I first met Bob Gibson back in 1985 when he was walking boxer Steve Renwick to the ring at Carlaw Park. However it was not until the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, that we became friends.
Bob was in charge of the sound system at the games, and he soared unintentionally to international fame not realizing that his impromptu singing could be heard by more than 200 million people.
He was the man who delighted viewers around the world when he unexpectedly launched into Danny Boy.
Irish Flyweight Wayne McCullough had won a gold medal by beating Nokuthuia Tshabangu from Zimbabwe. He was on the dais waiting for Bob, then in charge of the tape-recorder, to play his national anthem.
There was a brief but embarrassing silence. The machine had jammed.
Bob asked for the announcer’s microphone and gave a superb rendition of the ballad–joined enthusiastically by a packed out audience in the hall.
“I had never sung in public before and I completely forgot that about three quarters of the globe would be listening,” said Bob. “I was only aware of the people in the hall and I just didn’t want it to fizzle into a non-event for Wayne.
Newspapers around the world were suddenly chasing Bob for interviews. A Hotel group sponsored him on a twelve day trip to Belfast, from where he had emigrated some 40 years ago. The only conditions being that he had to sing Danny Boy again.
At the city’s Europa Hotel at a boxing evening featuring Wayne McCullough, Bob again sang Danny Boy, and over the next few years he was asked to sing the ballad many times.
I recall he was invited to sing in Japan also at a World Title fight there.
Bob was a referee but probably better known as a judge. I recall a few years back he was sent to Poland to judge a World Title match involving Steve Cunningham. Bob judged many fights around New Zealand and Australia as well as several in The United States. He was a long time member of the NZPBA.
Bob passed away on 13th April 2014.
