Ambrose Palmer Explained

Ambrose Palmer
Fullname:Ambrose Harold Palmer
Birth Date:16 October 1910
Birth Place:Footscray, Victoria
Death Place:Yarraville, Victoria
Originalteam:Riverside
Height:178 cm
Weight:82 kg
Statsend:1943
Years1:1933–1943
Club1:Footscray
Games Goals1:83 (44)

Ambrose Harold 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.

Family

The third child of the Victorian champion lightweight boxer William Arthur Palmer (1877-1940),[1] and May Palmer (1885-1936), née Ranger,[2] Ambrose Harold Palmer was born at Footscray, Victoria on 16 October 1910.[3]

He married Emma May Gibson (1914-1993), at Footscray, on 12 September 1931.[4]

Boxing

Boxer

Often referred to as "Young" Palmer[5] — his father and his two elder brothers, David William "Dave" Palmer (1905-1966) and William Vincent "Billy" Palmer (1907-1947) were also noted boxers — he was a champion amateur boxer, who tuned professional, winning 57 of his professional bouts (losing only 7) from 1929 to 1938. Eventually managed by Hugh D. McIntosh,[6] in the 1930s he held the Australian middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight boxing titles at the same time.

Trainer

He later became a renowned boxing trainer, notably for Jack Johnson[7] world champion Johnny Famechon,[8] and Len Dittmar.[9]

1956 Olympic Games

In 1956 he was the official coach for the Australian boxing team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.[10]

Football

Palmer made his debut in the back-pocket for Victorian Football League (VFL) club Footscray in the match against South Melbourne on 6 May 1933.[11] [12] [13] He went on to play 83 matches for Footscray, retiring in 1943.

1939

In Round One of the 1939 VFL season, Footscray were playing Essendon Football Club and Palmer, resting in the forward-pocket, collided head-on with Essendon backman Stan Wilson, suffering sixteen jaw, cheekbone and skull fractures (he had been knocked out in a collision with Bill Shaw in the team's last pre-season practice match a week earlier).[14] For a while the injuries were thought to be life-threatening, but Palmer eventually recovered, and although he did not play again that season, he went on to play another forty-four games for Footscray.[15]

Military service

Palmer enlisted in the Second AIF in December 1941, but was declared medically unfit for duty and was discharged from the army in February 1942 because of "post-traumatic headache' ".[16]

Death

He died at Yarraville, Victoria on 16 October 1990.

Recognition

Member of the Order of the British Empire (1971)

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) "for services to sport" in June 1971.[17]

Sport Australia Hall of Fame (1985)

He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.[8]

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame (2003)

He was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2003.[18]

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Deaths: Palmer, The Age, (Friday, 15 November 1940), p.1..
  2. Web site: Deaths: Palmer, The Age, (Wednesday, 12 February 1936), p.1..
  3. Note that some sources (such as an inscription on a Web site: photo., Boxrec and Web site: 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.
  4. Web site: Boxing: Ambrose Palmer Married, The (Burnie) Advocate, (Monday, 14 September 1931), p.3..
  5. Web site: Boy of Promise: Young Palmer's Success, The Referee, (Wednesday, 28 August 1929), p.11..
  6. Web site: Hugh D. McIntosh 3 . Liveperformance.com.au . 1942-02-02 . 2014-05-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190312134217/http://www.liveperformance.com.au/halloffame/hughmcintosh3.html . 12 March 2019 . dead .
  7. Web site: The Argus 15 February 1945.
  8. Web site: Ambrose Palmer. Sport Australia Hall of Fame. 26 September 2020.
  9. Web site: Reference at www.adelaidenow.com.au.
  10. Web site: Old Master Slips a Lead, The Argus, (Saturday, 23 June 1956), p.3..
  11. Web site: Injuries Cause 25 Replacements in League Teams Tomorrow: Ambrose Palmer Chosen, The Herald, (Friday, 5 May 1933), p.14.. Sun. 21 November 1933.
  12. Web site: In Big Ring: Palmer: Footscray, The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 10 May 1933), p.8..
  13. Web site: Palmer Given Football Medal, The (Sydney) Sun, (Tuesday, 21 November 1933), p.3.. Sun. 21 November 1933.
  14. Web site: de Lacey, H.A., "Broken Jaw for Ambrose Palmer: Out for Three Months, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 22 April 1939), p.1.. Sporting Globe. 22 April 1939.
  15. Atkinson, p. 160.
  16. Kent (2012).
  17. Web site: Commonwealth and State Honours, The Canberra Times, (Saturday, 12 June 1971), p.10..
  18. Web site: Ambrose Palmer - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia . Boxrec.com . 2014-05-02.

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