Boxer
Born: December 25 1929;
Died: March 7 2015.
Jimmy Garriock, who has died aged 85, combined the lifetime roles of master butcher, British Army boxing champion and helping to run Edinburgh's world renowned Sparta amateur boxing club.
He was born in Lochgelly, Fife, but as an infant his father, scion of a family dynasty of master butchers, moved the family to the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh to practise the trade the Garriocks had conducted over many generations.
It was in Stockbridge that Garriock laid down the first marker of his long association with the Sparta amateur boxing club in McDonald Road, becoming a classmate of future legendary boxing coach, Joe Fortune who also lived in Stockbridge. This was the same Joe Fortune who became in 1946 the first Sparta boxer to win a boxing title thus establishing a glorious tradition of outstanding title winners. Fortune also helped develop World, British and European superfeatherweight champion Alex Arthur at Leith Victoria club in the 1970s and 80s.
However, all that was in the future as the young Garriock built up his physique by following his father into the butchery trade and working at Charlie Cotter's gym. Although Cotter died in 1950, Garriock benefitted from his earlier tuition as an amateur welterweight sparring with 1950 Commonwealth Games flyweight gold medal winner Hugh Riley and other leading Scottish pro and amateur boxers.
The training paid off when Garriock was stationed in Hong Kong in the 1950s with the Royal Signals during his national service. He stormed to a Far East Command welterweight boxing crown in the Army championships in Hong Kong.
On returning to Edinburgh, he married Isa and founded his own butcher shops, mainly in north Edinburgh. But boxing was not neglected. He eventually enrolled two of his three sons, Willie and Stevie, in the Sparta club before becoming increasingly active in the club's administration.
With their father's support and advice, Willie and Stevie Garriock not only boxed in the McDonald Road colours, but also won a clutch of amateur boxing titles while successfully representing Eastern Scottish select boxing teams against Irish and Welsh teams. Stevie later became a top boxing coach with the Sparta, working in tandem with Eddie Ward.
Later, Garriock and his son Stevie, with fellow coach Eddie Ward, played a key role in the rise of Sparta flyweight Paul Shepherd who won the 1994 Commonwealth Games gold medal at flyweight at the Victoria, Canada Games.
While Stevie Garriock and Eddie Ward guided Shepherd to Scottish titles, International vests and the 1994 Commonwelth eight-stone gold medal, Jimmy Garriock became virtually a second father to Shepherd who called Jimmy and his wife Isa uncle and auntie.
Garriock was tigerish in defending what he deemed to be the best interests of the Sparta club and its boxers until he formally stood down in 1995.
This trend of caring for the Sparta club and its boxers was inherited by his son Willie who purchased all five of Sparta world lightweight title legend Ken Buchanan's championship belts to ensure that they stayed in Edinburgh.
Garriock's beloved wife, Isa, pre-deceased him but he is survived by his sons, James, Stevie and Willie, four grandchildren, one great grandchild and his brother.
BRIAN DONALD
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