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Remembering 2020’s departed sports icons

Published:Friday | January 8, 2021 | 12:10 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
Argentina’s Diego Maradona holds the FIFA World Cup trophy aloft after a 3-2 win over West Germany in the final at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City  on Sunday, July 13, 1986.
Argentina’s Diego Maradona holds the FIFA World Cup trophy aloft after a 3-2 win over West Germany in the final at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on Sunday, July 13, 1986.

The year 2020 is not remembered fondly by most, and one of the reasons is the many lives taken from the sporting world.

The death of retired basketball star Kobe Bryant on January 26 set the tone for a year that removed well-loved sportsmen and sportswomen at home and abroad. The agony continued all the way to the end of 2020 with the passing of football icon Diego Maradona.

Bryant perished in a helicopter crash in California, with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and six other passengers. They were on their way to a basketball game Gianna was to compete in. The tragedy seemed to galvanise the Los Angeles Lakers, whom Bryant had represented with distinction. The Lakers won the NBA title and dedicated their season to their fallen hero.

Jamaica got a triple dose in April. COVID-19 took out US-based track and field coach Dalton Ebanks and Olympian Adlin Mair at age 68 and 79, respectively. Brilliant at Vere Technical High School before he left for the US, Ebanks excelled at George Mason University, where he guided Olympic bronze medallist Greg Haughton. Mair won silver medals in the 100m, 200m, and the sprint hurdles at the 1964 British West Indies Championships, and competed at the Tokyo and Mexico City Olympics in 1964 and 1968, respectively.

In the same month, golfer Seymour Rose passed on after a protracted illness. Rose played on the PGA Tour in his prime, and served as the resident professional at the Runaway Bay Golf Club for more than five decades. He was 80 years old.

In May, three local sporting figures passed. On the seventh, it was former national footballer Arthur Lattimore. Lattimore, who represented Jamaica in the 1970s, lost his battle with throat cancer at his home in Florida at 73 years old. He represented Railway Football Club in the 1960s and was also revered for his exceptional play while representing Liguanea in the Major League competition in the 1970s.

Former Gleaner Company Media Limited Chairman Oliver Clarke died on May 16 at 75 years old. Clarke, although most notable as a media mogul, was also an avid tennis fan and represented the Racquet-eers Tennis Club. He was also the organiser of an annual invitational tennis tournament in western Jamaica.

FORMER JFF PRESIDENT HUGH PERRY

Hugh Perry died on May 24. Perry, who served as Jamaica Football Federation president from 1981 to 1983, will be remembered for a long time for his contribution to the development of football and cricket as an administrator, and also as one who volunteered his service to the growth of both sports in Portland. He was 80 years old.

England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad lost two of its defenders. Jack Charlton, Bobby’s big brother, died on July 10 at age 85, and Nobby Stiles, Bobby’s Manchester United teammate, went at 78 on October 30.

Charlton played for a dominant Leeds United team in the 1960s and the 1970s and, as a manager, directed the Republic of Ireland to the 1990 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals.

Ironically, Maradona and French table tennis maestro Jacques Secrétin died on the same day on November 25 at 60 and 71 years old, respectively. Maradona made his mark on the beautiful game at the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He led Argentina to victory and scored breathtaking goals against England and Belgium. He also enthralled fans at Boca Juniors, Barcelona, and Napoli in Argentina, Spain, and Italy, respectively.

The left-handed Frenchman charmed spectators across the globe with his all-round skills, winning the 1976 European title and the 1977 World Mixed Doubles crown. He was a crowd favourite when he played inside the National Arena at the Air Jamaica Lovebird International.

In December, the local hockey fraternity should have been celebrating its ‘Miracle on Grass’, a 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games victory over hosts Mexico. Instead, the cancer-related death of exemplary 1990 captain Sharon Malcolm in November overshadowed the milestone.

In December, the world said goodbye to Paolo Rossi, the goalscoring hero of Italy’s 1982 FIFA World Cup winning team, national footballer and cricketer Ted Ansell, and American Rafer Johnson, 1960 Olympic decathlon champion. Rossi won both the Golden Boot at the 1982 World Cup with six goals and the Golden Ball. He died of lung cancer at 64 years old on December 9.

Ansell, who died on December 29 in London, England, represented Jamaica in football and cricket in the 1950s. Playing for Railway, he achieved seven hat-tricks in one season, a feat that is still a record today. He was 95 years old.

An Olympic runner-up in 1956, Johnson died on December 2 at 86 years old.

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