Ambrose Palmer

Ambrose Palmer
Personal information
Date of birth 16 October 1910 [Notes 1]
Date of death 16 October 1990(1990-10-16) (aged 80)
Original team(s) Riverside
Height 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight 82 kg (181 lb)
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1933–1943 Footscray 83 (44)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1943.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Ambrose Palmer (16 October 1910 – 16 October 1990) was a talented world-class professional prize fighter and a leading Australian rules footballer of the 1930s and early 1940s.

Palmer made his debut as a rover for Victorian Football League (VFL) club Footscray in the 1933 VFL season, eventually playing 83 matches for Footscray before his retirement in 1943.

Palmer also boxed professionally, winning 57 bouts & losing only 7 during his stellar career from 1929 to 1938 and held at various times the Australian middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight boxing titles. He was managed by Hugh D. McIntosh[1]

In Round One of the 1939 VFL season, Footscray were playing Essendon Football Club and Palmer was sandwiched between two Essendon players, suffering sixteen jaw, cheekbone and skull fractures. For a while the injuries were thought to be life-threatening, but Palmer eventually recovered to play further matches for Footscray.[2]

He later became a renowned boxing trainer, notably for Jack Johnson[3] and Johnny Famechon.[4] and Len Dittmar.[5] He was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.[6]

Notes

  1. ↑ Some sources (such as an inscription on a photo, Boxrec and newspaper reports) have his birthdate as 19 September 1911 or without being specific indicate a 1911 birthdate. However, the AFL historical websites, Victorian BDM records and some newspaper articles give his birthdate as either 16 October 1910 or correctly calculate his age based on a 1910 birthdate.

References

  1. ↑ "Hugh D. McIntosh 3". Liveperformance.com.au. 1942-02-02. Retrieved 2014-05-02.
  2. ↑ Atkinson, p. 160.
  3. ↑ The Argus 15 February 1945
  4. ↑ Johnny Famechon Hall of Fame profile
  5. ↑ http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/death-of-sa-boxing-legend/story-e6frecj3-1111113185361
  6. ↑ "Ambrose Palmer - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia". Boxrec.com. Retrieved 2014-05-02.

Sources

  • Atkinson, G. (1982) Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking, The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. ISBN 0-86788-009-0.
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