LALLY, PEGUES and SEEHRA, the never ending boxing story

THE KENNY LALLY, JAG SEEHRA and BOB PEGUES story continues:
by brian zelley

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_north/pgfreepress/sports/114599839.html

For some of us , following the performance of Bob, Jag and Kenny is a pleasure.
The Prince George news media has done a good job of tracking their combined
journey.

For me, it is a different sort of interest that began in 1969.  I still remember that teenager
named BOB PEGUES wanting a boxing club in Nanaimo.   Well fast forward through the
decades and the recent years since 2000 has been an interesting story of Bob and his
boxers in Prince George.

The recent performances of KENNY LALLY  and JAG SEEHRA were exceptional.

All three have many hopes, wishes and dreams,  but thinking back to 1969 and the wide-eyed
teenager named Bob confirms that sometimes hopes are realized and dreams come true.

Updates of Story in 2015:
Since the original story, all three have moved
forward and racked up more achievements
and have participated in many shows and 
events.

Bob and Kenny are now inductees in the
British Columbia Amateur Boxing 
Hall of Fame:

2011 CANADA GAMES BOXING - by B. Zelley

BOXING NOVA SCOTIA Announces the team for the 2011 Canada Games in Nova Scotia. Team coaches include WAYNE GORDON and BRIAN ARCHIBALD.Some of the boxers are JASON DOWNEY and TAYLOR GORDON.

BOXING BC
One of the early public announced BC boxers is JESSY BROWN.

THE BEST OF THE BEST AMATEUR BOXERS

THE BEST OF BOXING CANADA: by brian zelley

Attempting to select the top 25 Canadian amateur boxers of all time is a subjective game based on our understanding of the sport and our experiences. Thus, it is likely the same 25 would not appear on all lists.

As a starting point, the select seven would stand a good chance of being on many lists:
EDDIE HADDAD, HAROLD MANN, DONATO PADUANO, WALTER HENRY, IAN CLYDE, LENNOX LEWIS and MICHAEL STRANGE.

For BRITISH COLUMBIA amateur boxing, some of the other ones that should be considered are:
JIMMY WALTERS, DICK FINDLAY, FREDDY FULLER, FRANK SCOTT, LES HAMILTON, CHRIS IUS and DALE WALTERS.

VANCOUVER ISLAND AMATEUR BOXING

Photos: Eddie Haddad - George Nepper & boxers Alan Brown
Newcastle Boxing Club 1964 - Brown,Vic Murdoch & Zelley

VANCOUVER ISLAND BOXING

Throughout the decades, there have been many clubs from Victoria to Gold River, Port Alberni to Chemainus,
and hundreds of individuals from boxers Eddie Haddad to Donny Orr, Skimp Williams to Stefan Melideo.
Champions and contenders from 1964 Olympian Fred Desrosiers to 1973 Canadian senior champion Jack Snaith.
Vancouver Island Champions- Tommy Black to Brian Zelley, and Senior Golden Boys like Sammy May & Alan Curtis
to three time junior Golden Boy Cliff Ballendine.

There has been tournaments such as the 2000 Canadian Senior Nationals to the 1978 Nanaimo Bathtub Capital
Golden Gloves tournaments, and the 1976 English Schoolboy boxers vs BC Select Juniors like Dale Walters.

There have been many coaches and officials with the likes of Harry Morris, Taylor Gordon, Jim Hills,
Harry Pollitt & Skimp Williams.

Serving as ring officials like Jack O'Hanley, Howard Curling, Rick Brough, Bert Wilkinson,
Joe Preston & many more scattered from Campbell River to Victoria.

There have been boxing clubs with a short duration like the Ladysmith Boxing Club, to old ones such as the
Nanaimo Boxing Club from 1971 to 2009 and beyond. Or clubs that hosted two Vancouver Island Championship
Tournaments: London Boxing Club (1964) and Parksville Boxing Club (1984). And new boxing clubs
such as the Capital City Boxing Club

To document some of the history, there are The Sportscaster, Daily newspapers, Nanaimo Times,
Leisure Magazine, The Vancouver Island Amateur Boxing News (Spring & Fall - 1983) and then there
was the "B C Amateur Boxing News".

Then there was a few years to remember with the preparation of the 1994 Commonwealth Games
with some early members of the Boxing Committee in 1989 - Hassan Sunderani, Brian Zelley,
Mike Sartori, and Glynn Jones (Boxing BC rep).

1963 BRITISH COLUMBIA GOLDEN GLOVES:
*Four Island boxers would win in the finals of the 1963
Golden Gloves: Cal Osmond, Earl Pilgrim, Larry Cardinal and Mike Caird.

FRANK SCOTT

The Frankie Scott story by: brian zelley


Frank Albert Scott (1949 - 2005) - Elite Boxer - Bronze Medal 1966

It has been over 24 years since I saw Frankie Scott, the last time was during my time as an executive member
of the British Columbia Amateur Boxing Association in the mid-Eighties. Frank was a boxing coach then.
However, it was in early Sixties when I first heard about the Scott family when former Chemainus Legion Boxing club
member Leon Nepper lost a bout to Frank's brother Keith Scott.

Fast forward to September 1967, when I moved to Vancouver from Nanaimo. One day I took a bus ride
to New Westminster to visit the "Best Cafe" which was run by the Scott family. During 1967/68 boxing season,
both Frank Scott and I would join the Firefighters Boxing Club and train with boxers like Dave Wylie and Fred Fuller,
and many others. It was expected to be an active year with our bright young eyes looking towards the 1968 Olympics
along with boxers like Dick Findlay, Wayne Boyce and many others.

Of the four Golden Gloves tournaments that I entered, the ones in Tacoma and Vancouver, I appeared in the
bantamweight division while in the Seattle and Tacoma Golden Gloves it was the featherweight division.
In both the Portland & Vancouver tournaments, both Frankie and I fought our way into the finals
and met in the middle of the ring to touch gloves.

In May 1984, as editor of the "BC Amateur Boxing News", I put together a pre-1984 Junior National Boxing
Championships & Senior National Olympic Box-Offs issue. But, to add slices of history, I added
pictures of Frank Scott, Ed Williams, Bill Gariepy, Pat O'Reilly Jr., Billy Taylor, Fred Desrosiers,,
Dick Findlay, and even a pictire of our 1983 Jr. Provincial Team which included nine boxers and two coaches.
Boxers included Alan Brown, Willy Curry, Mike Wood, Tony Frances and others.

The piece about FRANK SCOTT started with the sentence:
"The Pride and Joy of New Wesminster, his record is second to none" (That sure was a great punch line
for our lad Frank Albert Scott.

Frank is to be remembered on Friday at the last boxing card at Willingdon Avenue in Burnaby
along with Lennie Walters and George Armson.

There are many more stories to tell about the boxer Frankie Scott and the boxing coach Frankie Scott.
there is a site on facebook called:
"FRANKIE SCOTT for induction into the BC Sports Hall of Fame".

At the present time, there are only seven persons connected to boxing that are in :The Hall",
now is the time to add one more. Of the thousand of folks connected to amateur boxing
today and yesterday, the late FRANKIE SCOTT deserves to join the other seven.

History - BOXING BC

In understanding the history of amateur boxing, a good place to start is the history of the Golden Gloves in places like Vancouver from 1939 to 2009.

The first Golden Gloves tournament in British Columbia was in 1939.

At the end of the action PHIL VICKERY was named Golden Boy,

and the rest is history.

Sadly,  Radio Officer Philip Arthur Vane Vickery died on
June 22, 1943.

His name can be found on the Ottawa Memorial and in the 

Commonwealth War Graves records.

Throughout the decades, other boxers would be declared Golden Boy

such as Ray Lampkin, Neil Knight, Sammy May, Harold Mann,

Al Curtis, Kalman Santosi, Dick Findlay and many more.

In the Junior Golden Gloves activity, one boxer stands alone.

CLIFF BALLENDINE was declared BC Junior Golden Boy for
three straight years in 1979, 1980 and 1981.