TOM MOVES ON.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 215, 11 September 1928, Page 10

TOM MOVES ON.

DEPARTURE FOR GISBORNE. VISIT TO THE HOSPITAL. AUCKLAND SPORTSMEN'S FAREWELL. . With happy memories of the rousing welcome accorded him by Auckland sportsmen, Tom Heeney, whose arrival by.the Aorangi from America on Sunday created scenes of the' wildest enthusiasm, left by motor this morning for Gisborne. During his stay of a day' and a-half in the city congratulations and best wishes for the future had been showered upon him and he had had but few minutes to himself. With Tom when he departed this morning were his wife, parents, and three brothers. Yesterday afternoon Tom and his wife were taken for a motor drive around Auckland by Mr. E. A. Craig, president of the Northern Boxing Association, the party visiting the public hospital and also the Evelyn Firth Home, where Heeney was enthusiastically received. In the evening he was the guest of honour 1 at a smoke concert given by the local boxing association in the Chamber of Commerce. » Tom an Ambassador. In proposing the toast to the guest of the evening, Mr. Craig said that although Tom would probably sit down to more sumptuous repasts, they womd not be exceeded in wealth of feeling or sincerity. Heeney had been an unofficial ambassador from New Zealand. Like other such ambassadors who had left the Dominion with few or no credentials, he had done a tremendous amount of good for the country. His deeds abroad had gone a long way towards putting the Dominion on the map. ' New Zealanders were sorry that he had not won the championship, but he had- done- the, next best thing—he had been runner-up and had won great honours. He was the same Tom that had gone away four years ago. Reports had proved that he was a fighter front, beginning to end and Auckland sportsmen womdjointogether in whinny lum health and prosperity and the best of luck in his next effort to win- toe championship. In proposing thsv toast, he wished to couple of Mrs. Heeney. On rising to reply to the toast Tom was loudly cheered, and" nV was several minutes before he could speak. Firstly be again paid a tribute to the sporting qualities of the American public. Before he went abroad he had always been led

to believe that the only way to win a fight in America was to put a man on the floor, but he had found that that idea was an wrong. It made no difference if a boxer was an Englishman or a Chinaman. If he won a fight he got the verdict. Of course there were bad decision, but there were bad decisions in every country of the world, New Zealand not.excepted. The Americans were, the greatest sports in the world. Referring to his Auckland welcome Tom said that he did not know whether he could call it a good time, as he had been "scragged" as if in a football match, but he knew it was all well meant. He made particular reference to the hearty welcome given to his family and friends from Gisborne. "Will Settle in New Zealand." "Of course you know I did the trick in America," Tom said amid applause. '1 married an American girl, but don't you think that that makes me an American. We are going back to the States, but- you can take it from me that well return and. settle in New Zealand when it's all over." (Applause.) Later in the evening Mr. Craig announced that an anomymous donor ha>i presented a belt, to be known as the Heeney Belt, to be awarded annually to the pluckiest competitor in the amateur heavy-weight cFass. "Pluck appeals to us all and it will be agreed that Tom is the symbol of pluck," said Mr. Craig.