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He's 'hooked on Mai Trenholm to be honored on Saturday By Paul Svoboda The Intelligencer Like a lot of boxers, Mai Tren- holm is a man of few words and plenty of action. In fact, he's threatening to make the shortest acceptance speech in the history of the Belleville Sports Hall of Fame when he's inducted Saturday night at the Legion. "Yeah, maybe I should hire a speech writer," says Trenholm, laughing. Trenholm, 58, joins former world champion amputee swimmer Sherry Akey-Bowler and the late Al Kelleher as" the 1996 inductees. Ceremonies begin at 7:30 p.m. Sat- urday and the public is welcome to attend. Trenholm's contributions to the city's sports community began in 1981 when he helped form the Belleville Boxing Club. Since then, the New Brunswick native esti- mates between 400 and 500 young- sters have come under his boxing tutelage. Today, he runs the club out of a converted garage on his own prop- erty. "It's a nice feeling to get recog- nized," says Trenholm, "but I like to see the kids get it too." Trenholm, who "got hooked" on boxing at the age of 10, formed the Belleville club (with Glen Crawford and Dom DiGazio) for two reasons: "To get kids off the streets," he says, "and give them something positive to do." Trenholm worked with inner city kids in Halifax and was a prison councillor before moving to Ontario in the late 1970s. He realized boxing could provide a structured and disci- plined outlet for the aggressive en- ergies of youngsters who couldn't afford other popular pastimes like hockey or baseball. Trenholm says a lot of rough-and- tumble street kids have passed through the Belleville Boxing Club. "They've all been good kids," he I says. "We maybe lost one or two back to the streets. But not many." Pressed to name his own Belleville Boxing Club all-star team, Trenholm cites Tommy Walker, Ja- son Vermilyea, Pat Labrash, Chris Ray Robinson, Joe Louis. Willie Pep. The greats." After watching Pep (former world featherweight champ) put on a clinic in a bout in Moncton, Trenholm "ran home and hung up a heavy bag and tried to imitate him." He soon joined a club and at the age of 17 was already coaching younger would-be pugilists. Trenholm cites Bob Edgett, a member of the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame, with having the great- est influence on his boxing coaching career. "He's 75-years old and he still travels across the country coaching kids," says Trenholm. It was Edgett, says Trenholm, who helped the BBC founder-man- ager develop his own personal phi- losophy for coaching children. "You've got to be up front and honest with them," he says. "Kids are still kids. If you give them re- spect, they'll give you respect." Especially at the professional level, boxing has its outspoken crit- ics. But Trenholm says the amateur game is even better than it was when he laced on the gloves for the first time over 40 years ago. "It's much safer and a lot more strict," he says. "It's a great sport. It's one-on-one. Just you and your coach against the other guy and his coach." Meanwhile, Trenholm says the greatest reward he gets from coach- ing and managing at the BBC is knowing he may have helped a young person succeed in life. "It's very rewarding if they win a medal," he says. "But that's a bonus. I get calls from guys from here to Halifax to Calgary from time to time. "They always remember you. And I always remember them." Crossen and Tanya Robertson -- and his two sons, Rick and Steve. Walker is perhaps the best- known of the BBC graduates. He was a three-time provincial ama- teur champion. "Tommy was a great athlete," says Trenholm, "not a natural, but he had a great work ethic." Virmilyea won a Canadian cham- pionship and Robertson, the club's first female athlete, is also a na- tional title-holder. Trenholm's lads both won silver medals at the pro- vincial level. In total, Trenholm has helped produce two Canadian champions, one runner-up, one bronze medal- list, 35 provincial gold medals and 26 silvers. Trenholm's own love affair with boxing began in 1965 in New Bruns- wick. "I used to watch the Gillette Cav- alcade of Sports Friday night boxing on television," he recalls. "Sugar 4&t