Champ Floyd a real gentleman

The splendid photo at the foot of this column is of the Dundee Amateur Boxing Club in 1948 and, according to sender ROBERT McCABE, contains quite a few professionals.

“The professionals in the photo are Chris Moran, Billy Rattray, Pat Cahill, Norman Tennant, Freddie Tennant, Willie Myles, Dougie Myles, George Parks, Harry “Henny” McCabe, Tony Reilly and Benny Brown,” said Robert (73), of St Mary’s, Dundee, who is in the photo (middle row, seventh from right).

“The photo is riddled with well-known Dundee boxing personalities.

“Jimmy Gill has featured in your column in previous weeks and he is second from right in the middle row. To his right is Frankie Quinn.

“The famous Peter Kane is standing to the extreme right in the middle row.

“Roy Pickton went to Australia, and Alec McAulay, in later years, became manager of the Timex plant in Dundee.

“Others are Jackie Lang, Alec Garthley and Mick McGuigan.”

Mr McCabe turned his attention to the Belmont Club, which was based in Annfield Street.

“Dick McTaggart started there at the age of nine years and he learned his trade under trainers Alec and Jim Thomson, who were brothers,” he continued.

“A lot of people in this game claim they were responsible for Dick McTaggart’s success, but he learned well from Alec and Jim. The Belmont was a great club and it was started by a Mr Kane and a Mr Macdonald.

“There was another Dundee boxer who could have been even better than McTaggart and that was Jimmy Croll.

“Unfortunately, like a lot of people in those days, he contracted TB.

“I’ve met a lot of good people in boxing, but the nicest man was former world heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson. He was a real gentleman.

“He came to Dundee to open the St Francis Club and spent most of the time with the young kids. The organisers were keen to get him into the hospitality lounge, but he just kept on chatting to the youngsters.

“Also, on the day he was due to arrive, a pensioner started to queue at the club from 8 am and stood for hours, continually asking, ‘Is he here yet?’

“When Floyd did arrive, he had finally gone home.

“When Floyd heard the story, he insisted someone went to the pensioner’s house to bring him to see him.

“That’s just the type of guy he was.”

Robert, who worked in the Dundee shipyard and offshore during his working life — including spells in Norway and Canada — also spoke at length of his experiences at Dennis Gilfeather’s club in Cox’s Mill.

During the Second World War, he also remembers taking part in a boxing contest for wounded prisoners of war at Stracathro Hospital.

SPIDERS WERE ON TV

ANDY WALKER’S latest bit of trivia info is the claim that Downfield Juniors were the first Dundee junior team to be featured on TV.

Andy, from Lochee, said, “In the early 1960s, Irvine Meadow visited Downfield Juniors in a Scottish Cup-tie.

“All other football in the country was cancelled because of the weather.

“This was the only match played that day, and I think Irvine Meadow won 7-2. The highlights of this match were shown on STV/Grampian that evening.

“Legendary Scotsport presenter Arthur Montford, it seems, approached Downfield for permission to show the match on television.

“I’ve spoken to an ex-Spiders committee man who was there, but the only thing he remembers was the Irvine Meadow players being handed ‘little blue bags’ with their TV money in it. Downfield players, it seems, received no payment.

“It would be good if any ex-committee member or player could add anything else about this match.”

JUNIOR INTERNATIONAL

BERNARD ROBERTSON, of Turriff Street, Dundee, is looking for a photo and information on a Scotland v. Ireland junior international match played at Dens Park around 1956, which Scotland won4-1.

“On a recent visit to Dublin, I met a member of that Irish team called Tom Moran,” he said.

“He was very interested when I told him about your sports page. He would be pleased to read any info you can find.

“Scotland were the only team to beat Ireland on that tour.”