1. Thomas Heeney was a professional heavyweight boxer from New Zealand, best known for unsuccessfully challenging champion Gene Tunney for the heavyweight championship of the world in New York City on 26 July 1928.
14 Facts About Tom Heeney
1. 2.
Tom Heeney was born in Gisborne, New Zealand, and worked as a plumber until he left New Zealand.
3.
Tom Heeney was a strong swimmer and was awarded a bronze medal by the Royal Humane Society of New Zealand in 1918 for helping rescue two women from the sea off Waikanae Beach, Gisborne.
4.
Tom Heeney retrieved a third woman who did not survive.
5.
Tom Heeney learnt to box from his father and his older brother Jack Heeney, who was the New Zealand amateur welterweight champion in 1914 and middleweight champion from 1919 to 1924.
6.
Tom Heeney became a professional boxer when he fought Bill Bartlett in Gisborne in 1920.
7.
In October 1920, Tom Heeney became the New Zealand heavyweight champion when he beat Brian McCleary of Dunedin on a technical knockout.
8.
Tom Heeney boxed in Australia and won the Australian heavyweight champion title in 1922, and fought in England and South Africa in 1924.
9.
Tom Heeney beat Jim Maloney, Johnny Risko and Jim Delaney and eventually ranked fourth among the world's heavyweight boxers.
10.
Tom Heeney entered the boxing ring wearing a Maori cloak that was given to him by Heni Materoa, the widow of Sir James Carroll.
11.
Tom Heeney became an American citizen and boxed until 1934, accomplishing a fighting record of 70 professional bouts, 38 wins, 22 losses, 8 draws, and 2 no-contest.
12.
Tom Heeney served with the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps in World War II, and afterward coached boxing and refereed armed forces bouts in the South Pacific.
13.
Tom Heeney often fished with his friend, the famous writer Ernest Hemingway.
14.
Tom Heeney was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.