TRAINING CENTRE and Fade To Black

This is but one of thousands of moments

and events that took place at the 

British Columbia Amateur Boxing

Association's during the Eighties

at 250 Willingdon Avenue in Burnaby.

For that occasion, it was the site of 

training camp of the 1984 Canadian Olympic

boxing team before theyt travelled to LA

where three boxing medals were won by 

Canadian boxers including Willie deWit,

Shawn O"Sullivan and Dale Walters.

Four years later, boxers from across Canada would return before
 the 1988 Olympics where Canada's LENNOX LEWIS  would
win a gold medal before returning to England to begin a pro
 journey where he would win a world heavyweight title.

But, the facility was much more than a training site, it also
served as a boxing venue  to stage many provincial
shows from Bronze Gloves to Provincial Championships.

In 1984, it would serve as the venue for the
1984 Junior Nationals Championships
with young boxers from across Canada such as Alberta's
Scotty Olson and Corey Burton, BC's Manny Sobral,
Willy Curry, Clint Dumais, Tony Duffy, Curtis Peterson
Saskatchewn's Wesley Sunshine and many more.
Also, in May 1984, it would be the final

deciding factor that would complete the 1984 Olympic team.
Box-off wins included Manitoba's KEN JOHNSON, but
Ken did not make the team which seems unfair, but who can
understand the politics of it all.  Ken is now a top coach in
Manitoba and involved with giving back despite being
shortchanged by the system.

In the last several years, it has been the training site for the North Burnaby Boxing Club,

but on November 6, 2009 the last fight card will take place, at that facility, and it will become

just another memory as the bright lights fade to black.   

1984 a year for the history books
The key tournament staged at the training centre was the dual
Junior Nationals and the Senior Box-offs
The story of these tournament were reported in the
June 1984 BC AMATEUR BOXING NEWS
In addition to listing all of the juniuor and senior boxers,
there were many side stories such as the new CABA President
Herb Embuldeniya. Then another side story was
the source of the method for selecting the Best Junior Boxer
which led to the final three choices being
Eric Grenier, Scotty Olson and Stewart Hilton.
The three judges for the best boxer award were all from BC,
but the source that we used was a publication provided by
Alberta official BOB CARSWELL called
"The Fair Play Method: Outstanding Boxer and Sportsmanship
Award Judging Program". the three judges were
Glynn Jones, Tommy Yule and Brian Zelley.

Rounding out the coverage was some background on New Brunswick
boxing coach BOB EDGETT. and a photo of TAYLOR GORDON.

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE TRAINING CENTRE:

The Board of Directors:  1983/1984
George Armson, Bill Long, Sid Knopp, Marg O'Reilly, 
Larry Carney,  Shirley Knopp,  Bert Lowes, Glynn Jones, 
Brian Zelley  and Dave Thompson.
For a brief period, Bob Decker served  in publicity.

Early Shows:
1983 Silver Gloves - December 17th.
Open Junior Champions:
Mervin Davies, Allan Bain, Dean Cooper,  Scotty Scott, Mike Krilic, 
Jason Downie, Suraj Jaswal, Tony Duffy, Paul Deluca, Alan Brown
and Deep Butter.
Novice Youth 
*included Brent Lackie, Jason Trottier, Don Sponagle, Pat Nelson,
Vince Brienza, Andy Gervais and Michael Taylor.
Novice Senior:
Hail King, Jesse Kaellis, Duncan Murdoch, Ron McQueen, 
Curtis Mann, Ron Young, Steve McGee, and Thomas Coady.

Ring officials: 
bert lowes, lindy lindmoser, brian zelley, al young, rick brough, 
bill gurvich, vic murdock, rudy bianco, joe swift, earl vance, 
sid knopp, fred fuller, ron whalley, george armson, larry carney, 
dot lowes, marg o'reilly and shirley knopp, Dr. Herb Dumont,
bill long, glynn jones and tommy yule.  

Some of the many other events

 beyond 1983:

* Some of the key issues of 1984 have

been reviewed over the many years,

so 1985 was the post Olympic year and

one year before Commonwealth Games

possibilities for BC boxers, officials and coaches.

1985 - A new four year period for boxing on the road to the

1988 Olympic Games:

1985 GOLDEN GLOVES:

* From 1939 onwards, the BC Golden Gloves has had an important

part of the history of amateur boxing in British Columbia, and the

1985 tournament would take place at the BCABA training centre.

At the end of the tournament, boxer RON PASKIE
was named  BC's Golden Boy.    

Some of the other names in the tournament were:
Scott Bannink, Dean Todd, Manny Sobral, Jim Hunter,
Cody Redford, Gary Wood, Alex Bankier, Alan Brown,
George Mason, Joe Pendry, Danny Crawford, Gary Serko
and Deep Butter>  They represented the following clubs:
Elk Valley, Kamloops, Shamrock, Campbell River, 
Astoria, Gold River, Kingsway, Yukon, Kimberley and
Maple Ridge.  The best senior bout was the  
Paskie vs Mason light-welterweight bout.  

1985 Junior Provincials -  April 21st.
Contestef Champions were:
Allan Bayne, Mike Krilic, Mike Marrello, Troy Taylor,
Rick Funk, Bruce Slack, Curtis Peterson, and Jamie Bell.