With the bells ringing and calls coming for a Dave Sands journal, local author Garry Munday was happy to oblige.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Sands, nee Ritchie, is a legendary Burnt Bridge boxer who held the held the Empire Middleweight, Australian heavyweight, middleweight, light heavy and Australasian light heavy titles at the time of his tragic death in August 1952.
"We had a number of requests about Dave Sands," Munday told the Argus in January.
"We have the memorial and plaque at the museum and thought it was time to do a journal about him."
The journal is scheduled to be released by the Macleay River Historical Society in two weeks, fitting perfectly with the anniversary of Sands' passing.
When it comes to Sands, the story is commonly around his boxing achievements but Munday wanted to come at it from a different perspective.
Related:
"I wanted to write about Dave as the person more than the boxer - his schooling, life in Stockton but at the same time not detract from his achievements," he said.
"One of the stories I like is when he went to England, he got a bit homesick and nostalgic but made friends with the cook at the hotel where he was.
"The cook played golf, took him out to the course and he was happy again.
"That's the sort of thing I look for - the behind the scenes content and dig a little bit more."
Munday's research has seen him visit the memorial tributes throughout New South Wales dedicated to the champion boxer with plenty of information in tow.
He also had his own Dave Sands experience at a younger age living in Dubbo.
"Our main attraction was to go to boxing matches at the Showground and get the orbells bottles and make a few shillings - I always remember the crowd there then in my research I realised I was at one of the (Dave Sands) fights," Munday recounted.
"They got him up for a charity fight to raise money for the aged care home."
The fight night at Dubbo Showground saw a record crowd attend with the Daily Liberal reporting in October 1950 that "busloads of people came from Orange, Gilgandra, Trangie, Narromine, and Wellington."
"Nearly an hour before the flights were timed to start the Showground entrance was besieged by fans coming by car, bus and not foot," they wrote.
Sands fought two rounds with Doug Warren of Coonamble and another two rounds with Cyril Barwick, pleasing the crowd with his evasive tactics.
Also making the news
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark our website
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter: @macleayargus
- Follow us on Instagram: @macleayargus