Joe Pamensky dies at 92

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CMC):

Joseph Pamensky, one of the architects of the rebel tours to apartheid-era South Africa in the 1980s, died on Wednesday. He was 92.

Working alongside Dr Ali Bacher, Pamensky kept cricket alive during the period of institutionalised racial segregation in the country and pushed to integrate it within black communities.

He also oversaw the move to multi-racial cricket and, in doing so, was involved in the ‘rebel tours’ of the 1980s that attracted a West Indies side under Lawrence Rowe and, eventually, South Africa’s readmission to the world game in 1991.

“A superb organiser, Pamensky has dedicated the better part of his life in service to the game of cricket,” Cricket South Africa (CSA) chairman Lawrence Naidoo said in a tribute.

“He has selflessly contributed his skills, acumen, and trade to bear on the game that he was so passionate about. It is these attributes that gained him respect and acclaim both nationally and internationally.”

Naidoo added: “On behalf of the CSA Board, I send condolences to Pamensky’s family on the sad passing of this giant of the game. I equally thank them for gifting cricket with the person of Pamensky’s calibre, who served the game with enthusiasm, devotion, and commitment.

“The curtain may have fallen on Pamensky, yet his pioneering impact will linger into posterity. I equally send condolences to the many people who came across Pamensky during their lives and who were touched by his generosity of spirit. Rest in peace, Uncle Joe. You will be sadly missed.”

Born in then Port Elizabeth, now called Gqeberha, Pamensky was a cricket-loving chartered accountant and businessman. He was rated among one of cricket’s finest administrators.

CSA listed close involvement with cricket, concern for young people, honesty in all dealings, unfailing courtesy, and total professionalism among the qualities that were embedded in Pamensky’s culture.

Included among the group that Rowe led to South Africa on the tour between 1982 and 1983 were players such as pacers Colin Croft and the deceased duo of Sylvester Clarke and Ezra Moseley, the only one of them to play official matches after the trip when a lifetime ban imposed by the West Indies Cricket Board (now Cricket West Indies) was lifted.

Others such as noted batsman Alvin Kallicharran, 1979 World Cup hero Collis King, and recently deceased wicketkeeper David Murray were also part of the tour.