Tragic tale of Commonwealth Games gold medallist boxer who ‘went missing’ for 30 years.. before being found in a coma
THE name Frankie Lucas means nothing to today’s boxing fans.
But he had such a tragic and bittersweet life it has been turned into a dramatic three-act play.
Starring Emmerdale’s Jazz Lintott as Frankie, ‘Going for Gold’ opens at the Rotunda Theatre in Brighton on the 29th of this month before transferring to the Chelsea Theatre the week after.
Frankie’s fascinating story began 60 years ago when, as a nine-year-old, he arrived from St Vincent to be with his mother in South London.
A difficult child, he found his niche by joining Croydon’s prestigious Sir Philip Game ABC.
He won two ABA middleweight titles and should have represented England at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand.
But inexplicably he was snubbed by the selectors, who instead chose Carl Speake — the man he had beaten in the 1973 ABA final.
Frankie, angry at being left out without explanation, was about to turn pro when Ken Rimington, a policeman and a Sir Philip Game committee man, came to his rescue.
Rimington got in touch with the authorities on St Vincent, who weren’t sending any athletes to New Zealand and persuaded them to let Frankie become their one-man team.
I was in the Christchurch athletes’ village and got to know the abrasive, hard-hitting Frankie, who had no idea he was about to rub shoulders with royalty in the week leading up to the opening ceremony.
Because he was the only representative of the Caribbean island of his birth, Lucas was considered the head of delegation, team manager, flag bearer and athlete.
He was given VIP status with a chauffeur-driven limousine at his disposal.
I shall never forget walking into his room in the Games village and seeing half a dozen embossed invitations to various receptions to be attended by either the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Charles or Princess Anne.
When I asked him if he had accepted any of them, with a cheeky grin he said he was going to go to all of them.
Yet despite his unexpected hectic social life, Frankie reached the middleweight final where he KO’d highly rated Zambian Julius Luip in two rounds to bring home the gold medal.
He then decided to turn pro and had an unforgettable brawl with Tony Sibson for the vacant British middleweight championship, before suffering a fifth-round KO at the Albert Hall 44 years ago.
It was shortly after that that Frankie’s life took a disastrous turn.
Deeply depressed because he couldn’t get meaningful boxing bouts, he went missing.
Nothing was heard from him for more than 30 years and nearly everyone who knew him, including me, assumed he was dead.
FRANKIE’S FIGHT
Five years ago he was discovered suffering from brain cancer and in a coma.
Frankie’s fighting spirit rose to the surface and, miraculously, he survived.
That was when he was reunited with his family, although he was suffering from severe mental problems.
Lintott, who is also producing ‘Going for Gold’, heard about the saga and the idea of a play was born.
Despite his health problems, Frankie was also able to help Lintott with his research.
But sadly, there is a dreadful irony to this tale. Frankie didn’t live long enough to see himself portrayed on stage, dying on April 8.
His son, Michael, who was a useful amateur heavyweight and nearly made the 2000 British Olympic team, told me: “I was a year old when my father won his gold medal.
“He went out of my life when I was eight and didn’t come back into it until I was 46.
“But I’m consoled that at least he got to meet his granddaughter and great-grandson.”