Bill Watson

Bill is being recognized for his success as an amateur boxer.

Bill began his boxing career in 1970 at the age of 14. As a member of the Trail Boxing Club, he represented Trail in matches throughout BC and the northwest United States. In 1977, he moved to Sparwood to better his skills and won both the BC and Alberta Golden Gloves Championships. That year he also represented BC at the Canadian Championships in Edmonton.

While there, he was only one of two BC boxers to make the Finals.

Bill held the Western Canada title until 1978, losing the Finals of the BC Golden Gloves.

Bill competed throughout Western Canada and the northwest United States. In his final year of boxing in 1980, he was named to the Provincial Boxing Team to compete against the California Boxing Team in Sacramento, California. Here he was awarded the Best Canadian Boxer. He was selected to the Canadian National Seniors Boxing Team and represented Canada at the European Championships in Tampere, Finland. He had an excellent chance of making the Canadian Olympic Boxing Team until Canada agreed to boycott the 1980 Olympics in Russia.

Bill remains active in boxing as the Coach of the Elk Valley Boxing Club and has coached teams in two BC Winter Games.