Tumultuous Welcome

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 455, 10 September 1928, Page 11

Tumultuous Welcome

HEENEY SURPRISED AT RECEPTION

Turns Down Offer of £SO a Night

MONEY doesn’t matter to me." In these words Tom Heeney, Xew Zealand’s champion boxer, refused an offer of £SO a night to appear at the Regent Theatre. It was practically the first thing he did on his arrival at Auckland last evening by the Aorangi, after he had been greeted by representatives of the Boxing Associations and personal friends. Heeney’s welcome was a royal one. and yet he took it as an unexpected pleasure.

‘Bv Jove, I never expected this,” he • remarked to a Sun representative as j the crowds cheered and yelled themselves hoarse on the wharf. He was obviously pleased with the reception, and took it all in a quiet, unassuming way. “I want to see my people first,” he remarked, as interviewers crowded round him and passengers pushed forward to say good-bye or to get an autograph. As the Aorangi lay in the stream, waiting to berth, a crowded launch circled round the vessel, calling for Heeney to make himself known to them. But this welcome was only a whispering affair compared wiih that which waited him at the Prince’s Wharf. A sea of faces stretched across the width of the wharf. Thousands of people were cheering “Our Tom.” High on the iron platform above the wharf itself and running between the sheds was another dense throng. Men and women scrambled for places, and men and women cheered with enthusiasm —perhaps the women more than the men. When Heeney did show himself the cheers were deafening, and as the Dominion’s boxing hero walked down the gangway the noise reached amazing proportions. ;

j Behind the sea of people, quietly i i waiting in a taxicab, were Mr. and Mrs. | Heeney, Tom’s parents. Their emotion J was too deep for any noisy display. As soon as their son could get through the Customs he made his way i to the car and embraced his happy father and mother. The crowd surged round, unwilling to let their hero go. It was a welcome which Royalty or Prime Ministers have never received in New Zealand. Heeney looks remarkably fit and well, and had taken his receptions at Honolulu and Suva with honest joy. He still bears traces of his memorable battle with Tunney. There is a scar above one eye. To passengers on the Aorangi he has been extremely honest about his battles. They call him “Honest Tom.” “I was beaten from the start,” he told one passenger on the journey down from Vancouver, when speaking of his meeting with Tunney. “I think the only round I won was the fourth, despite what the reporter* said about “Well, I figured that I’d like to see the Melbourne Cup in November, and then I’ll be getting back to the States.” This was Heeney’s reply to questions asking how long he would stay in New Zealand. He hopes to return to the United . States in the beginning of December, and in January he hopes to begin his

contests in a qu<*st for ir»« worki * championship. There are eight and 10 contestsixxts. and lie expects to meet one of th© last three or four left in. These will be Sharkey, Loughran, Ritko or Paulino. Heeney talks Without hedging about his fight with Tunney. “Tie won fairly,*’ he said last evesting. In rej calling the battle. “I don’t want to i take anything from Tunney’s vie— I tory, but. as you all know, I broke my I thumb while in training, and had to keep it secret.” He says that the fight was a clear one. There was no truth in the cabled statement that Tunney injured one of Heeney’s eyes with his thumb. In the eighth round Tunney damaged one of Heeney’s eyes and this almost blinded him. He says that ho felt worse in the tenth round than in the eleventh. ‘‘Yes, I'll have a go at the world’s championship.” he said. “The Americans are 100 per cent, sportsmen. They gave me a greater and more enthusiastic welcome than Tunney.” Prom the time the Aorangi anchored in the stream sheaves of telegrams had been arriving for Heeney. During the interview he kept opening them until the regularity of their arrival must have become monotonous. He will stay in New Zealand until November. He came principally to see his parents, and for this reason be is refusing all offers to appear. He intends to take a good rest. Gisborne is the only town which will see him box. because it is his “hometown.” and he feels that he has a debt to his friends there. Last evening Heeney made a triumphal tour from the wharves to the Grand Hotel, and later to the broadcasting station, where be thanked the people for the interest they had taken in his career. To-day he will be the guest of the Northern Boxing Association, and this evening he will attend a prize-giving function. To-morrow morning he. will leave for Gisborne, via Rotorua. in company with his parents. Heeney was accompanied on the voyage home by his brothers Jack. Pat and Arthur, who have been to the States. On the Aorangi he was greeted by Mr. A. E. Craig, president of the Northern Boxing Association, Mr. J. Gleeson, ind other members of the association, ind officials from Gisborne, who have tnade arrangements for the receptions svhich are to be accorded the boxe^