ONLY three weeks in the past I penned an obituary for BN on Ron Cooper, an Olympian at the 1948 Games. Ron was certainly one of solely two survivors of this staff and, I’m very unhappy to say, the different one, Manchester’s Tommy Proffitt, solely outlived Ron by a couple of days.
He passed away on March 23, at the age of 97. It is tough to consider that two boxers, from a staff of solely eight, would dwell that lengthy and, as there are not any survivors in any respect from the 1952 staff, an actual hyperlink to boxing historical past has now gone ceaselessly.
Alex Daley wrote a tremendous tribute on Tommy for this column again in 2015 and I don’t wish to duplicate that, however, as a tribute to Tommy and Ron, and the entire staff, I wish to take a more in-depth have a look at the 1948 Olympic Games.
The earlier Olympics had taken place in Berlin in 1936 and so they have been vastly spoiled by the politicisation of the occasion by the Nazi social gathering, with the American sprinter Jesse Owens and a few of his teammates having to undergo racial abuse all through. In 1940, the Games have been initially deliberate for Tokyo, however, as soon as Japan had invaded China to instigate a brutal struggle, they have been rescheduled for Helsinki. The outbreak of the second world struggle put a cease to that.
The 1944 Games had been provisionally deliberate for London so when peace returned to the world in 1945, the capital was chosen for a unexpectedly organized occasion simply three years later. At the time, the UK was struggling vastly from the results of the struggle, the financial system was damaged, the inhabitants needed to endure food-rationing and London itself was attempting to get better from the Blitz. The Games turned referred to as the Austerity Games as a result of they have been run on a shoestring.
The eight boxers chosen to signify Great Britain have been Ron and Tommy (at light-weight and bantam), Henry Carpenter (fly), Peter Brander (feather) and Max Shacklady, Johnny Wright, Don Scott and Jack Gardner from welter to heavyweight. On the face of it, it a reasonably good staff, and two silver medals have been returned.
All eight had gained the ABA championships at Wembley on May 5, 1948, and so there was little controversy relating to staff choice. Tommy recalled that the shorts that he competed in have been made by his sisters from materials they’d reclaimed from the household black-out curtains. Ron stated the identical, with a few of his package being bought together with his clothes coupons.
The boxing happened at the Empire Pool, Wembley, the week after the swimming and diving occasions, with the swimming pool being lined up in order that the boxing might happen above it. This venue remains to be round at this time, now referred to as the OVO Arena, and its boxing historical past is famous, significantly all through the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.
Carpenter was eradicated at the first time of asking at the fingers of Belgian, Alex Bollaert, and occasion was finally gained by the nice Pascual Perez. Proffitt and Brander additionally misplaced their opening contests, with Proffitt dropping out to a Mexican in a class that additionally included Vic Toweel and Jimmy Carruthers. The defeat of Brander was an enormous upset, with the Slough boxer enormously fancied to medal.
Cooper was eradicated in his second contest, as was Shacklady and Gardner, however Johnny Wright and Don Scott each did exceptionally nicely to achieve their respective finals. Wright had gained the GB Sea Cadet title solely the 12 months earlier than, and, at 19, he had come from nowhere. Scott was extra seasoned and, as a serving army policeman, his silver medal was a incredible achievement. Neither Brander nor Shacklady turned professional, and, of the others, solely Gardner went on to win a British title as a professional, however they have been an important staff.
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