Bill Anderson. Boxer

An appreciation

IT would be no exaggeration to call the late Bill Anderson the Godfather of Perth boxing. Over six decades from 1950 to 2010, he turned Perth Railways amateur boxing club into a great power in Scottish amateur boxing and for a period in the 1970s was a popular president of the Scottish Amateur Boxing Association.

Having graduated from Perth Academy in the late 1940s, he became a much respected and kenspeckle figure in the insurance world, working at various levels for the General Accident motor insurance company until he retired in 1991.

But it was boxing that became the ruling passion of his life thanks to his father encouraging him to listen to big fight broadcasts on the radio such as Randolph Turpin versus Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951. He then went along to the Perth Railways amateur boxing club where he discovered that he had a natural talent and went on to became a top amateur lightweight.

One of his greatest achievements was taking Scotland's greatest ever amateur Dick McTaggart the distance in 1956 in Perth City Hall. He also won a much sought after Scotland amateur boxing international vest for Scotland against Denmark.

A combination of age and increased responsibility at work eventually saw him hang up his gloves only to launch his stellar career as the man at the helm of Perth Railways club.

Among the many outstanding young men whose careers flourished under Bill were Sam Kynoch who now combines a successful career as a lawyer and a professional boxing promoter in Edinburgh.

But nothing demonstrates Bill Anderson's positive contribution to young lives more than the story of his light-flyweight Usmann Hussain. In the early 1990s young Hussain lay near death in Glasgow's Yorkhill hospital after contracting an illness in Pakistan where he had been visiting his grandmother.

Eventually, as part of the long recovery process it was suggested to Usmaan's father Farooq Hussain that boxing training might help the lad to regain full health.

Enter Bill Anderson and his coaching team whose combination of recuperative training and tutelage in boxing saw Usmaan winning a boxing gold medal in Swansea in the first ever Anglo-Gaelic games. And a massively grateful young Hussain dedicated his medal win to Bill Anderson.

Further proof of Anderson's reputation came in 1980 when former WBC world flyweight champion Walter McGowan, accepted the invitation to be Perth Railways club president.

I first met Bill when he helped promote my book The Fight Game in Scotland and the feelings of affection and respect that I felt towards him was the bedrock of our subsequent friendship.

He was a consummate gentleman and an intelligent, benevolent force in a sport - amateur boxing - where such qualities are by no means always in evidence among those involved in the sport.

He deserves to be remembered with affection and respect in Scottish amateur boxing history.

BRIAN DONALD