Obituary: Danny McKay, former boxer, 89

Danny McKay, a big-hitting boxer who delighted fans across the country, has died, aged 89.

Born in Bonnyrigg in 1921, McKay was raised in a Depression-era Gorgie tenement close to Tynecastle Park, sharing a house with eight brothers and sisters and both parents.

He was introduced to boxing at an early age by his brother John and sent for boxing lessons at Charlie Cotter's Leith Street gym.

At 16 he started moonlighting in George Stewart's boxing booth in Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, where he took home plenty of cash thrown into the ring by admiring spectators.

After learning the ropes from Cotter, McKay moved to Sid Stanley's Damhead gym in Gorgie, launching his professional career.

From 1937 he won 55 of his first 60 paid bouts, and in all he fought in more than 70 professional bouts. It is understood he was never once knocked out.

Veteran Edinburgh boxing writer Bill Cairns described him in 1946: "In a boxing experience going back to the days of Tancy Lee, Alex Ireland and George McKenzie - British champions all - I have not seen an Edinburgh boxer with such a dynamic punch as big, right-hand puncher Danny McKay ..."

During the second World War McKay was called up to the Royal Air Force, and soon after managed to defeat 12 allied service boxing champions. Indeed he was even flown to venues around Europe, such as Belgium, to take part in boxing matches for the RAF.

His Gorgie upbringing meant McKay had a devoted following amongst fans of Heart of Midlothian FC, and he was even invited by the Hearts' first team players to be a guest-of-honour at several players' dances in Edinburgh's Westfield Halls.

He was a crowd-pleasing attraction to boxing fans between 1937 and 1951 and thanks to investing his money wisely he was able to purchase the Georgian flat in the New Town where he lived with his wife Annie for over 60 years.

He also gave plenty back to the sport, and in the early 1990s was ring coach at Edinburgh's famous Sparta amateur boxing club where he discovered and nurtured Scotland's 1994 Commonwealth Games flyweight gold medallist Paul Shepherd. A devoted husband and father, Mr McKay is survived by his wife and four children.