"Belfast Hardmen" http://www.belfastforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=95.0Remember the term "Hardman" (Street Fighters)
Well there were quite a few in Belfast and here are just a few who I recall
Silver Mc Kee, Stormy Weatherall, Frankie Drain, Seamus Doyle, who had one eye and wore a black patch
Buck Alec and Bo Bradley
Anyone know these legends, or others and do you have any stories on them ?
"Belfast City Characters" http://buckalecrobinson.rushlightmagazine.com/char.html"To be ignorant of what happened before you were born is to be ever a child. For what is man’s lifetime unless the memory of past events is woven with those of earlier times.” .. Cicero"
"Silver McKee & Stormy Weather - By Joe Graham""Belfast has always been a rough and tumble kind of town, and we were never short of colourful characters and legends, and perhaps in the tradition of a Seanachie, the stories were slightly exaggerated and maybe even tinted but sure aren’t all heroes said to be “seven foot in height with some inches to spare.”"
"Growing up in 1950'S Belfast I can clearly remember the accounts of two famous Belfast characters, two men who made their mark in local folklore through their street fighting abilities, "Stormy" Weather and "Silver" McKee. One a Protestant, one a Catholic, and you may think that their many fights were over religion, if both had been Protestant, or both Catholic they still would have fought, the title ‘hardest man in Belfast’ was at stake."
"Stormy" came from the protestant Shankill and "Silver" from the Catholic Market district, and us kids held them in equal esteem ..but I have to be honest ..when ever these two met to fight, our cheers would have been for our co-religionist, for after all that old Orange and Green is never too far removed from any of us, don’t let anyone try to fool you on that, Scratch deep enough and the Orange or Green blood will flow."
etcetera,...http://www.irishnews.com/notices/livesremembered/2015/02/07/news/compassionate-hard-man-had-fists-of-stone-115197/"Compassionate 'hard man' had fists of stone""PATRICK 'COCO' MCAULEY""HE HAD fists of stone and the arms of a circus strongman.
Patrick 'Coco' McAuley belonged to an era when every area had its hard men, fearsome characters whose courage and fighting strength were renowned. However, Patsy was also a man of compassion and his death marked the passing of a north Belfast legend whose exploits became known far and wide."
"Born in
Ardoyne's Brompton Park in 1943, he was one of six children of
Harry McAuley, a former professional boxer, and
Sarah Monaghan, a sister of the legendary
'Rinty' Monaghan.""It was a local man,
Patsy Gillespie, who christened him
'Coco' after he had been discovered in the back of an upturned van covered from head to toe in cocoa powder.
Boxing was in Patsy's blood and he won many Ulster and Irish titles during his career in the ring." etcetera,...
