BOXING CANADA The Road Ahead

THE NEW BEGINNING FOR CANADIAN BOXING; By Brian Zelley

Before we can start the NEW BEGINNING for 2011/2012
we must ask the following question:
are BOXING CANADA, The provincial associations and
each and every amateur boxing club READY,
WILLING and ABLE to meet the challenge of
GROWTH, OPPORTUNITY and ACTIVITY or will it be
BACK TO BLACK?

THE FOUNDATION
The foundation starts at the club level and each
club must be given the support and encouragement
from their Provincial Amateur Boxing Associations
to participate, and the starting point is growth,
followed by an opportunity to have regular boxing
cards and to work with other regional clubs for
greater training opportunities and activity.

BOXING ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

ALAN BROWN - VIC MURDOCH - BRIAN ZELLEY

BOXING ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

coach george nepper and boxers 1967

dale walters - victoria match

victoria atheletic association - training

some names to remember from the eighties in Nanaimo

DEAN BOHM - MIKE MURRAY -

PETE SEGGIE - JOE PRESTON 

1973- Nanaimo Boxer Shines

1973 CANADIAN CHAMPIONS

As in 1972, returning champions were Caroll Morgan, Chris Ius, Dave Anderspn, Ian Clyde, and Marvin Arneson.
But there was a surprise from the west coast shores of Vancouver Island when Nanaimo boxer JACK SNAITH
earned the senior light-flyweight title. Then there were Leo Sauve and Denis Belaire

For Nanaimo boxing, it was a significant achievement for the club
 had started
less than two years earlier in the summer of '71. The story behind the formation
of the Nanaimo Boxing Club
is interesting. Of interest, three of the key players of the new club
had former connections of Vancouver Firefighters Boxing Club under the direction of Bert Lowes and Pat West.
The three being co-founders Brian Zelley and Dan Wright and Canadian champion Jack Snaith.

VICTORIA JAYCEES BOXING CLUB

VICTORIA JAYCEES BOXING CLUB

In 1976, the Victoria Athletic Association was formed and the three coaches for the club were
Mike Caird, Brian Zelley and Lou Bujdoso. As time passed, Lou Bujdoso would leave the VAA to form the Victoria Jaycees
Boxing club. Zelley, although on the board of the VAA, would help with some of the coaching. Later when the
VAA lost their building and gym, they would train with the Jaycees.

by 1980, the Victoria Jaycees would be the key club in Greater Victoria with the Victoria Athletics limited to two key boxers
while the majority of boxers in Victoria fought under the Victoria Jaycees banner. Lou would leave to promote
Professional boxing but was replaced by the likes of Mike Sartori and Paul Deluca sr. The first major achievement of the
Victoria Jaycees boxing was the hosting of thee 1980 BC Diamond Belt Championships. The VAA would help, but it was primarily
a Victoria Jaycees affair which would be continued in subsequent years.

For most of the Eighties it would be the Victoria Jaycees that would be the key player in amateur boxing in
Greater Victoria and the Victoria Athletic Boxing Club and the coaches would fade away until a renewal after the
1994 Commonwealth Games. MIKE SARTORI would be the prime coaching force during that time period and would also be one of the first committee members for the Boxing Committee of the Victoria Commonwealth Games Society in preparation
for the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

EX- BOXERS of the VICTORIA JAYCEES

There are a number of boxers that competed under the banner of the Victoria Jaycees, one of many of interest was
RON OGDEN who came from nowhere to win in the 1985 BC Diamond Belt competition held at Victoria's
"Lansdowne Junior High School".

NANAIMO BOXING 1963 to 2013: by Brian Zelley

NANAIMO BOXING CLUB (1971 - 2009)

Founded in 1971 by Dan Wright and Brian Zelley with assistance from John Ormandy and George Nepper

Two of the Canadian champions from the Nanaiimo Boxing club
 are Jack Snaith and Stefan Melideo..

Between Jack in 1973 and Stefan in 2009, the club has an interesting
history, and before Jack Snaith's in 1973, both Dan Wright and
 Brian Zelley engaged in bouts on the first two club shows hosted
 by the club. Also, a number of young boxers competed in Bronze Gloves tournaments.

One of the important lessons that was learned early was the need for
public awareness, acceptance and education to ensure growth and activity.
This was done at an early stage with direct contact with
sports editor Mark Kiemele of the "Nanaimo Daily Free Press".

May 9, 1974 Nanaimo Daily Free Press
"Good Man To Have Around" By Mark Kiemele

"For the past three years Brian Zelley has been a regular contributor
to this column, providing an insight into the game of boxing.while
giving astute comments on the local and international scene in the sport."

"One of the co-founders of the club. he Dan Wright, John Ormandy...
built the club & nbsp;from a shoestring operation into one of the more respected
glove groups in & nbsp;British Columbia."


January 25, 1982 Victoria's "Times-Colonist"
Sports editor Jim Reid

"There is no denying Zelley's interest in and
knowledge of boxing, his concerns for the image of the sport 
and the safety of the boxers, his desire for boxing to be presented 
properly to the public"

Some of the Faces and Names from 1971 to 2013

* Dan Wright, George Nepper, John Ormandy,                             Brian Zelley,   Bob Pegues,
Darren Lussier, Jack Snaith, Bob Jamison, Clarke McLellan,
Joe Preston, Mickey Griffin, Fred Thorsell, Wayne Peace,
 Ricky Evenson, Dale Creswell, Barry Creswell,
Dwayne Evenson, David Houlistan, Allan MacLellan, Lee Ranger,
Malcolm Eldridge, Mark Gutenburg, Kelly Gourley, 
John Navarolli, Wayne Morgan, Barry Neufield, Britton Gillette,
Tak Sasagawa, Doug English, Mark Barr, 
Don Preston, Robbie Wentland, Ron Williams, 
Stuart Springett, Norm Greenwell, Lyle Jack, Kevin Jolly, 
Bob Walsh, Rob Argyle, Gordy Sutherland, Melan Sears, 
Steve Venuti,  Wade Marling, Mike Murray, 
Robin Murray, Lloyd Anderson, Wilf Ballendine, Pete Yawney,
Larry Cooper, Fred Wicks sr., Fred Wicks jr.Stevan Melideo,
Zack McKay.  Some experienced  boxers from other Island club
would also train and fight for Nanaimo for a brief period such as
 Gary Wood, Alan Brown,  and Tim Cessford  Then of course not to be overlookedis Mike Nagra.

some of the names
comnected to the 
history of boxing in
Nanaimo and other
parts of
Vancouver  Island

                                                                               

George Nepper was the founder of the Newcastle Boxing Club 1963

Nanaimo Boxing - 1963 to 2013

Lasting Ranking  - October 18, 2013

Top Ten Names - Boxers and Builders

.

Six of the top ten names between 1963 and 2013 were
members of Nanaimo's Newcastle Boxing club, and some
were also previous members of the Chemainus - Ladysmith
Boxing club before September 1963 including Skimp Williams
and the members of the Nepper family.  One that did not
make the top ten, but would be in the top ten of junior 
boxers of Vancouver Island is Mike Lazare. 

Adds from October onward:  More Newcastle history:
*since adding the golden years of 1963 to 1968 

this story has jumped in popularity into number 2 spot of
the week and month, and to number three of all time.
Due to this popularity more data will be added to 
recognize those glory days of the past with the likes
of the Nepper brothers and George Nepper, Ted and
Chris Balatti, Leo Rock, Brian Zelley, Skimp Williams,
Harry Pollitt, Jerry Sorensen, the Seriani brothers,
and many other boxers such as Ken Stant, Mike Lazare,
Wayne Barnes, Rick Johnson, Murray Glover, and many
more.  

                           A great way to end the first year of action
with Gilles Nepper and Brian Zelley winning titles, and 
coach Skimp Williams presenting the Skimp Williams 
trophy for the first of a three years run in boxing
 activity in Victoria.

Involved in that last tournament were Leo Rock and
one of our future builders: Roger Nepper.

The first six boxers to see action for the Newcastle
club:  Leo Rock, Chris Balatti, Gilles Nepper, 
Leon Nepper, Roger Nepper and Brian Zelley
But, Jules Nepper, Ken Stant and Mike Lazare
would quickly follow before long.

Video

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.

Part of the beauty of Canadian Amateur Boxing is not only the inter-club bouts between Provincial clubs, of competition among Provincial Teams in National competition, but the action that can be found between Provincial Clubs and those in the USA such as

in the BC, Seattle, Tacoma and Oregon Golden Gloves or the 1967 BC Diamond Belt Tournament which also saw the appearance of Montreal boxer Donato Paduano and

former undefeated world heavyweight champion ROCKY MARCIANO.

Then there were those many shows such as the All Star Boxing Card that took place

in Seattle, Washington on March 23, 1968 when five members of the Vancouver based

Firefighters Boxing Club coached by Bert Lowes and Pat West ventured south to 

fight not for glory nor gold, but for the thrill of the competition.  Those five were:

FRANKIE SCOTT, NICKY MCDONALD,FRED FULLER,BRIAN ZELLEY, JOHN GAMBLE

CANADIAN BOXING CLUBS - past & present

                                      NEWCASTLE BOXING CLUB  - Nanaimo Boxing Club

                                       Brian Zelley preparing for a semi-main event bout     

                                        against Vancouver Firefighters boxer Del Deagau

                                        PORT ALBERNI AMATEUR BOXING CLUB - 1966 

   There is always hope with a revival of an old boxing club that has been idle for some time

such as the 2 Rivers Boxing Club in Quesnel.

There is always hope when new clubs are formed such as the recent happenings in

Lillooet, BC.

There is always hope when old clubs fade, and a new ones  arise from the ashes

such is the case of Nanaimo when the Newcastle Boxing Club faded away and, 

within a couple of years, the Nanaimo Boxing Club began in 1971, or

in Victoria, BC  when the London Boxing Club was replaced by the Victoria Athletic 

Association in 1976 or a couple of years later when the Victoria Jaycees Boxing Club

joined the competition.

Across Canada there are many past and present clubs such as the Hastings Boxing Club

 North Burnaby Boxing Club, Spruce Capital and Inner City in Prince George.

As we step past the Rockies we find such clubs as the West Edmonton Knights

and many more in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

Then there are those many clubs past and present in Ontario such as London's

East End Club where London, Ontario Sports Hall of Fame boxer Casey Paton

began on his path to Olympic action, or the Sault Ste. Marie Boxing Club

with a family of stars and others as well., or as we approach Quebec we find

the Beaver Boxing Club in Ottawa with many past names and faces.