Former Dundee Amateur Boxing club coach Jim Isard has died, aged 88.
Jim trained many champions in his time at the club’s former premises in Dudhope Castle, before it closed in the late seventies.
At his peak Jim was assistant coach and corner man to British, Commonwealth, European and Olympic Champion Dick McTaggart.
He also coached Scottish flyweight champion John Kellie, who represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Jamaica in 1966 and later turned pro.
Under Jim’s watchful eye, the late Ally Nicol from Muirhead became Scottish middleweight champion and represented Britain at the European Championships in Rome in 1967.
Jim attended Rosebank Primary then Rockwell Secondary School before his apprenticeship as motor mechanic with former Lambs Garage Dundee.
After serving in the Royal Navy during the Second World War he returned to his trade until 1950, when he took a position as engineer/mechanic with Dundee Harbour Trust, repairing and maintaining the two sand dredgers that frequently worked the Tay.
He then joined the NCR in 1958 as production inspector where he remained until the company closed. Latterly, he was foreman mechanic for Jack Gow Motors and Motorcycles, Strathmore Avenue Dundee, when he retired.
On March 4, Jim lost his wife of 65 years, Mina. Eldest daughter Wilma died aged 56 in 2007.
Jim is survived by sons James and Hamish and daughter Alfreda, who now lives in Auckland, New Zealand.
The funeral is at Dundee Crematorium on Wednesday at 1.15pm. All friends are warmly invited.