Billy Graham, founder of Te Awamutu's Boxing Academy, was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2020 Queen's Birthday Honours.
Billy, a former New Zealand boxer, was rewarded for his services to youth and the community through the Naenae Youth Charitable Trust which he founded in 2006 as well as the Billy Graham Youth Foundation and several other Boxing Academies alongside Te Awamutu.
His brother Chris is a coach at the Te Awamutu academy.
Billy developed a relationship between his boxing academies and the New Zealand Police. Young men and woman from the Naenae and Cannons Creek academies train with the police recruits.
