Bc Buckskin Gloves

[Zelley]

BC BUCKSKIN GLOVES - Looking Forward & Looking Back: By Brian W. Zelley

In the late days of May 2010, Boxing BC will sanction another tournament in the "Road To Glory" series of tournaments in different parts of British Columbia. With the completion of the Golden Gloves tournament on
April 17th. the next special tournament will be the "Buckskin Gloves".

The host club will be the "2 Rivers Boxing Club" of Quesnel. In reviewing the various clubs of British Columbia, the 2 Rivers club is a very interesting
story. Before September, the club had been inactive for a number of years
but over the summer months of 2009, some of the ex-members were
sounding the alarm that they wished to return from "out in the wilderness"
into an active club. So the stage was set to select the training site and
seek out the former coach that had been inactive for a number of years.

In a comparison of clubs to past BC boing tournaments, the Buckskin Glove
would be the perfect avenue for the club to showcase the sport and bounce
back from inactivity to host an important show.

In 1973, the Buckskin Gloves made an interesting comeback after ten years.
The 1973 revival would be hosted by the "Matsqui Sumas Abbortsford
Boxing Club" aka MSA Boxing Club and it took place at the MSA Arena
in Abbortsford in the month of April. A key person behind this revival
was ED WILLIAMS. Also, ROGER ADOLPH, a then co-ordinator with the
"BC Native Amateur Sports Federation", would assist in the promotion.

Fast forward to 1984, and the tournament was hosted by the
"Okanagan Native Band" through the efforts of ALLAN LOUIS and E. LOUIS.
Boxers would compete from Pavilion, Kelowna, Vernon, Williams Lake,
Armstrong, Oliver, Maple Ridge, Richmond and some USA entrants.
Some well known boxers from the 1984 tournament would include
Andrew Peters, Gerald Peters, Brad Morin, Shane Ribalkin,
Tony Francis and Ron Elgie.

Between 1973 and 1984, one of the shining stars was Victoria boxer
Cliff Ballendine who was also a three time BC JR GOLDEN BOY.

So now is the time for 2 Rivers to shine with the tournament.
In April, they demonstrated their desire to participate with their own
revival and entered nine boxers in the 2010 BC Golden Gloves.

Photo: A 2 Rivers Boxer punches straight and true in BC Golden Gloves action at Langford's Eagle Reach Community Centre.