Death mourned of fabled Raphoe Boxing Club founder and coach Tommy Stewart

The death has taken place of Tommy Stewart, a noted coach with and a founding member of the Raphoe Boxing Club.

Just five months after the death of his old friend Peter O’Donnell, Stewart slipped to his eternal reward on Sunday at Melmount Manor in Strabane.

Such was Stewart’s contribution to the sport of boxing, he was given honorary life membership of the Ulster Boxing Council in September, 2017. He was actively involved in the club until recent times.

After helping to form the Raphoe Boxing Club in 1988, Stewart became the head coach and his star turn was Danny Ryan.

Stewart manned the corner in 1993 when Ryan won the Irish Senior middleweight title at the National Stadium and he accompanied Ryan to the Commonwealth Games in Canada in 1994, when the middleweight lost out to Peter Wanyoike from Kenya. 

Stewart was in the corner when Ryan won a Celtic Games gold in Wales in 1990 and was also with him at the Canada Cup in 1992.

Stewart started off as a boxer at the Billy Kelly Club in Derry in the late 1950s, while he also boxed with St Eugene’s.

After returning from a period in London, he set-up the Ventures II club in his native Strabane before joining forces with Brendan Ryan and Peter O’Donnell in the autumn of 1988 to form the Raphoe BC.

In the early years, the likes of Columba McBrearty, Gerard McGranaghan and Ryan returned to Raphoe with titles.

"It started off with very little, but when we had success in the ring, we got more and more boxers through the doors,” Stewart said after being honoured in 2017.

Stewart had a term as President of the Donegal Boxing Board in 1990 and he also qualified as a sports tutor at the University of Limerick.

Alongside Ryan, he accompanied many Irish teams over the years and when ‘Danny Boy’ turned pro, the pair continued their fabled and feared partnership.

Undoubtedly, Stewart’s proudest moment came in 1993 when Ryan defeated Denis Galvin from Moate to win the Irish middleweight title. Stewart’s emotional embrace of Ryan in the ring of the National Stadium remains one of the Raphoe BC’s iconic moments.

He was presented with an appreciation award at the 1994 Donegal Sports Star Awards while he accompanied the Irish Olympic squad to a training camp in the United States in 1995.

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Late of Knockavoe Crescent in Strabane and formerly of Dunmore Gardens in Derry, Tommy Stewart was the beloved husband of Patricia, father of Tracy, father-in-law of Kevin, grandfather of Ryan, Aaron, Gavin and the late baby Conor; brother of Cathleen, Stephen, Billy and the late John.

His funeral will take place at St Mary’s Church, Melmount at 1.15pm on Tuesday.