Ted Morgan (boxer)

Ted Morgan at the 1928 Olympics
Statistics
Rated at	67 kg (148 lb)
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Born	5 April 1906 London, England
Died	22 November 1952 (aged 46) Wellington, New Zealand
Stance	Southpaw
Boxing record
Total fights	28
Wins	26
Medal record Representing  New Zealand Olympic Games 1928 Amsterdam Welterweight

Edward "Ted" Morgan (5 April 1906 – 22 November 1952) was a boxer from New Zealand. He won the gold medal in the welterweight division at the 1928 Summer Olympics, despite competing throughout the tournament with a dislocated knuckle in his left hand.^[1]

His knuckle was dislocated during training a week before the Olympics; it never completely healed, causing him continual pain throughout his boxing career. Another problem occurred at the Games when he weighed in. He was three pounds overweight for the lightweight division and had to compete in the welterweight division. He was forced to give away as much as nine pounds to some of his opponents.^[2]

Morgan was born in London, England, but his family moved to New Zealand when he was one year old. There he attended Te Aro School and Wellington College, but dropped out in 1922 and started working as a plumber.^[2] On 12 April 1933 he married sprinter Norma Wilson,^[1] who also competed at the 1928 Olympics, but they divorced in 1938. Morgan remarried on 10 November 1945, to Jannet Elizabeth Reynolds; they had a son and a daughter.^[3]

Morgan was the New Zealand Amateur Lightweight Champion in 1925 and 1927.^[2] He won 26 out of his 28 amateur bouts. In July 1929 he turned professional, but with a little success, winning 13 and losing 11 out of 26 bouts. In 1931 he won three minor matches in the United States and the New Zealand welterweight title, knocking out Reg Trowern in second round. He retired in October 1934 after losing to Don Stirling in a welterweight title fight and later worked as a plumber and boxing referee.^[2][4] Although he was a non-smoker, Morgan died from lung cancer in Wellington due to the inhalation of fumes while working as a plumber.^[3] In 1990 he was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.^[4]

Footnotes

References

• Kiwis With Gloves On by Brian F O'Brien, published 1960, Reed.
• McMillan, Neville (1993). New Zealand Sporting Legends: 27 Pre-War Sporting Heroes. Auckland: Moa Beckett. pp. 102–106. ISBN 1-869580-14-1. 
• It Really Happened page 138ff, by Alan Turley, published 1977
• Edward Morgan in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography