GORDON WELCOMED

Taranaki Daily News, 15 October 1934, Page 8

GORDON WELCOMED

PATEA’S TRIBUTE TO CHAMPION. COMBINED BOXING TITLE WON. When Clarrie Gordon, New Zealand and Australian featherweight boxing champion stepped from the mail train at Patea on Saturday on his return from Invercargill, he was greeted by the Mayor (Mr. F. Ramsbottom), Patea Boxing Association representatives and a large number of residents backed up by the Patea Municipal Band. The cheers, handclapping and the strains of “See the Conquering Hero Comes” that welcomed Gordon’s appearance with his father and trainer, attracted most of the train’s other passengers to the spot to discover the reason. It was Patea welcoming home the boy who was a New Zealand champion at his weight at the age of 15 years and at 17 years an Australian and New Zealand featherweight title-holder. Mr. Alan Makwell, the well-known boxing referee who is also Patea’s stationmaster, spent some anxious moments in trying to get the train away to time on account of the crowd’s proximity to the coaches. The Mayor expressed the town’s pleasure on learning of Gordon’s championship successes and he congratulated him on his Australian and New Zealand title. Mr. C. Gordon, senr., who is the champion’s trainer, said they had been wonderfully treated at Invercargill and he was naturally proud of his boy’s achievement.

That the Maori community were alive to the merit of Gordon’s success was shown by a rousing haka of welcome by a Maori party led by Mr. J. Taiaroa. A further tribute to Gordon’s defeat of the title holder at Invercargill was the playing of the march Invercargill by the band.