Broadcaster and author Frank Gilfeather has been a good friend to BwB over the years, and he has offered up another gem.
“I came across the attached photo which I thought might interest your older readers,” said Dundee-born Frank, a former Scottish amateur boxing champion.
“It features members of the Lochee Amateur Boxing Club — unrelated to Lochee Boys Club — which was housed in a former shop on the corner of Pirie Street and South Road, Lochee.
“The photograph was taken in 1950 when the club were Midlands District champions by virtue of having won the most titles in the championships that season.
“Of course, this marked a moment from the halcyon days of amateur boxing, a sport at which Dundonians excelled.
“There were a large number of clubs throughout the city and boxing tournaments almost weekly in the city and places like Perth, Montrose, Arbroath and Forfar, as well as in various parts of Scotland.”
Frank’s family, of course, are steeped in boxing tradition, and he continued: “Lochee ABC was run by my dad, Dennis Gilfeather, a key figure in Scottish and British amateur boxing.
“My brother Daniel (back row, second right in the photo) won the British Youth Championship the previous year, as did another Dundonian, Jimmy Croll.
“Boxing was part of the Gilfeather life.
“My brother Dennis, later a Scottish champion and internationalist, is in the front, second from right, with me as a chubby four-year-old already learning about the Noble Art.”
Back row (from left) — J Harris (Midlands District bantamweight champion), Pat McCabe (Midlands District youth champion), Jim McIntosh (Midlands District lightweight champion), Dan Gilfeather (Midlands District, Scottish and British youth champion), Martin Cord (Midlands District flyweight finalist).
Middle row — Frankie Parkes (trainer), Peter Cain (Midlands District and Scottish middleweight champion), Dennis Gilfeather, Pat Harley (Midlands District heavyweight finalist), J Patterson.
Front row — H McKay, W Milne, Frank Gilfeather, Dennis Gilfeather, M McCarthy.
* Boxing venues in Dundee was the subject of a letter from Andy McPherson.
“My grandfather William was a great boxing fan and he used to go about watching fights in Dundee,” said Andy, of St Mary’s, Dundee.
“I’m sure he said Dens Park was once used for a big title fight, along with the old ice rink on the Kingsway.”
Boxing was big time in Dundee before and after the Second World War, and the city hosted quite a number of high-octane bouts at venues such as Dens, the ice rink and Caird Hall.
There are many examples of this.
One at Dens was Freddie Tennant winning the Scottish flyweight title in July 1938. He knocked out Wishaw’s Abe Tweedie in the 10th round.
In December 1934, the great Benny Lynch fought Tut Whalley at the Caird Hall, Whalley being disqualified in the eighth round.
Freddie Tennant lost his Scottish flyweight title to Jackie Paterson at the Dundee Ice Rink in May 1939.
Four years later, Paterson would be world champion after he beat Peter Kane with a first-round KO in June 1943 before a crowd of 35,000 at Hampden Park.
*Another boxing query sees Joe Higgins asking how many times Benny Lynch fought in Dundee.
In 1933, Lynch fought in Dundee three times.
His January bout saw him beat Freddie Tennant on points after 10 rounds but he lost on points over the same distance to Jimmy Knowles two months later.
His 12-round bout against Jim Brady in May was deemed a draw.
Lynch’s only other bout in Dundee was the aforementioned Whalley fight.
Lynch died in Glasgow on August 1946, aged 33.
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