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
An afternoon with Olympic legend Herb McKenley
There may not be enough room here to list the accomplishments of track & field legend Herbert Henry McKenley. There is no more room on the walls, or space on the desk of his study to display the trophies, citations, and medals he has won in his 85 years.
As the Sunday Observer sat with the fabulous ‘Herb’ in the living room of his University Crescent home, he handed us the jacket cover of a documentary on his life produced by the CPTC.
Order of Jamaica; Commander of Distinction; Doctor of Laws (with honours); world-class athlete; world-class coach; the first man in recorded history to run the 400 metres in under 46 seconds in a flat race and under 45 seconds on a relay leg.
The only man to have won medals in all three sprints in the same major games; only man in the 20th Century to have Olympic medals in the 100m and 400m, it said.
That feature was produced in 2002, before Jamaica’s most notable athlete was conferred with the country’s third highest honour - the Order of Merit - for distinguished service in athletics locally and internationally and before Roosevelt Avenue was renamed Herb McKenley Drive in his honour. Read more
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General community site and blog for one of Jamaica's finest educational Institutions, Calabar High School.
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