On a sad note, Leo Vincent White... 'Kid' Young, passed away last thursday, 23/4/09 in his Geelong nursing home. He was 88. 'Kid' was formerly the Victorian and Australian Featherweight Champion, 1941-44, before outgrowing the division and relinquishing the titles to campaign in the L/W division. He faught in perhaps the finest F/W era this country has seen. Mixing it continually with the likes of Mickey and Eddie Miller, (Not brothers). Moving to the L/W division, a match with Vic Patrick was talked of. Leo himself, was grateful this never came to fruition. Youngs career was far from a short one, and his pride of never being KO'd or losing via a foul in over 100 fights is testament to his fine ability. Young ran a successful gym in Geelong after his retirement, and notably handled the great Aboriginal L/W Champ, George Bracken. One of the games true gentlemen, Leo was a popular Geelong identity and regular at the Past and Present Boxers meeting in Melbourne. We have lost one of our greats. R.I.P ................................................................................................ On yet another sad note, Johnny Evans, the popular Festival Hall Featherweight has also passed away. Again, it was last Thursday. 23/4/09. He was 66. Evans was a handy fighter, commencing his career in the paid ranks in 1959, and fighting through to '64 when beaten by a young Johnny Famechon. His early career was something of a mixed bag, yet he managed to get the better of future Australian L/W champ Jake Gulino on three out of four occassions. Another sad loss for the game. R.I.P
Here's the Geelong Adveriser's article on Leo: Geelong boxing great Leo White laid to rest by Julie McNamara - May 1st, 2009 JUST like in his fighting days, champion boxer, larrikin and gentleman Leo White drew a large crowd for his final show yesterday. The former Australian featherweight champion passed away aged 88 last Thursday. He was farewelled at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Manifold Heights, just 200m from his beloved gym in Purrumbete Ave. Leo's sons Neville and Barry told several hundred mourners how the skinny red-headed kid who was scared of his own shadow evolved to become a feared and tenacious boxer who was one of 14 sports stars inducted into the Geelong Sporting Legends Plaza in 2007. In 2000 he was named as one of Geelong's 50 personalities of the millennium. Known as the feared 'Kid Young' during his fighting days, he captured the respect of the boxing world for his incredible toughness. In one famous bout, he was knocked down seven times by lightweight champion Eddie Miller before rising to KO him. Miller told astounded journalists afterwards that White was the only fellow he knew who was most dangerous and hardest to beat when he was hurt. "It was when you hurt him that you had to worry most about him getting on top of you". White was the Australian featherweight title-holder between 1941-45 before moving up to the lightweight division. In his nine-year career he had 66 fights, winning 46, drawing nine and losing 11. He was never knocked out. Incredibly, the fearless champion had many hang-ups as a youngster. When he started out in the ring at 15, he was so conscious of his skinny, freckled body he originally hated boxing bare-chested. He was scared of the dark and by his own omission was "the last sort of person anyone would have expected to become a boxer". The seventh of eight children, White was raised in Geelong West during the depression. Before becoming a boxer he was known as "rabbit stew" for his ability to feed his struggling family through bunny hunting. Knowing his mother wouldn't approve of his boxing, he kept it a secret for as long as he could, hiding his boxing gear under the family home. But his parents learnt of their son's amazing talent when a Melbourne paper ran a feature of the rising star. Before too long, thousands would pack an extra train service from Geelong to watch Kid Young fight at West Melbourne Stadium. After his own boxing career finished, White became a trainer and manager. Neville and Barry recalled how countless young boxers, many of them aboriginal, lived and trained with Leo and their family in Purrumbete Ave. They said although discrimination against Aborigines was alive and well in Australia at the time, their parents didn't have a "racist fibre" in their bodies and every single boxer was treated like family. Neville said his dad pioneered diets and fitness regimes long before they came into fashion and ran a tight ship, forbidding his charges from smoking or drinking. However, he loved a practical joke. Once he dressed up a fashion dummy in women's clothes and sat it on the outside lavatory. The White family sat inside in stitches as they watched one of the boxers retreat in embarrassment after thinking he had walked in on a "lady" in the bathroom. They sat and watched as a line of boxers eager to use the bathroom lined up outside before finally relieving themselves under the lemon tree as the minutes ticked by and the woman failed to emerge from the lavatory. White was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and spent his final years at Nangatta Aged Care Centre.
CHB, thanks for the post, really nice to read. The Geelong Advertiser should be proud of the column in his memory.
