A True Calabar Lion and Jamaican Hero
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Herb McKenly to be accorded a state funeral
Jamaican track great Herb McKenley, who died Monday, is to be accorded an official funeral. The announcement was made on Monday night by Minister of Sports, Olivia “Babsy” Grange. Miss Grange spoke with RJR News prior to meeting with Mr. McKenley’s widow. “Yes I spoke to the Prime Minister a few minutes ago and he told me that the country will afford him an official funeral so we will be making the arrangements,” said Ms. Grange. Mr. McKenley, who was 85, died at the University Hospital Monday evening. He is survived by widow Beverley, and four children.
Official funeral for Herb McKenley
Herb McKenley, the late Jamaican sporting icon who died on Monday afternoon after a long illness, will be accorded an official funeral, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has announced. However, no date has yet been set for the funeral. “Herb McKenley was the trailblazer that set the standard and established Jamaica’s rich tradition as Olympic track stars, that has continued with our current crop of world beaters.
“On behalf of the nation, I send condolences to his wife of over 40 years Beverly and family as we treasure the athletic legacy he has left behind for his beloved country. The final tribute that we as a nation can pay to this outstanding Jamaican is to accord him an official funeral, the details of which will be announced,” said Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Read More – Jamaica Observer News
Herb McKenley, national hero
It is appointed unto man once to die, and so, difficult as it is, we accept the passing Monday of one of the greatest Jamaicans to have walked the soil in this blessed land. If a hero is one whose life has somehow touched the lives of nearly all his compatriots, and even beyond, then Herbert Henry McKenley is well past national hero status, warts and all.
In no small measure, he is responsible for the awe and respect in which Jamaicans are held whenever our athletes don the national colours and step onto any track anywhere in the world.
Read More – Jamaica Observer Editorial
Parliament pays tribute to Herb McKenley
Parliamentarians yesterday paid homage to Herb McKenley, the great Jamaican sportsman and administrator who died on Monday. Seven parliamentarians – three from the People’s National Party (PNP) and four from the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) – spoke glowingly of a man who once aspired for political office. Prime Minister Bruce Golding said that McKenley would be accorded an official funeral and that arrangements were being made with McKenley’s family for the final send off.
“I am sure that Jamaicans from all walks of life, from all over Jamaica, are going to want to be a part of this final farewell to a great hero,” Mr. Golding said.
Statement from Honourable Prime Minister on the Passing of the Hon Herb Mckenley, O.M
The nation will be as saddened as I am to learn of the passing of the Honourable Herb McKenley, OM, one of Jamaica’s greatest sportsmen and role models. He will be best remembered for his role in winning Gold and silver medals in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games in the 100 and 400 metres events that for the first time highlighted Jamaica as a nation of top class athletes.
From winning 220 yd. and 440 yd. championships in the USA in 1946 and 1947, McKenley showed a glimpse of his future greatness at the 1948 London Olympics, where he ran a new world record of 46.0 seconds in the 400 metres. One month later he clocked 45.9 and at the Olympics itself finished only second in the 400 metres behind team mate Arthur Wint.
Read More – Jamaica Information Service
Death of Herb McKenley Coverage in the Jamaican Media
FAREWELL! …Great McKenley stands second to none
Jamaican track and field sprint legend Herb McKenley, who delivered medals at the 1948 and 1952 Olympics, passed away last evening at the University Hospital of the West Indies after ailing for some time. Among the great Jamaican athletes, the 85-year-old stands second to none. In the years between World War II and his retirement from competition in 1954, Herbert (Herb) McKenley, supreme quarter-miler and sprinter, did everything there was to do except win an individual Olympic gold medal.
At the 1948 and 1952 Olympic Games in London and Helsinki, respectively, he won three individual silver medals – twice coming out at the wrong end of photo finishes.
Read More – Jamaica Observer Sports
Well run, Herb! Jamaica mourns great athlete McKenley
Herbert Henry McKenley, O.M. rated as one of, if not Jamaica’s greatest ever athlete is dead. The man hailed by many as one of the most outstanding 400 metres runners ever died shortly before 6:00 p.m. yesterday at the Tony Thwaites Wing of the University Hospital of the West Indies, where he had been admitted just over two weeks ago. McKenley was 85.
McKenley’s career was studded with outstanding achievements. His greatest came in 1952 at the Helsinki Olympics when he inspired a Jamaican quartet to a gold medal in the 4×400 metres in an amazing world record three minutes 3.9 seconds.
Read More – Jamaica Gleaner News
Tributes pour in for Herb McKenley
Jamaica and the rest of the world continue to remember one of the most outstanding sports personalities, the Honourable Herbert “Herb” McKenley, who died at the University Hospital of the West Indies on Monday. McKenley, who won one gold and three silver medals in the Olympic Games in London and Helsinki in 1948 and 1952, was conferred with Jamaica’s third highest honour, the Honour of Merit back in 2004.
After retiring from sports, the great Herb coached of several national teams and was president of Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association (JAAA). Prime Minister Bruce Golding said Jamaica has lost one of our greatest achievers.
McKenley’s final race
Herb McKenley yesterday breathed his last breath in the race of life from the large majestic lungs that brought him personal glory and set a nation on track for athletic stardom. Two strokes and a heart attack which reduced him to a shadow of his former self in recent years, proved too much for the man who molded Jamaica’s track and field in the image of himself.
Information reaching the Observer said McKenley had been experiencing problems with his kidneys. In the Tony Thwaites wing of the University Hospital of the West Indies, Mona, the 85-year-old Olympian, in death, symbolically passed the baton to a generation of track speedsters, who carry on the tradition he blazed in 1944 – Jamaica then a British colonial outpost in the empire on which the sun would never set.
Read More – Jamaica Observer News
Golden destiny – Herbert Henry McKenley, O.D., C.D.
One thing I would love to put across at the time of his death is that the wonderful achievements that we are getting today are a part of the legacy and the foundation that he has established through his own exploits on the track. Tremendous athlete, tremendous person.- Mike Fennell, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association.
Herbert Henry McKenley, O.D., C.D., was born July 10, 1922, in Clarendon where he grew up in Pleasant Valley before becoming one of Jamaica’s most decorated and beloved sons being a pioneer in athletics and athletics administration. He attended Pleasant Valley Elementary School before enrolling at Mico Practising and later Calabar High School in St. Andrew.
Read More – Jamaica Gleaner Sports
The Great Jamaican Athlete Herb McKenley dies at 85
Herb McKenley, a Jamaican track great who was one of the first two people from a Caribbean country to win an Olympic medal, has died. He was 85. McKenley died at the University Hospital of the West Indies, according to Howard Aris, president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association, who was speaking for the family. The cause of death was not disclosed.
“It’s very sad but it was not a complete surprise,” Aris said. “I was in contact with him when he was re-admitted to the hospital and was aware he had major problems.” McKenley, considered a sports hero in Jamaica, was the first man to cover the 400 meters in under 46 seconds.
He won silver medals in the 400 meters at the 1948 games in London and in the 100 meters at the 1952 games in Helsinki, Finland. Read more
Living with High Expectations – Maurice Smith
Now, everybody wants a piece of him and it’s kind of totally overwhelming. But, it’s what comes with the territory, says decathlon silver medallist Maurice Smith, who we met during his recent whirlwind visit to Kingston with manager Juliet Campbell.
Smith surprised many to win silver at the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, in October when, in the athletic contest comprising 10 different track-and-field events, the national record holder for Jamaica scored a record 8,644 points. He thereby beat his previous best of 8,349, to finish second behind Olympic and European champion and world record holder, Roman Sebrle of the Czech Republic (8,676 points).
Maurice Smith in Osaka Japan
Now, Smith is highly optimistic about next summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Jamaicans are, too, and Smith does not mind his ‘sudden’ change of fortune in fans. “It is what comes with doing so well at this level of the competition. It’s getting easier too,” he responds to Outlook’s observation, with a benign expression on his face.
After all, his life has been one challenge after another, to be met and defeated one at a time. Read more
David ‘Wagga’ Hunt Laid to Rest
Just as he did during his lifetime, David “Wagga” Hunt did in death, as he drew a multitude of people to him as hundreds of Jamaicans came to pay their last respects to one of Jamaica’s most beloved football coaches. Hunt, 51, a former national Under-17 coach, was laid to rest at Dovecot Memorial Park after a thanksgiving service at an over-filled Meadowbrook United Church, just a stone’s throw across the road from his home on Flemmington Drive.
So huge was the crowd that two tents were erected on either side of the church with several big screen televisions to accommodate the unfortunate mourners who arrived late.
People from all walks of life poured in to say goodbye to a man who touched their lives in one way or the other.
Hunt, who died of a heart attack on October 27 after collapsing at his home, was paid the highest respect, as the accolades kept pouring in.
In painful and emotional tributes, Hunt was described as a family man, an excellent coach, a business man, a giant among men, unselfish, passionate, multi-faceted, never-say-die, honest and of the utmost integrity.
The list went on and on and would have even continued into today if the mourners had the time. Read more
Wishing David ‘Wagga’ Hunt farewell
The football world, both schoolboy and national, was gutted two weeks with news of the death of coach David ‘Wagga’ Hunt.
If the pictures and words of his charges at Calabar High School were anything to go by, one could assume that Mr Hunt was loved and respected by all. As a matter of fact, it was sobering to see big, strong Manning Cup players holding back tears as they left the room where they were told of Mr Hunt’s death.
It truly is rare to see a man touch the hearts of so many young men in such a positive way. Accolades and condolences were issued from all areas of society, to the man who meant so much to the people with who all he came in contact.
On the 26th of October, Hunt was at his house when he collapsed in his bathroom. He had reportedly just finished playing with his young daughter and had decided to take a bath. His wife was alerted when she heard his phone ringing unanswered. When she went into the bathroom she found him on the floor. He was pronounced dead at the hospital later.
A strict disciplinarian, ‘Wagga’ understood that football was simply a microcosm of society and that once discipline and unity were shown on the field, they could be manifested in other areas of life. He was considered a great mentor and father by both the coaching staff and the players of his teams. Read more
Calabar High School, David “Wagga” Hunt and The Walker Cup
The great Calabar High School has done it again. Last week Friday, the football team defeated Jamaica College (JC) to lift the Walker Cup trophy, symbol of the best knock-out schoolboy football team in the Corporate Area. They did it in 1974, when I was a member of Calabar High School.
Calabar, under the coaching of David Hunt, a Kingston College old boy, was fast becoming a football powerhouse to match its well known exploits in track and field. Under the guidance of David, Calabar won the Manning Cup and for the first time won the Olivier Shield. It was therefore, fitting tribute that manager Homer Morgan, new coach, Lijyasu Simms and the footballers dedicated the victory to their beloved and respected coach, David Hunt.
The match was not the best schoolboy football match I have watched. That honour belongs to the Calabar vs Clarendon College (CC) match in the 1970s. We drew with CC in Chapelton and we went to the National Stadium with high hopes. However, led by Lenny ‘Teacher’ Hyde, now coach of Harbour View, we got a fine lesson in playing total football. I have not since seen a schoolboy dominate a football match as Lenny Hyde. Neither have I seen a schoolboy team play better.
Emotional maturity
However, what this year’s Walker Cup Champions lacked in class, they made up with sheer grit, emotional maturity and finishing power. To ask teenagers to play football matches so soon after the death of their coach was asking a bit much. That they did it and won showed supernatural power. To be honest a 3-0 margin flattered Calabar.
Calabar lifting the Olivier Shield in 2005
As saw it, JC had more of the ball possession. However, JC lacked the finishing power. Calabar was strong in defence and the goalkeeper was assured most times. And captain Cleyon Brown was a marvel with a hat trick of goals. It was really a fitting tribute to David.
In the late ’70s, I used to visit the home of the Hunts frequently because my cousins, the Robinsons, were close friends of theirs. But strangely, I did not associate the white-haired and bearded David Hunt with his parents. But I admired David as the coach of Calabar. Read more
Calabar SSA/Pepsi/Digicel Walker Cup 2007 Champions!
A hat trick from captain Cleyon Brown carried Calabar High to a 3-0 win over rivals Jamaica College (JC) in the final of the Walker Cup at the National Stadium yesterday, as the Red Hills Road institution realised its dream of winning the coveted crown in honour of its recently passed coach, David ‘Wagga’ Hunt. Brown netted in the 39th, 67th and 81st minutes to deny the Old Hope Road school their first hold on the trophy, while giving Calabar their second lien on the title. The players knew what they had to do and they came and did it for the great David Hunt,” said winning coach Lijyasu Simms.
“He was a great mentor, a great coach, a father, everything. It is hard to explain, but we have done it for him,” he added.
After looking the more likely to score in the first-half, JC found themselves a goal behind six minutes before the break.
However, Ramone Palmer had earlier found the net for JC 15 minutes into the match, but he was ruled offside.
The midfielder then had another gloirious opportunity on the half-hour, after he intercepted a backpass from Ricardo Lattibeaudiere, but with only goalkeeper Oneil Wilson to beat, he put his effort wide of the upright.
Calabar had good possession but rarely had a clear chance at goal.
But Brown put his team ahead after taking down a ball over the JC defence and fired an arrow-straight shot into the goal at Oliver Walker’s near-post. Read more
Calabar, JC into Walker Cup final 2007
Calabar High and Jamaica College (JC) scored identical 1-0 victories over Bridgeport and Excelsior High, respectively, at the National Stadium yesterday to set up a mouth-watering Walker Cup final at the same venue tomorrow. Red Hills Roads-based Calabar beat Bridgeport in extra-time through an Odain Sinclair strike, while JC stopped Excelsior courtesy of Anthony Grant’s 34th-minute goal. Interestingly, the final will pitch a JC side consisting of four players from last season’s Calabar team, which includes former captain of the 2005 Manning Cup and Oliver Shield winning side, Robert Palmer, who missed yesterday’s game through suspension.
The others are playmaker Ramone Palmer, Kemal Bedward and Adrian Christian. They will face-off against their former team-mates in what is expected to be a keenly-contested affair.
According to one Calabar fan, “Wagga had predicted this”, and for JC coach, Alfred Henry, the match will be an emotional one as the late Calabar coach, David Hunt, was a close and longtime friend and Calabar are also out to win the trophy for their former coach.
In the feature match, JC College looked the more threatening of the teams at the start and went ahead after half-an-hour when Grant raced onto a ball played over the Excelsior defence and shot across goalkeeper Ameal Douglas into the far corner. Read more
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