific Boxer, but 
lost a decision to  FRANK SCOTT (former Firefighter) 
but now in New Westminster.  

1970 BC AMATEUR BOXING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Firefighters in action:
Larry Sinitsin, Gordie Lawson,John Gamble,
Tommy MacDonald, Steve Tohill. Dave Wylie

1970 CANADIAN CHAMPIONS 
A Team Photo including Frank Scott and Freddy Fuller

1968 OLYMPIC GAMES

 Donato Paduano and former Firefighter's Dick Findlay
preparing for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City.

                           -DIRECTORY -
          THE PARADE OF BOXERS and COACHES
        Vancouver, British Columbia
      South Hill - Firefighters Boxing
Alf Cool - Bert Lowes - Bill Adams - Bob Ginetti - Bobv Lohvin 
Brian Zelley - Butch O'Gurien - Colin Coleridge - Dan Wright 
Danny Crawford - Danny Gontes - Dave Wylie - Del Deugau 
Dick Coulson - Dick Findlay - Eddie Ostapovich - Frank Scott
Freddy Fuller - Fritz Breismeiser - Gordie Lawson - Harold Mann
Jack Snaith - Jake Wiebe -  Jimmy Walters - John Cowan 
John Gamble - Kalman Santosi - Ken MacDonald - Larry Sinitsin
Lindy Lindmoser - Lloyd Dupas - Nick MacDonald - Paddy Clark
Pat West-Pete Key-Sandy Lorenzen-Steve Tohill-Winnie Schelt  
Dave Codville  - Jimmy MacMillan - Terry Eastman - Roger Adolph
     Ted Kellenger   - Tommy MacDonald -  Phil Ethier  - Kai Yip
(note - these are not all of the boxers that fought for the clubs, but they
represent many of the known boxes - other names will be added if possible)

                          Roger Adolph - South Hill boxer

ONCE WE WERE YOUNG AND WARRIORS
("It all fades so quickly, like a sunny summers day" - Phil Ochs)
- Training in the dusty old gyms and touching gloves under
the bright lights. But, soon the lights fade to black and we move
in a hundred different directions looking for the answers or searching
for some lost or hidden treasure with no guarantees of success.

                              GORDIE LAWSON -  DAVE WYLIE
                         LINDY LINDMOSER - BRIAN ZELLEY

                                               1970