| Biography | Roger Adolph is a former boxer and former chief of the Xaxli' (Fountain) Reserve in British Columbia.
Adolph was first introduced to boxing at Williams Lake Residential School, eventually boxed for the Kamloops Residential School team. Jackie Cripps, a Vancouver boxer trained Adolph and suggested that he seek out trainer Bert Lowes and the South Hill Boxing Club in Vancouver. By 1963 he had joined the Prince George Boxing Club, and won the Canadian Bantamweight Championship in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, where he met future coach and friend Elio Ius.
Adolph qualified for the 1963 Pan-American Games in Sao Paulo, but a week before, he found out that he would not be going. Adolph later learned that racism against Native people had influenced the decision by the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association. Angry and discouraged, he gave up boxing and returned to Fountain, his home reserve. But with elder Sam Mitchell's support, he returned to Prince George six months later.
In 1966 he won the Golden Gloves in Vancouver, Seattle and Tacoma and competed at the U.S. Nationals in North Carolina. Fearing that Adolph would either box for the United States or turn to professional boxing, the Canadian Amateur Boxing Association offered him a place on Canadian Team competing in the upcoming Pan-American Games. Instead Adolph signed a contract to box professionally under the management of Bobby Neil in London, England. He competed in England for the next 2 1/2 years.
In 1968, Adolph retired from boxing and returned to Canada. In 1982 Adolph was appointed Chief of the Fountain Band, a position he held until 2006. |