Page 12 - Gordie MacDougall, Boxer: My Life

ISSUE : Issue 57

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1991/6/1

school. I was full of the devil. It's a wonder I wasn't killed or punchdrunk. 'Cause all the kids used to pound me. You know. I'd be always in trouble and fights. The older kids'd pound me. I was right mischievous and saucy. So it's a wonder I survived, 'cause I used to get some awful poundings in school.... (But your father didn't like boxing?) Oh, God. He never went to one of my fights. That was one of the hard points of my ca? reer. And I tried so hard, and I tried to be the best I could. Which I was. I was no punk, like, you know. But he wouldn't go. He wouldn't go to a fight. He wouldn't let my mother go. My sister went to every one of them around here. And then my aunts and uncles, and my grandfather--my father's father--oh, yeah, they all went to see them. My mother's sisters. That was the one disappointment, that he--I mean, if it was my son, I'd say, "Hey!"--I'd be so proud, have my chest out. bust all the buttons on it. You know, I had some big fights, and I won them. Events Cape Breton HOSTS The Annual Canada Cup Stage Race • August 30 to September 2 • 560 KILOMETERS OF BICYCLE RACING IN ALL PARTS OF CAPE BRETON ISLAND For more Information: (902)539-9560 Frank Bruleigh Coordinator (What did he want you to become?) I don't know. He wanted me in track or ball or something like that. I started playing Eng? lish rugby when I went to the Academy. Oh, God, that was a brutal sport, you know. I was only si all. about 150 pounds. And I thrived on what. Well, I loved that thing. The harder the going and the smaller my chances were, the more determined I was. Oh, yeah, I was a real spitfire. The tough? er the going got, I'd dig down a little more. More spunk. Guts, lots of guts. I had a heart big as that fridge, bigger than me, you know. That's what kept me going. I ran in track, you know. My father and a man up the road, they'd race on that jog? ging track they made up in a field up in the woods. I used to go up there and run around it all the time. That's how I started to road racing. When I entered a road race my father said, "You're crazy, you'll never win." First race I ran, I ran in Baddeck. Ran the mile, I won it. Oh, yeah. If you said, "You can't do it," I'd be damned, I'd do it. I ran here in the Cape Breton championships--2 or 3 years. I ran in the 24th of May road races down in the Pier. I ran in the Antigonish Highland Games. Oh. yeah, don't tell me I couldn't do it. or I'd do it. If you'd say I couldn't jump off the high piers down there, I'd do it. (What do you think your father would have liked you to become?) I don't know. I (Acl'ftSaiies CARPET & DRAPERY SPECIALISTS LTD. *Your satisfaction is guaranteed with over 25 years experience" Complete Residential & Commercial Flooring & Quality installation Service Featuring such fine brand names as: • Crossley • Burlington ?? Richmond ?? Harding ? Kraus • Cornet 562-5164 1670 KINGS RD. • SYDNEY RIVER W UJork UJeorhou/c SYDNjEY SHQPP[NG CENtRE - PRINCE STREET - SYDNEY More than Just Great Workwear We carry a complete line to fit your needs. ' Gte'' v'''nSs' 181 Charlotte St. 539-4800 Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. J. A. Young & Son Maritime Marlin 'f/ Travel OR TOLL FREE 1-800-565-1538 . ' qO'' No': Mayflower Mall 564-0600 Monday-Friday 9 a.m.- 9 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. 12

Cape Breton's Magazine