Gary Shaw
by chrismoffat
Affiliation: Independent Sports Historian and Writer; Boxing Reporter for BBC Merseyside
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside
Contact: merseybox@yahoo.co.uk
Research Description:
Gary’s main area of research is the history of sport, particularly boxing and football. He has written two social and sporting histories of Liverpool FC (reviews of the 1946/47 title winning season and the 1985/86 double) and a two volume collection of biographies of former local boxers: Mersey Fighters 1 and Mersey Fighters 2. A third volume, aptly titled Mersey Fighters 3, is due to be published in November 2015.
Specific research on black sporting personalities include four biographies of pre-2WW black British boxers for the ODNB as well as one each from the 1950s & 1960s: middleweight Len Johnson – one of Europe’s best boxers in the late 1920s and who would later stand as a Communist Party candidate in five general elections; heavyweights Tommy Martin and Larry Gains – the former retiring a wealthy man in California the latter later publishing an autobiography entitled The Impossible Dream; Liverpool-based British Guinean Richie Kid Tanner – ranked in the world’s top 5 flyweights in 1939; and Nigerian world champions Hogan Kid Bassey and Dick Tiger.
Research Keywords: Sport; Sports History; Boxing; Football.
Countries and Regions of Interest: UK, Liverpool, Merseyside.
Publications:
Mersey Fighters 1 (Milo Books, 2004)
Mersey Fighters 2 (Gary Shaw, 2007)
At the End of the Storm – the remarkable story of Liverpool FC’s greatest ever league title triumph (Gary Shaw, 2009)
On the March with Kenny’s Army – how Liverpool FC overcame tragedy and despair to win the league and FA Cup double 1985/86 (Gary Shaw, 2011)
Links:
Twitter: @GaryMerseybox