Ambrose Harold Palmer (16 October 1910 – 16 October 1990) was a talented world-class professional prize fighter and a leading Australian rules footballer of the 1930s and early 1940s.
Family
The third child of the Victorian champion lightweight boxer William Arthur Palmer (1877-1940),[1] and May Palmer (1885-1936), née Ranger,[2] Ambrose Harold Palmer was born at Footscray, Victoria on 16 October 1910.[3]
He married Emma May Gibson (1914-1993), at Footscray, on 12 September 1931.[4]
Boxing
Boxer
Often referred to as "Young" Palmer[5] — his father and his two elder brothers, David William "Dave" Palmer (1905-1966) and William Vincent "Billy" Palmer (1907-1947) were also noted boxers — he was a champion amateur boxer, who tuned professional, winning 57 of his professional bouts (losing only 7) from 1929 to 1938. Eventually managed by Hugh D. McIntosh,[6] in the 1930s he held the Australian middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight boxing titles at the same time.
In Round One of the 1939 VFL season, Footscray were playing Essendon Football Club and Palmer, resting in the forward-pocket, collided head-on with Essendon backman Stan Wilson, suffering sixteen jaw, cheekbone and skull fractures (he had been knocked out in a collision with Bill Shaw in the team's last pre-season practice match a week earlier).[14] For a while the injuries were thought to be life-threatening, but Palmer eventually recovered, and although he did not play again that season, he went on to play another forty-four games for Footscray.[15]
Military service
Palmer enlisted in the Second AIF in December 1941, but was declared medically unfit for duty and was discharged from the army in February 1942 because of "post-traumatic headache' ".[16]
^Note that some sources (such as an inscription on a "photo"., Boxrec and "newspaper reports".) have his birthdate as 19 September 1911 or without being specific indicate a 1911 birthdate. However, the AFL historical websites, Victorian BDM records and some newspaper articles give his birthdate as either 16 October 1910 or correctly calculate his age based on a 1910 birthdate.
Atkinson, G. (1982) Everything you ever wanted to know about Australian rules football but couldn't be bothered asking, The Five Mile Press: Melbourne. ISBN0-86788-009-0.
