Ambrose Palmer

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.

Ambrose Palmer
Personal information
Full name Ambrose Harold Palmer
Date of birth 16 October 1910
Place of birth Footscray, Victoria
Date of death 16 October 1990(1990-10-16) (aged 80)
Place of death Yarraville, Victoria
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

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 chanpion 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]

Footnotes
  1. Deaths: Palmer, The Age, (Friday, 15 November 1940), p.1.
  2. Deaths: Palmer, The Age, (Wednesday, 12 February 1936), p.1.
  3. Note that 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.
  4. Boxing: Ambrose Palmer Married, The (Burnie) Advocate, (Monday, 14 September 1931), p.3.
  5. Boy of Promise: Young Palmer's Success, The Referee, (Wednesday, 28 August 1929), p.11.
  6. "Hugh D. McIntosh 3". Liveperformance.com.au. 2 February 1942. Archived from the original on 12 March 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  7. The Argus 15 February 1945
  8. "Ambrose Palmer". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  9. http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/death-of-sa-boxing-legend/story-e6frecj3-1111113185361
  10. Old Master Slips a Lead, The Argus, (Saturday, 23 June 1956), p.3.
  11. Injuries Cause 25 Replacements in League Teams Tomorrow: Ambrose Palmer Chosen, The Herald, (Friday, 5 May 1933), p.14.
  12. In Big Ring: Palmer: Footscray, The Sporting Globe, (Wednesday, 10 May 1933), p.8.
  13. Palmer Given Football Medal, The (Sydney) Sun, (Tuesday, 21 November 1933), p.3.
  14. de Lacey, H.A., "Broken Jaw for Ambrose Palmer: Out for Three Months, The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 22 April 1939), p.1.
  15. Atkinson, p. 160.
  16. Kent (2012).
  17. Commonwealth and State Honours, The Canberra Times, (Saturday, 12 June 1971), p.10.
  18. "Ambrose Palmer - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopaedia". Boxrec.com. Retrieved 2 May 2014.

References
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