Boxing: ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry – a champion and a gentleman

Sheila Abraham, Nat Terry’s only child wrote this touching memoir. She was junior to my wife Annie (Tharakan nee Abraham) in Sacred Heart’s, Yercaud (SHY). Annie & I once called on Mr. Terry when our children were at SHY. It was a pleasure meeting the legendary man.

Sheila and her husband Ramsay Abraham stay at Fathima Villa, the house that Nat built. They have two children, Ramsay Jr., and Marise and three grandchildren, Shayna, Joshua and Nathaniel. I am grateful to Sheila for writing this at my request. - A.T.

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

Nathaniel (Nat) Simon Terry was born on 3^rd July 1913 in the small town of Champion Reefs, Kolar Gold Fields, India. With his great sense of humor Nat used to say he was 16^th born to his parents but 17^th in number; there was a pair of twins among the siblings. His father, Andrew Terry hailed from Kingston Town, Jamaica. He joined a ship and landed in India and married Angelina Jones. She was also of West Indian origin but born in India.

When Nat was only eight, his father passed away. Angelina then shifted to Madras (Chennai) with her children. Nat joined St. Patrick’s School. He participated in several boxing tournaments under the name ‘Kid Joe Berg’. He didn’t win any, but kept on improving with every bout. Later he changed his name to ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry.

After studies Nat joined Richardson & Cruddas as a trainee structural engineer. But he shifted his line and enrolled in the Madras Guards A.F. in 1938. He was posted at Fort St. George. Nat married Beryl Eliza Meyer of St. Thomas Mount on the 29^th of March 1939. They were blessed with a daughter, Sheila Josephine in 1944. When discharged from MGAF in June, 1946 Nat was Warrant Officer and a qualified Boxing & Physical Instructor as well.

Major Willie Rahm who was Nat’s Commanding Officer at MGAF recommended him to Br. Eleazor (Tich), the then Principal of Montfort Anglo Indian Boys’ High School, Yercaud. He was appointed as the Boxing & Physical Instructor and Study Master of Montfort in 1946. When the school started an NCC Wing, Nat was made its First Officer also.

Beryl too joined the school staff as Matron. She and Nat made their home at Yercaud. First it was Cottage Constantina (Marley's Cottage) where they celebrated their only child Sheila’s third birthday. Then Glen Brook. Finally, in 1950, Nat built his own home, Fatima Villa, on Convent Road.

While he was at Montfort, Nat’s boxing career rose to great heights. There was a string of victories over well-known opponents like the Suares brothers, ’Dusty’ Miller, ‘Kithery’ Muthu and Murugesan. Then he scored a historic victory against the ‘unbeatable’ Gunboat Jack. Shortly after that he won the title 'South Indian Boxing Champion' in 1949 - a crown which had not been wrested from him.

However, it was at this match that Nat, to some extent lost his zest for boxing as the other contender for the title, Mr. Arunachalam, lost his life in the ring. Nat always recalled this tournament with much regret. While defending his title for the next few years, he did not try to further his boxing career at the All India level

While all these were happening Nat never wavered in his efforts to meticulously coach his trainees at Montfort. He ensured that the young boxers did the school proud. To name a few of them - Brian Chapman, Paul Wilson, Renee Pears, Blair Williams, George Edwards, David Sundaram, the Tong brothers and P. Joseph Abraham.

Beryl passed away at the age of 56. That was in 1972, the same year that Nat retired from Montfort. Though lonely after his dear wife’s demise, he was blessed with a number of visitors who would call on him and this made up for his loss. Nat was simple in nature but had a strong personality, which wooed many people, young and old, who would spend hours listening to his boxing experiences and his life as a whole.

Nat loved people and he had friends in all walks of life. Music and dancing were his passion. He was a great Tap Dancer and the life of any party or get-together, as he loved to sing and entertain the gathering. He was affectionately known to all as ‘Papa’.

On the 23^rd of January 1998 Papa passed away very peacefully at the age of 84 at his beloved Fathima Villa. May the souls of Nat and Beryl rest in peace.

Ends.

Photos: Copyright Sheila.Abraham. Click on them for enlarged view.

Also see: Gunboat Jack, a Bangalore hero of the past

Updates

Gunboat Jack, a Bangalore hero of the past

In an article ‘POETIC LICENCE: Of Gunboat Jack and Princess Amina’, Kaleem Omar had mentioned that Gunboat Jack had, in his later years, worked at a boys boarding school at Madras (Chennai) as head of watch and ward and that the US Embassy shipped him back to the United States. Somehow I had missed this earlier. Apparently, Kaleem Omar and me are talking about the same Gunboat Jack. I had expressed some doubt about this in my original post.

This is further confirmed by a mail to me from Sheila Abraham, the daughter of ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry, the famous boxer and a contemporary of Gunboat Jack. Read below what Sheila wrote:

“My father and Gunboat Jack were good friends. Whenever we visited Bangalore, he would it a point to visit him at that hotel, take him for a meal and buy him cigars. We learnt later, while my father was still alive that the U.S. Government sent for him and he went back to the United States, as his health had deteriorated considerably. He apparently must have passed on even before my father, but we have had no news since he left.”

So Gunboat Jack finally went back home after many decades in India.

Sheila has also revealed that ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry scored a historic win over Gunboat Jack. Thank you Sheila for all the input.

Also see: Boxing: ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry – a champion and a gentl...

Savage Kerala

Today’s news paper carried more news about Malathi, the woman who was beaten up at Edapal, Kerala, on October 7. It seems that the Human Rights Commission had taken up the matter on a petition filed by two human rights activists.

The Commission has ordered that the five accused in the case who were arrested by the police, pay Rs.15, 000 each. The amount is to be kept in a nationalized bank. The interest from the deposit is to be utilized for the treatment of the women and the child.

This is an interim order. The Commission decided that there is no need to take evidence from the victims. The case will be finally disposed of after hearing the concerned doctor.

Good news, I must say.

Ends.

Gunboat Jack, a Bangalore hero of the past

Many who were in Bangalore during the 1940s and 1950s are likely to have seen Gunboat Jack, or at least heard of him. He had several roles in life: boxer, circus performer, speedster, bar fighter, street brawler, bouncer, tap dancer, perhaps even smuggler. During his sunset years he had two more parts, which I shall come to later.

We know for sure that Gunboat Jack was a tall American Black, and apparently a good boxer. I have heard it mentioned that he was once a sparring partner to Jersey Joe Walcott who became the World Heavyweight Boxing Champion after the legendary Joe Louis. He is said to have been an American sailor who jumped ship at Madras (Chennai) and thus the name ‘Gunboat’. But this story may not be true. According to one version ‘Jack’ was not his Christian name but came about because he had penchant for settling street fights with a car jack.Whatever his background was, Gunboat Jack sparkled in Bangalore in the 1940s, both in the ring and outside of it. In his own words to J.T. Seamands, an American who studied in Baldwins, Bangalore and did missionary work in India, “I’m a fighter. A boxer. I’m a middle-weight, but I fight good." And again, “I like three things too much. I like drinkin,’ I like women, and I like music.” (These quotes are from Forensics & Faith, a Blog by the best selling author Brandilyn Collins nee Seamands.See http://forensicsandfaith.blogspot.com/2006/08/seeds-of-faith-part-1.html) TN Murari made Gunboat Jack a major character in his novel, Field of Honour, of which Graham Greene said, 'I was very much impressed by Field of Honour’. The famous Madras historian S. Muthiah has written about this boxer.

It is not clear when Gunboat Jack reached Bangalore. In an article ‘Of Gunboat Jack and Princess Amina’ (http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/aug2005-weekly/nos-07-08-2005/dia.htm#1) Kaleem Omar writes that the man landed in Bombay at the outbreak of World War II and was perhaps involved in smuggling. He used to visit Karachi during weekends and in 1941 sired a girl by an Anglo Indian teacher. The girl was a good athlete, but later became a well-known belly dancer.

But I don’t think we are talking about the same Gunboat Jack because the timeframe doesn’t seem to fit. J.T. Seamands, the American missionary is quoted saying that he used to read about our Gunboat Jack during his Baldwin School days. That was in the 1930s. They met for the first time in 1943 on a train to Madras. By then the boxer was already on the decline. For some time he stayed at Park Town in Madras (Chennai) and married an Anglo Indian lady. He used to fight at Madras and Bangalore.

Fighting, wine and women took their toll and age caught up too. For sometime Gunboat Jack worked as a bouncer at Bosco’s on Brigade Road. I used to see him in the early 1950s with a hat in hand, moving up and down Brigade Road. It was such a sad sight.

But JT Seamands met him again in 1958, quite by chance. Those days Gunboat Jack used to sit at a street corner on a chair, Bible in hand, and preach. The Seamands took him to their residence for Thanksgiving Dinner at which the American community in Bangalore was present. I cannot find any further trace of the boxer.

Gunboat Jack was a star in the boxing arena; perhaps unbeaten in India. But he lost out in the ring of life. His story reminds me the title of a good novel I read long ago (forget the author’s name), The Bigger They Come the Harder They Fall.

Ends.

Updates

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