By Mathieu Vich
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On April 13, 2023, Yves Latapie celebrated his 97th birthday. Inexhaustible. He welcomed us into his home. Or rather in his second home: in the room of Full Boxing Marmandais.
“Mr. Latapie entered this room for the first time in 1987. He never left » is moved Laurent Mudry, figure of the Marmandais club. It must be said that the nonagenarian is unstoppable!
“He was our healer for a long time. He knew all the bandages of all the licensees. With his wife, Mauricette, they came to all the training sessions, all the competitions. She died in 2008 but Yves continued to follow us until 2012.”
Full Boxing Marmandais in catheter
Do not imagine, however, that this rascal Mr. Latapie has completely hung up the gloves! “He’s at the club every night” smiles Laurent.
He advises beginners. He took over from his wife who kept the accounts of the club. He does a colossal job. We are very proud to have him with us but it also raises the question: who will carry out this work when he can no longer do it?
The man is in any case appreciated by all. A bit like the greatest boxing films and other fights: Yves Latapie is sportsman’s ear. “As soon as he is not there one evening, everyone worries about it. Everyone is afraid that something has happened to him.
In any case, it helps us a lot. As soon as a licensee is not well, he sees it before everyone else and come and tell me about it,” admits the club’s emblematic coach.
A hell of a fighter
Before joining his favorite club, the 97-year-old man had known a thousand and one lives. Believe us, his memory does not fail him! Sitting on a chair in the middle of his favorite room, he remembers his glorious past as a resistance fighter during the Second World War.
” I was an ORA officer (Army Resistance Organization). I can tell you that we fought like dogs. I could never get used to the invasion of the Germans,” he recalls. Yves is able to quote all the dates with impressive precision.
“On September 8 and 9, 1944, we fought in Saône-et-Loire before participating in the liberation of the city of Dijon (a few months after having liberated Oloron), under German occupation for 4 years. “Anecdotes like this, the nonagenarian has thousands.
One of his greatest prides: “I have never been injured and I have always succeeded in my missions under the nose and the beard of the Germans“. Even if the person concerned recognizes an infection, “which still follows me since I still suffer from it”. Regardless, he wanted to fight. Yves also confides that he did not only blame the occupants at the time.
There were also good French people. I will never forget them. They were the ones who gave directions to the Germans!
Subsequently, Officer Latapie participated in the Indochina War (between 1947 and 1949), to that of Algeria… But he was also a gendarmerie officer. His 34 years in the military have earned him many decorations. “He needs two jackets to be able to hang them all up” smiles Laurent Mudry.
Constable and nurse
Of these 34 years, the original Gersois spent 30 in the gendarmerie. “I think it was in 1967, I had to pass a first aid exam. It was then that I joined the Marmande Red Cross with my wife. He stayed there for about forty years. Hence his arrival, in 1987, at the Full Boxing Marmandais club as a healer.
Despite their discretion, Monsieur and Madame Latapie were known to everyone in France. When we traveled, I had to show proof to enter the room. They passed quietly.
An article would be much too short to reveal 97 particularly rich years. “He himself never wanted to elaborate on certain points. He respected his wife a lot and didn’t want to talk nonsense. Even less in front of her,” assures the coach.
Last week, he was rewarded with a splendid trophy by his peers. But Yves Latapie has not finished with his adventure. The fun is over, there is a training evening to prepare! Then comes the final word: “If God gives me life, I will live to be 100 years old. And at 100 years old, I will ask for the rest ». May God hear it.
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