Lionel Rose, Australian bantamweight boxer receives honor from Google

Google today dedicates a beautiful doodle to an Australian bantamweight boxer, Lionel Rose. He became the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title. He later became the first Indigenous Australian to be named Australian of the Year.

Lionel Rose (originally named Lionel Edmund Rose) was born on June 21, 1948 at Labertouche in Australia’s Victoria. He was born into poverty in the Indigenous Australian settlement of Jackson’s Track, where he faced intense discrimination. He grew up in hardship and learned to box from his father, a two-time Australian lightweight champion who trained Rose using only rags as gloves.

At just 15, Lionel Rose won his first amateur flyweight title, and by 1964, he went pro. After missing selection for the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, he began his professional boxing career at age 16, on 9 September 1964, outpointing Mario Magriss over eight rounds. Although this fight took place in Warragul, still majority of his fights were held in Melbourne.

After making a 15-round decision victory in Tokyo over Japanese champion Masahiko “Fighting” Harada, Lionel Rose made history in 1968 as the second Australian teenager and first Indigenous Australian fighter to win a world title. Lionel Rose quickly became renowned for his lightning-fast reflexes and tenacious counter-punches and returned home from Japan to an estimated 250,000 people in the streets of Melbourne celebrating his success—the largest welcome home to date in Australian sports.

In 1968, Lionel Rose became the first Indigenous Australian person honored as Australian of the Year. in 1975, he decided to retire. He compiled a record of 42 wins and 11 losses as a professional boxer, with 12 wins by knockout.

Lionel Rose already embarked on a modest singing career in Australia just a few years before his retirement from the world of boxing. He made his hits with "I Thank You" and "Please Remember Me" in 1970. He made a recording of a chart-topping country album after meeting the “King of Rock and Roll” himself, Elvis Presley.

Lionel Rose sang "Jackson Track" and "I Thank You", in both the SBS documentary and accompanying CD, Buried Country: The Story of Aboriginal Country Music. He suffered a stroke in 2007, which left him with speech and movement difficulties. He died on 8 May 2011 after an illness that lasted for several months.

Rose received many awards. He was featured in Australian author: Wendy Lewis's book of "Australia's Greatest People" in 2010. In 2005, he was also awarded the E9 title of 'King of the Ring'. In 2011 he was inducted to the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll.

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