USC hosts Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame event
Boxing guru Bill Burow and surfing legend Gary Elkerton have been inducted into the Sunshine Coast Sports Hall of Fame at a ceremony organised by the University of the Sunshine Coast at Chancellors Tavern.
Bill Burow has coached some of Australia’s best boxers, including Robbie Peden, Rick Finch and Darren Obah, for the past 38 years. He has trained national teams for the Commonwealth Games and was the national amateur coach for 14 years.
Gary Elkerton is, without doubt, one of Australia’s most successful and recognisable surfers. He won the Australian title in 1983, was runner-up three times on the world tour in the 1980s and ’90s and starred in a surfing movie called "Kong’s Island".
Last night's ceremony was organised by University of the Sunshine Coast’s Faculty of Science, Health and Education.
Bill Burow has been an integral part of Australian boxing for more than three decades, guiding the careers of some of Australia’s most talented fighters.
He led Australian teams to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1986 and eight years later in Victoria, Canada, when boxers like Robbie Peden and Sunshine Coast-based Rick Finch starred to claim medals.
He also was instrumental in leading the Coast’s Darren Obah to the Seoul Olympic Games and then, when Darren turned professional, took him all the way to be the number one contender for the WBA world middleweight title.
Burow was also the national amateur coach for 14 years and, in that time, he also held Oceania boxing’s top job.
Gary Elkerton began surfing at age 13. He entered a local Sunshine Coast competition and gained instant recognition.
He won four consecutive Queensland amateur titles as well as the 1983 Australian title. His sponsor, Quiksilver, introduced him to the world via a movie named "Kong’s Island".
He joined the world tour and was runner up three times – 1987, 1990 and 1993. He won the Hawaiian Triple Crown in 1987 and 1989.
While world titles eluded him in the ’80s and ’90s, Gary rectified that with an electrifying win over Tom Curren in France in 2000, to win the world masters crown.
He made a courageous defence of his title in Ireland in 2001 and clinched a hat-trick of titles in 2003.
Nominations for the 2007 Hall of Fame are now open, call the University of the Sunshine Coast on (07) 5430 2888 to register a Sunshine Coast sporting legend.