For many, Dick McTaggart was Dundee’s greatest-ever sportsman. McTaggart was the tough-as-teak Dundonian who was nicknamed “Dandy Dick” by the esteemed boxing commentator Harry Carpenter. The boxing great, who died on Sunday at the age of 89, surged to golden glory with a series of memorable performances in the lightweight division at the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956.
He had a sculpted in his honour yet had always remained as down-to-earth and approachable as he was at the height of his powers. There won’t be many people in Dundee whose eyes don’t twinkle when they reflect on the achievements of this extraordinary individual as they mark his passing. It was another time, another place when the 21-year-old boxer travelled to Melbourne on his maiden Olympic mission in November 1956.
And it’s little wonder that he was glad to arrive in Australia after a gruelling journey which took five days and included a stop-off in Honolulu which was a place of exotic beauty for the boy from a Dens Road tenement building. This was long before there was lottery funding or any semblance of Team GB, but McTaggart – a gifted pugilist with a style and technique which impressed the cognoscenti – had no intention of simply making up the numbers. On the contrary, as somebody who had grown up in a family with a flair for the fistic arts, the Scot was desperate to prove his mettle to the world.
He recalled: “People had told us before we left that we should go there and enjoy oursel.