Morgan, Ted

Ted Morgan was born on April 5, 1906 in London , England , but as a child at the age of one year, he moved with his parents for permanent residence in New Zealand . He attended college in Wellington , but eventually dropped out of school and in 1922 went to work as a plumber.

As a boxer trained under the guidance of coach Tim Tracy, in 1925 and 1927 he became the champion of New Zealand among amateurs in the light weight category.

In 1928, he became a member of the New Zealand national team and, thanks to a series of successful appearances, was awarded the right to defend the country's honor at the Summer Olympics in Amsterdam . Due to a long difficult trip to the Netherlands, he gained some weight and as a result was forced to perform in the welterweight category instead of the usual lightweight. Shortly before the start of the Games, during a sparring match with European professional boxer Ernie Rice, he seriously injured his left hand (which especially aggravated the situation since he was left-handed). Despite the injury, Morgan defeated all four opponents in the tournament bracket, won a gold medal and was recognized as one of the best boxers of this Olympic tournament. He became the only New Zealander who managed to win a medal at these Games, and the first Olympic champion in the history of New Zealand (swimmer Malcolm Champion , who won the competition in 1912, represented Australasia ) ^{[1] [2]} .

Shortly after the Amsterdam Olympics in 1929, Morgan turned into professionals, but his professional career was not so successful - for five years he spent 26 fights, of which he won only 13. At the same time he owned the champion title of the New Zealand Boxing Welterweight Association, was a challenger champion of Australasia, boxed three times in the United States. In October 1934, after an early defeat by Don Stirling, he decided to end his sports career, then continued to work as a plumber and participated in boxing tournaments as a referee ^[3] .

In the period 1933-1938 he was married to the New Zealand runner Norma Wilson , whom he met at the Olympics in Amsterdam. During World War II, he worked as a nurse in a hospital. After the war in 1945, he married Jannet Elizabeth Reynolds, and subsequently they had a son and a daughter.

He died on November 22, 1952 in Wellington at the age of 46. The cause of death was lung cancer - although Morgan did not smoke, the development of the disease could be affected by the harmful fumes inhaled by him during his many years of work as a plumber.

In 1990, introduced to the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame ^[3] .

• Kiwis With Gloves On by Brian F O'Brien, published 1960, Reed.
• McMillan, Neville. New Zealand Sporting Legends: 27 Pre-War Sporting Heroes. - Auckland: Moa Beckett, 1993. - P. 102-106. - ISBN 1-869580-14-1 .
• It Really Happened page 138ff, by Alan Turley, published 1977

• Ted Morgan - professional boxing statistics for BoxRec
• Ted Morgan (English) - page on the website of the Olympic Committee of New Zealand