Hugh Joseph Roddin (March 10, 1887 – March 3, 1954) was an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He was the first Scottish boxer to win an Olympics boxing medal when he took home the

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids such ...

in 1908.

Biography

Roddin, universally known as 'Hughie', was raised in the Newbigging district of

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...

http://ringnews24.com/index.php/boxing-news/boxing-history/54688-scotlands-first-olympian-.html#axzz2RNg1i0o0 in

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

. Hughie first came into contact with boxing through legendary Charles 'Charlie' Cotter. Cotter worked as a timekeeper, physical trainer and boxing coach and a dominant figure in Scottish boxing. Hughie rapidly won two Scottish Eastern District Featherweight Titles under Cotter's guidance. Even better was to follow in the years 1907-08, when he went on to win the Scottish Amateur Featherweight Title. He won a silver trophy in an open boxing championship at the Pavilion Theatre in Musselburgh in 1906. The building that he trained and fought in is being refurbished and used as a museum of Scottish boxing, including a display of Hugh Roddin memorabilia. Hugh Roddin won his bronze medal at the 1908 London Olympics. He was a

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, this ...

(57 kg). They had not originally planned to include boxing in the 1908 Olympics, so it was held after all of the other events, in October. His fight was a 37 bout marathon session that started at 11:25 am and went until 10:30 pm. Because it was held after all the other events, 32 of the 42 entrants were from Great Britain, including all of the featherweight medalists. Of the ten overseas entrants, nine were defeated in their first bout. In 1911 Roddin emigrated to the United States. Roddin had a 23 win and no loss record, according to author and journalist Brian Donald, in his research for a book on Scottish boxing history entitled ''The Fight Game in Scotland''. This book devotes a complete chapter to Hugh Roddin. One of the fights was held in the old Vanderbilt Athletic Club in the Ninth Ward before World War I. In an extract that appeared in 1954 in the now defunct Brooklyn News: Hughie Roddin, the great featherweight, was a real star. During a contest in Brooklyn's Vanderbilt Club he knocked out his opponent with a crushing blow in the first round. The club owners asked Roddin if he would go in with the same opponent after a 10-minute interval, Roddin agreed and knocked the same guy out again! Roddin's career in the ring ended during World War One when he served in the U.S. Army's 35th Division. On returning he ran several youth soccer teams in Brooklyn and athletics teams based at a gym he owned there. Roddin became the boxing coach at the American Legion in Rosedale, Long Island, New York and taught his nephew Harold (Sonny) and many other boys the finer points of boxing. Sonny would go from Bayside to Rosedale many a Saturday night, go to the Legion and then home. Hugh Roddin (Hugh's nephew) tells a story that when Hugh Roddin was in his late years he was approached in the park by a mugger to give up his wallet. Hugh reached into his coat as if to grab the wallet - and came out with a punch to knock the young man down. The young man was so stunned he got up and ran away. An old boxer never loses his punch is what Hugh had said. He died at the age of 66 in Brooklyn in 1954 and is buried at Long Island's National Cemetery in Farmington, New York. The boxing gloves Roddin used to win his Olympic medal now belong to author Brian Donald's grandson Ruaridh. They were given to Brian Donald as a show of appreciation by Roddin's family in the US for his work on the fighter in The Fight Game in Scotland, a history of Scottish boxing. They were on display in the

National Museum of Scotland The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, Scotland, was formed in 2006 with the merger of the new Museum of Scotland, with collections relating to Scottish antiquities, culture and history, and the adjacent Royal Scottish Museum (opened in ...

until its refurbishment in 2015 and are now being stored in a Scottish university's archive.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodin, Hugh 1887 births 1954 deaths Scottish male boxers Olympic boxers for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Featherweight boxers Boxers at the 1908 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Musselburgh Olympic medalists in boxing Scottish Olympic medallists United States Army personnel of World War I Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics