HSS Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Boxing great and adopted Buddie John "Cowboy" McCormack has died,aged 78. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RickMcD Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Never saw him fight live but saw him on telly a few times. My Dad knew him quite well. Did he work in Rootes at one time? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Never saw him fight live but saw him on telly a few times. My Dad knew him quite well. Did he work in Rootes at one time? Yes he did. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidg Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Great man, wish I was young enough to have seen him fight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pod Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Sorry to hear. Travelled a few times with him from Aberdeen where he was working offshore. RIP big man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomsons dropped it Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Lived round the corner from me when I was a teenager. I later worked beside him offshore on the Beatrice Hook Up back in 1980....he had the proverbial hands like shovels. In 1989 myself and four other guys went to start another job Offshore, one of the guys was another boxer.... Richard Dunne. He was an absolute giant of a man with strength to match, a character and a half. Both lads were scaffolders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Dickson Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Saddened to hear this bit of news. It's a long time since I last worked with Cowboy - I think it was probably at the KG plant at Grangemouth in the early 90 - but I remember him well and with a good degree of fondness. He was often paired up with a deaf man called Bobby Morrison who knew my Dad well through the deaf club. I could do a bit of sign language so Bobby and John would often stop by where I would be working for a bit of a chat. John must have been in his 50's then but he used to do this thing where he'd grab me, either on the arm or on the shoulder and squeeze. He was just being playful but it was always f**king sore. He talked a bit about his boxing career but the stories I remember best were the ones about his friendship with Willie Henderson. I think Richard Dunne was also on the same site at the KG Plant on the Press Construction side. I vaguely remember the name. If I've got the right guy he was a hell of a nice bloke, quieter than Cowboy but just as strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluto Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TPAFKATS Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Never saw him fight live but saw him on telly a few times. My Dad knew him quite well. Did he work in Rootes at one time?Did he ever box against Chicken George? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomsons dropped it Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Richard Dunne used to show his fight with Ali in the Cinemas Offshore wherever he went, he would prime somebody to shout out just as the fight was starting... " I'll have a fiver on the Black Guy"...or words to that effect Always got a laugh too..... He charged everybody 50p and it all went to charity. Absolutely priceless at the Messhall at night when the Big Man was getting his dinner,he would just stand there until the Chef could put nothing more on his plate and if he thought he could get still more on he would give the Chef the stare and say...."Now then Youth" as though he was addressing a child. Would you say No...?? Sadly had a terrible fall some years ago and that pretty much finished his working career IIRC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pod Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Lived round the corner from me when I was a teenager. I later worked beside him offshore on the Beatrice Hook Up back in 1980....he had the proverbial hands like shovels. In 1989 myself and four other guys went to start another job Offshore, one of the guys was another boxer.... Richard Dunne. He was an absolute giant of a man with strength to match, a character and a half. Both lads were scaffolders. Was that on one of the Marathon Brae platforms. I was out there with BK's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard Hughes in BlueSuedeShoes Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Sorry to hear the news. I met him once at the funeral of a former neighbour where I grew up. Everyone went back to the Ogilivie Club after being at the Crematorium & I ended up getting talking to him. Story after story he'd come out with and they were so outlandish they must've been true. Sorry to hear it John. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windae cleaner Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 He also pumped Babs Windsor. RIP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomsons dropped it Posted May 27, 2014 Report Share Posted May 27, 2014 Was that on one of the Marathon Brae platforms. I was out there with BK's Can't remember Pod... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Buddie Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 (edited) Richard Dunne used to show his fight with Ali in the Cinemas Offshore wherever he went, he would prime somebody to shout out just as the fight was starting... " I'll have a fiver on the Black Guy"...or words to that effect Always got a laugh too..... He charged everybody 50p and it all went to charity. Absolutely priceless at the Messhall at night when the Big Man was getting his dinner,he would just stand there until the Chef could put nothing more on his plate and if he thought he could get still more on he would give the Chef the stare and say...."Now then Youth" as though he was addressing a child. Would you say No...?? Sadly had a terrible fall some years ago and that pretty much finished his working career IIRC. I remember RD well as I was a real boxing fan before Sky got a hold of it. He was a brickie's labourer before he went pro boxing, got absolutely belted, by Ali I think (but mibbe no) then at the end of the fight Harry Carpenter asked what he'd do next, he replied "I'll find something, I'm still young. Tell me I'm still young.", with a big daft smile on his face. ETA, just checked, the fight he said the above was his second last, against Bugner, blown away in the first round. Edited May 28, 2014 by Happy Buddie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saintnextlifetime Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 Meanwhile , the other John McCormack , is doing fine , I hope . . Got a fright there. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russian Saint Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 Saddened to hear this bit of news. It's a long time since I last worked with Cowboy - I think it was probably at the KG plant at Grangemouth in the early 90 - but I remember him well and with a good degree of fondness. He was often paired up with a deaf man called Bobby Morrison who knew my Dad well through the deaf club. I could do a bit of sign language so Bobby and John would often stop by where I would be working for a bit of a chat. John must have been in his 50's then but he used to do this thing where he'd grab me, either on the arm or on the shoulder and squeeze. He was just being playful but it was always f**king sore. He talked a bit about his boxing career but the stories I remember best were the ones about his friendship with Willie Henderson. I think Richard Dunne was also on the same site at the KG Plant on the Press Construction side. I vaguely remember the name. If I've got the right guy he was a hell of a nice bloke, quieter than Cowboy but just as strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russian Saint Posted May 28, 2014 Report Share Posted May 28, 2014 I worked there with NG Bailey (90 or 91 I think) late feb or early march I was working up one of the towers. It was so cold that you couldn't feel your fingers, so much so that I dropped a pair of pliers and down they went hitting a handrail below on the way down and taking a wicked deflection taking them on earthward with great spread. The said wicked deflection took them out with the barriers that had been put in place below. I could see this figure with scaffold boards over his shoulder walk into the flight path of the pliers and struck him square on his hard hat. He collapsed like a cheap tent. I got my mate to get on the radio for a medic as I made my way down the ladders, the closer I got the bigger the guy lying sparkled on the deck became. I thought feck this guy is going to kill me. He was on his feet by the time I got to him and expected one of those shovel hands knocking me into next week. He couldn't have been nicer, his hard hat had split in two but he was in injured. That was my first encounter with the man. I met him many times since and used to joke that I was the last man to knock him out. He was a proper gent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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