Frank McGurk

A Glasgow-man, Frank McGurk joined the Scottish Amateur Gymnastic Association in April 1907, and his first appearance in a public boxing ring was in February 1908, just eight months before the Olympic Games. On that occasion, he won the Scottish Western District Bantamweight Championship at the Rutherglen Town Hall. Just two months later he was the Scottish national champion, out of a field of 18 men. A hard-hitting two-handed bantamweight McGurk captured the Western District featherweight title in 1909 and a few months later turned professional, making his début in October that year, against fellow Olympian Harry Thomas, on home soil at Glasgow, but suffered a seventh round stoppage. It is believed to have been McGurk’s only professional bout.