A public ceremony to commemorate Aboriginal boxing hero Dave Sands' 80th birthday year and the upgrading of the Dave Sands Memorial plaque will take place on Tuesday December 19, 2006 at the corner of Broadway and Glebe Point Road in Glebe.

The event MC will be Claude Williams and speakers will include Aboriginal boxing legend George Bracken, a representative from Sydney City Council, Metropolitan Aboriginal Land Council chairperson Rob Welsh, Boxing Historian Michael J. Clarke OAM BA and a member of Dave Sands family.

Event : Dave Sands Memorial Upgrade ceremony
When : Tuesday December 19, 2006 11am - 11.45 am
Where: Glebe : South West Corner of Glebe Point Road and Broadway (The fountain)
Entry : Free

This event is being hosted by Gadigal Information Services (Koori Radio), The Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and the City of Sydney.

Who was Dave Sands?    
A two hour radio program will pay tribute to Dave Sands on the eve of the ceremony. Find out more about this talented boxer who has been described as "An Australian & a gentleman" and "One of nature's finest".

Program: The Sweet Science National Boxing Show
When: Monday December 18, 2006 6-8pm( eastern time)
Stations: Sydney & Wollongong Koori Radio 93.7FM; Melbourne 3KND 1503AM
For other stations: www.gadigal.org.au/sweetscience
Listen live on the web!
www.4k1g.org – Click on Home and Listen live
http://www.3knd.org.au/index.htm

The following biographical information is courtesy of Koori Radio and Michael J. Clarke – boxing historian and author of The History of the Fighting Sands Brothers and Tony Nobbs.

Born David Ritchie in 1926 at Burnt Ridge near Kempsey, he and his five brothers took on the Sands name, taken off a train guard who helped Percy Ritchie, the second oldest, travel to fight fare free in 1940.  Proud representatives of the Dhungutti people, the Fighting Sands Brothers are arguably Australia’s greatest sporting family.

At the time of his death in a truck accident at 26 at Dungog, near Newcastle, Dave Sands was rated the # 3 Middleweight contender in the World behind Champion Sugar Ray Robinson and had scored his 97th victory (62 ko) against 10 defeats and a draw.

In his 11 year career, Sands held the Australian Middle, Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Titles and won the Commonwealth Middleweight Title by knocking out Dick Turpin, brother of Randolph in one round in 1949 in England. He beat future Middleweight Champion and Hall of Famer, Carl (Bobo) Olson twice, first in Sydney and then in Chicago.  Olson, standing in the Madison Square Garden ring after he had won the vacant world crown in 1953 said: "if Dave Sands was alive, this title would be his". In 1950 and 1951 Dave won the Sports Novel public vote for Sportsman of the year over Clive Churchill, Neil Harvey and Keith Miller. 

The man the Americans called the "boxer with the educated left hand" received his due when he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1998 at a ceremony held in Los Angeles and there can be no greater tribute than that provided by a sportsman's peers.

The following Daily Mirror Tribute was printed the day after his funeral.

"I suppose there never was a world-class fighter who was more modest, less affected by the glitter and glamour of it than Dave. In his whole career there was never a nasty whisper about him. And who'll forget the Empire, Australian and so on Champion saying after a big fight, "well, got to be getting home", sleeping like a baby on a bench at Central Railway Station and then climbing onto a paper train which carried him and news of another great win the draughty hundred miles back to Newcastle.  When our children are old, old people, they'll still be talking about this gentleman of the ring."