A Blind Boxer

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 44, 14 May 1927, Page 13

A Blind Boxer

Athlete’s “Sixth Sense” Although he has been blind for more than 12 years, Captain Gerald Lowry, formerly of the Irish Rifles, is to give in London shortly demonstrations of skill as a swimmer and diver, as a boxer in the ring and with a punchball, and as an athlete on the open track. Coptain Lowry went to France in August 1914 and was wounded two months later, being the first British officer to lose his sight. He was then 24 and about 6ft 2in tall. He chose osteopathy for a career and was the first male qualified osteopath in England. In his spare time he has devoted himself to running, diving, boxing, and other games which he never took part in before he was wounded. He is a member of the Constitutional Club, Northumberland Avenue, W.C., and one of its best bridge players. •To a “Daily Mail” reporter recently Captain Lowry said: “I have come to the conclusion that eyes are not so necessary as most people think. During the last two months I have been in hard training with the professional of the Bath Club, and 1 am tcld that those who watch me boxing find it difficult to tell who is the blind man.

“My opponent weighs 14st 91b, and 1 weigh 13st 41b, and we hit each other good and hard. I had previously boxed with a man who had an artificial leg and had been afraid to hit out. I can follow every movement of my opponent by means of my “sixth” sense and visualise everything he does. It is really making the brain see without the vehicle of the eye. “Until I lost my sight I did not know the full joy of living, and I want all the men who were blinded in the war to realise that they need not be helpless but are just as good as men with the eyesight unimpaired.” Captain Lowry’s friends declare that he is the jolliest of companions.