Creation of The National Hall of Fame

Creation of The Bahamas Sports National Hall of Fame

Immediately after the First Bahamas Games in July, 1989, a Committee was established by the Minister of Sports, the Hon. Peter J. Bethel, to create the framework for establishing a National Hall of Fame to commemorate the accomplishments of Bahamian athletes of the past who excelled at inspiring local youth to pursue excellence through sports, The plan was to conduct inductions on an annual basis.

The founding Committee was comprised as follows:

Canon Dudley Strachan – Chairman
Mr. Freddie Higgs – Vice Chairman
Mr. Edward Shark Deveaux
Mr. Fred Sturrup
Mr. Sterling Quant
Ms. Winnie Russell
Mr. Livingston Bostwick
Mr. Martin Lundy – Secretary

At the request of Canon Strachan, Archdeacon, William Thompson replaced him as Chairman.

In fast-track fashion, the Committee developed a ballot form, guidelines for the selections process, and a system for canvassing the input of national federations, the sports media and the general public as regards the nomination of candidates deserving of Hall of Legends or National Hall of Fame status. The difference in the two was whether the achievements were undocumented, unverifiable and limited to the local level (Hall of Legends) (or whether they were documented, verifiable and occurred at the international level (Hall of Fame).

All Core Sport Federations were requested to nominate candidates who met the qualification as established by the Committee. The response was such that more than one hundred nominations were received, the vast majority lacking sufficient supporting documentation. Of the total number of submissions, five clearly met all the criteria that were established by the Committee and were therefore recommended and subsequently approved for Hall of Fame Induction in 1989.

The Committee further decided that all the remaining nominees would be vetted and those deemed appropriate should be placed in a pool for further consideration.

The selection process underwent more refinement in advance of the impetus to continue the programme in 1998 when representatives of national federations and the sports media convened at the Kendal Isaacs

Gymnasium to review the process for nominating candidates and to finalize nominations. Two leaders of the original Committee had transpired, leaving behind motivated colleagues they had inspired to continue the assignment.

That Committee supported the view of pooling nominations identified in 1989 and beyond, adopting the position that the selections process should seek to identify persons who favorably impacted society whether by achievement at the local or international level, those living as well as those deceased. Another prevailing sentiment was that the process should have the dual purpose of commemorating the contributions of heroes of the distant past as well as to lionize those more recent, thereby creating an unbroken link between the athletes of the past and those of the present, by further improving the chances of positively influencing current generations of athletes.

A total of twelve nominees were recommended and approved for induction to the National Hall of Fame in 1999, but as a result of limited manpower and the time-consuming efforts of finalizing the National

Sports Policy that same year, along with preparations for the Fifth Bahamas Games the next, the programme was held in abeyance until 2003 when the twelve candidates approved in 1999 were inducted. Approval had also been obtained in 2003 to induct fifteen candidates in 2004.

At the start of the 2007-8 National Budget Year, the mandate was given to revive the National Hall of Fame Programme and the recommendation was to resume by inducting the candidates that were approved in 2003 for induction in 2004. Such advice was approved in 2008, as did the list of candidates that were recommended for induction in 2009.

The pool of recommended candidates continued to expand, currently numbering two hundred and sixty-one (2610. As was done for the Class of 2009, nominations will continue to be processed with the input of sports leaders and an appropriate number will continue to be recommended for approval.

Class of 1989

Thomas A. Robinson

Former Track & Field World Record Holder

Sir Durward Knowles

Olympic Gold and Bronze Medalist Sailor

Cecil Cooke

Olympic Gold Medalist Sailor

Andre Rodgers

Eleven year major League Baseball Player

Everette “Elisha Obed” Ferguson

World Champion Boxer

In Summary, attempts were made to continue the programme of recognition for sporting giants of the past: in 1991, 1995, 1997 and again in 1999. For one reason or another, however, none of these efforts materialized into success. The programme resumed in 2003 when the second class of inductees was accepted into the National Hall of Fame. This Class was comprised as outlined on the following pages.

Mr. Robert H. Bobby Symonette

World Champion Sailor

Mr. Sloan Farrington

Olympic Bronze Medalist Sailor

Mr. Roderick Simms

First Bahamian Physical Education Teacher

Mr. Charlie Major Sr.

World Record Higher Jumper

Deacon Leviticus Lou Adderley

First Bahamian National Volleyball Coach

Mr. Kingsley Poitier

Mr. World Bodybuilding Champion

Mr. Leonard “Boston Blackie” Miller

National Heavyweight Boxing and Cycling

Mr. Tony Curry

Baseball – Major League Baseball Player

Mr. Mychal “Sweet Bells” Thompson

NBA World Champion Basketball Player

Mr. Vince Ferguson

Professional Baseball; Founding member and longtime Basketball President.

Ms. Betty Cole

First Bahamian Female Physical Education Teacher

Mr. John Sands

First International Medalist in Paraplegic Sport

To expedite all these previous efforts, the local sporting community was canvassed and a summary of the views gleaned were:

Individuals to be selected for induction should represent a wide variety of sporting disciplines.

Priority should be given to recognizing sports heroes of yesteryear, many of whom would have died without receiving proper national recognition.

A limited number of outstanding athletes of the most recent past should be selected ensure that they have the opportunity to smell their roses” during their lifetime.

The exercise should be a mechanism for informing and educating present generations about the rich traditions and hearty legacies found in Bahamian sports history.

Toward achieving these objectives, all sports journalists, federations and associations were invited to nominate their choices for selection in the National Hall of Fame. Nomination Forms and the Criteria for nominations were forwarded to these entities.

That’s how the National Hall of Fame started and continues.