In 1950, Peter Kawulia, 18, and new to Winnipeg, was looking for a teenage dance hall. He wandered into a place where they were giving boxing lessons and three months later he was the Manitoba Amateur Featherweight Champion.

Kawulia was born in a farmhouse in Gardenton, MB and grew up in Fort Frances, ON. He was known as Pistol Pete Kawulia, Kawala or Kawula on various fight cards. “It’s a good Ukrainian name,” he said, “but in California they liked to use Kawala to bring in Hawaiian fans.”

Relying on speed rather than power, Kawulia was never knocked out and was cut only once in 115 bouts. His amateur record was 56 wins, two losses and two draws, while in the pros he was 39 and 12 with four draws. He recorded four knockouts.

In 1953 Kawulia won the Canadian Featherweight championship in Montreal. Invited to represent Canada in the British Empire (later known as Commonwealth) Games, he decided to turn pro instead. He was soon fighting many of the top featherweights in the world. Ring magazine named him “Prospect of the Month” in 1954. The International Boxing Club ranked him 10th in the world in 1957 and number nine the following year. In London, the boxing hierarchy rated him number three in the British Empire in 1958.

Former Winnipeg gambler, Izzy Kline, managed Kawulia in Chicago and for the majority of the fights took none of the purse. Kawulia fought on the undercard of three world title bouts, Kid Gavilan vs. Bobo Olson and two that featured Sugar Ray Robinson. Another memory is having three of his fights refereed by Joe Louis and one by Rocky Marciano.

Kawulia had six bouts in Cuba and became popular there. He will not forget the last one. It was in December 1958 and when his plane landed in Havana, the airport was in flames. They had arrived in the middle of the Cuban revolution. He left immediately after his bout. Two factors caused him to retire when he was just 26. He refused to sign with the IBC which controlled most of boxing because he did not like the way they operated and he picked up hepatitis which weakened him for a long time.

He then played pro hockey for Chicago Reed’s Hornets of the IHL from 1959- 63. “I tried to stay away from fighting in hockey,” he said, “but sometimes it follows you around.” Peter Kawulia worked with the People’s Gas company for 30 years. Today, at 74, he is a Deacon at Messiah Lutheran Church in Chicago and tonight he’s a worthy member of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.