GUEST COLUMN
My great trainer, mentor and friend had a positive effect on so many lives
Johnny Nelson on his great mentor
ILOOK at Brendan Ingle’s life’s work like an iceberg. All most people see is the tip of the iceberg – the work he did with boxers. But there was so much more to this great man than that.
What he did away from boxing, for example, was unbelievable. It was proper help. I’m not just talking about throwing money towards a charity. I’m talking proper, hands-on help. I often said to Brendan, “I could never do your job. You’ve got a wife, five kids, the gym, the kids there, and the responsibility of it all.” It was allconsuming. I have no idea how he did it.
The outpouring of goodwill for Brendan and his family is massive because the number of champions he created or influenced is minute
compared to the amount of people whose lives he changed away from the ring.
I’ve been with him on more than one occasion when someone has come up to him on the street and said, “Hey, Brendan, do you remember me?” They’ve now grown up and had kids, but they never forgot the role Brendan played in their life.
This man was well-read. He was into philosophy, politics, and many other things. He helped so many people in so many different ways. He helped boys become fathers. He helped girls become mothers.
In the gym, he created such an atmosphere and such an ambience. They talk about multiculturalism and integration now, but the Wincobank gym has been like that for 50 years. Boys and girls, every creed and colour, went to that gym. It was a family affair. We were like a pack of wild wolves. If Brendan said “jump”, you didn’t say “how high?” You certainly didn’t ask why. You just jumped.
You’d drive up Newman Road and see heavyweights down to flyweights in the street picking up litter. People
would say, “How does Brendan Ingle get them to do that?” That’s serious power.
He’d have you doing so many things you wouldn’t normally do. I’ve seen some bad men, guys who have been to prison, eating out the palm of Brendan’s hand. You couldn’t lie to him. He didn’t bully you or intimidate you. He didn’t shout at you. You’d simply feel guilty if you cheated or didn’t listen to him. I learnt that the hard way. There was a club called Josephine’s in Sheffield and one night I went to this club. Herol (Graham) did it. Brian (Anderson) did it. We all did it. But I was the stupid one who parked their car on the street. Someone told Brendan. The next morning, the Sunday, was our shakedown day. We’d mess about, spar in the ring, only that morning Brendan kept me in the ring sparring for three hours. I was shattered. I kept trying to get out but all he said was, “Johnny, stay in. Johnny, stay in.”
When we eventually got out, he said, “All right everybody, if you want to go to the nightclub the night before training, this is what happens.”
I wanted to grass on the other
lads, who were all looking at me, but I never did.
There was another guy in the gym who used to steal people’s belongings from the dressing room. Brendan was told about this and one day pulled the person to one side and said, “I want to give you a job. I want it to be your job to look after the dressing rooms and make sure nobody steals.”
He gave the kid who’d been robbing stuff the job of looking after the bags and the wallets. Nobody got robbed again. He could have easily slung him out the gym – most would have done that – but Brendan was so unorthodox in his teachings. He paid him a fiver a week and the problem was sorted.
I wonder where Brendan is now. I’d like to think he’s somewhere sat next to Muhammad Ali, Jack Johnson, Sonny Liston and Marcus Aurelius. I wonder how long it will take him to get them eating out the palm of his hand and hanging on his every word. He will do it. We’re grieving about his loss, but he’s in a place surrounded by all the people who influenced him, the people he looked up to. How long will it be before he has them listening to his stories? Johnny Nelson