Jack Meda was never one to back down from a fight.
You don't get to be a Canadian heavyweight boxing champion without having a lion's share of courage.
He wasn't afraid to out up his dukes defending his honour in the years he spent working in B.C. logging camps. Those skills in self-defence also came in handy for Meda when he had to keep unruly customers from causing trouble working as a tavern doorman in downtown Prince George.
Meda died Sunday of a heart attack at University Hospital of Northern B.C. He was 73.
The six-foot, 220-pound scrapper officially began his boxing career in 1967 when, acting on a dare from a group of amateur boxers, he entered the 1967 B.C. Golden Gloves boxing championship in Vancouver and came home to Prince George with second-place honours. After that, there was no stopping him. He trained at the Spruce Capital Boxing Club with with coach Harold Mann and won gold at the 1969 B.C. Winter Games, and became a three-time Golden Gloves champion from 1969-71, winning in consecutive years.
Meda went on to win gold in the heavyweight division at the 1970 Canada Winter Games in Saskatoon and that same year came home from the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland with a bronze medal. He won the Western Canadian and Canadian heavyweight amateur titles in 1970 and 1971.
To achieve that level of fitness he trained religiously, frequently running along the streets of Prince George, back when running was an unusual activity.
"People would see him and say,"Who's that crazy guy running every day," said Meda's wife Carol.
Boxing for the national team in 1970, Meda boxed in invitational events in New York, Montreal, Sweden, Finland and Norway and went on to compete at the 1971 Pan American Games in Cali, Colombia and at the North American championships in Albany, N.Y.
He finished his boxing career in 1972 after an undefeated season.
In 2003, Meda was inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame.
Meda spent most of his working years as a logger, most recently at Mount Milligan mine.
Meda was born Nov. 17, 1945 in New Westminster, the eighth of 10 children. He leaves behind his wife Carol, daughters Jody Matters and Bobbie Meda, and six grandchildren.
The family will hold a service at a yet-to-be determined date.
