Sports’ passing out parade

Over the past weeks, several sporting icons and personalities have taken that inevitable eternal rest.

Most recently, in fact, last Friday, the re-nowned legendary boxer Muhammad Ali, previously known and christened as Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr, left life’s ring.

A lot has been said of Ali’s contribution to the sport of boxing, to human life, his expression of that spirit of invincibility and his civil rights.{{more}}

His library of accomplishments is well known, well documented and archived and will forever be etched in world history.

Much has also been said of the late Tony Cozier of Barbados, one who was considered the voice of cricket in the Caribbean, among other tag lines.

As a radio and television commentator of cricket, Cozier was revered for his knowledge of the sport, his clarity in delivery and confidence.

In our neck of the woods, St Vincent and the Grenadines has added to the list of persons who have joined the passing out parade and who have contributed to sports in one way or another.

Among those who left the stage of life was former Spartans, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Windwards left arm pace bowler Joseph Jack.

Whilst he did not light up a path with his bowling statistics, he was a fierce competitor in his day, and respected by his team-mates and opponents alike.

Apart from his active days as a cricketer, Jack served as manager, as well as national selector of teams under the aegis of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Cricket Association.

Last Wednesday though, many persons paid their last tributes to Velma Jackson.

Most will, first up, link Jackson to the teaching profession, among the best that St Vincent and the Grenadines has ever seen.

Middle-aged persons who attended the then Wesley Hall Primary School, which later became known as the Kingstown Methodist School, would remember the petite figure of Jackson, with all her antics, as she interacted with those students of the ABC class.

A giant in building what was referred to as “small school” at the time, Jackson would have impacted on the lives of many in her delivery of the subjects she taught and the life skills and moral values she disseminated.

But Jackson can be deemed an unsung hero in the discipline of sports.

Some may even say that she added more value through her contribution to Vincentian life, with her engagement with the School For Children with Special Needs and Special Olympics.

Jackson can be regarded as one of the pioneers in the introduction of the National Games, with the first held in 1981.

This was one year after Special Olympics was introduced to St Vincent and the Grenadines by peace corps volunteers Kal and Zoe Kenney.

In between, a team was sent to take part in the Barbados Special Games, on the invitation of Ilene Murray Ainesly, the then national director of that island’s Special Olympics movement.

It was no surprise that Jackson was the automatic choice as the first national director of Special Olympics St Vincent and the Grenadines, a position she held from 1982 to 1999, making her the longest servant in that post to date.

In addition, Jackson was head of the St Vincent and the Grenadines delegation to successive Special Olympics Summer Games in 1983, 1987, 1991 and 1995.

She also held that position at the 1993 and 1997 Winter Games, held in Austria and Canada, respectively.

Jackson’s input was not confined to her homeland, as she lent her expertise to the regional set-up too, as a member of the planning committee for the Caribbean Special Olympic Games.

Although not listed, Jackson would have paved the path for the emergence of Special Olympics SVG, which over the years has grown in national recognition and albeit some national acceptance.

Whilst material recognition, such as the plaque that was presented to Jackson in 2013, as an outward symbol that Special Olympics SVG appreciated her work, more has to be done.

It may be now the task of Special Olympics SVG to find some way of paying homage to the contribution of the late Velma Jackson.