As the youngest member of the Australian Boxing Team, 19-year-old, Noel Hazard marched into the Melbourne Cricket Ground, one of the 3500 athletes from 67 nations, to hear trumpets and guns thunder their salute at the opening of the 1956 Olympics.
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“It was a tremendous trip to the Melbourne Olympic Games,” Noel told well-wishers on his return to Mount Isa just before Christmas that year.
Not discouraged by not winning his first round bout in the Men’s Featherweight Division, Hazard said his trip held a lifetime of memories.
From Mount Isa and the Outback to Melbourne and the Olympics, it was a journey driven by blood, sweat, defeats and wins; a boxer’s rite of passage.
Growing up in Mount Isa in the 40s, life was not smooth sailing, and perhaps the frustrations of local beer restrictions for adults and children petty fighting over territorial gullies, could explain the resurgence of formalised boxing bouts at the Palais Royal Stadium in Miles Street.
It gained even more momentum with the arrival of the American, Al Houseman and 1500 Allied servicemen pals when they descended on Mount Isa in 1947.
Houseman, a heavyweight, singlehandedly swung the popularity stakes in boxing’s favour as he delighted fans by beating those who dared to challenge him.
But it was not until the 1950s that boxing really came into its own as a formalised sport in Mount Isa.
When Dr Rogers started the new club, he sent out an SOS for possible coaches and members to join the club.
Scotty Crawford, himself a former champion schoolboy pugilist, joined the new Mount Isa Amateur Boxing Club and started training young Hazard.
“I don’t remember him boxing at school but he was a good fist fighter and football player” recalls Mick Bray who was not only a classmate of Hazard’s at Thornborough and Blackheath College, a boarding school, in Charters Towers, but later a fellow electrical apprentice at Mount Isa Mines Limited.
Weighing in at 8st. 3lbs, his first away tournament was to Townsville where he joined his fellow team members, Johnno Johnson (9st.), Harry Biondi (9st. 2lbs), Arthur Leon (5st. 3 lbs) and Freddy Leon (4st. 7lbs), for a six-fight programme.
The large Townsville crowd witnessed some hard-fought contests and the standard of boxing throughout was consistently high.
Among the small boys, the Leon brothers showed poise, coolness and ringcraft that would have done credit to experienced men.
And even though his team mates were seasoned boxers (Harry Biondi - a former Queensland Lightweight Champion and Freddy Leon - a State Schoolboy’s Champion), Hazard was the one to catch the attention of the North Queensland fans enough to convince them that he could take out a title within two years.
Scotty Crawford never differed in his belief in Hazard, even when the promising southpaw injured his shoulder playing football, which hampered his preparation for the Zone Titles in Hughenden.
But that only proved a hiccup in his fitness routine guided by Crawford.
Unlike many a local fighters who later claimed would’ve, should’ve’, could’ve excuses for not ascending the ring ladder to the Olympics, Hazard brooked no excuse and quietly kept on skipping, sparring and training knowing Olympic representation was gained one win at a time.
His fitness was in no doubt in Hughenden, winning a KO against bantamweight Kev Thorkingson in the first round and later he sent Reg Friday, a featherweight from Palm Island, to the floor with a KO in the second round.
Both Hazard (featherweight) and Biondi (lightweight) were selected to compete in the State Olympic Selections in Brisbane.
Hazard gave an excellent display of fighting in his first round TKO of Maryborough champion, Gordon Glindon while Biondi lost on points in his only fight.
As Queensland’s new Featherweight Champion, he went on to seal his Olympic ticket to Melbourne with a points win against the South Australian featherweight, M. Major.
Being selected to represent Australia and being fitted out with his new green and gold national blazer, Hazard, wore the expectations of Mount Isa with honour and pride.
He later said he wasn’t ‘very nervous’ when he went in to fight Tom Nicholls, the British and European featherweight champion, more ‘awestruck’.
The fact that Nicholls defeated him on points was taken in Hazard’s good Aussie stride of knowing the better boxer won on the night: two nights later Nicholls, a member of the British Boxing Team at the 1953 Helsinki Summer Olympics, was beaten into second place (silver medal) by Russian boxer V. Safronov (gold medal).
His homecoming was trumpeted by the Silver Band and local dignitaries including President of Mount Isa Boxing Association, Bill Aplin, who bestowed upon Hazard, a deserving Life Membership of the Club.
When later questioned on his trip to the Melbourne Olympic Games, he said he spent most of his time watching the boxing events but did manage to get to see some of the athletic and swimming events commenting, “Murray Rose sure can swim.”
“The accommodation and other facilities there were very good and the food was marvellous.”
“It was so good that I had to watch my weight very carefully before my fight as I feared I might be overweight.”
Asked about his future plans Noel said, “I don’t have any intentions of turning professional at the moment, but who knows?”
(By the late 50s, Hazard was boxing professionally in London.)
“I think I’ll give boxing up for a couple of years and concentrate on finishing my apprenticeship with MIM.”
A true local legend, Noel Hazard - Mount Isa’s First Olympic competitor!
Researched and written by Kim-Maree Burton.
Photographs provided by MIMAG, Australian Olympic Committee Archives.