Former West Indies captain Brian Lara and former T&T footballers Dwight Yorke and Russell Latapy will be inducted into the First Citizens Sports Foundation’s Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad on November 23. Lara and Yorke have already confirmed their attendance while Latapy, who is currently in Scotland, has expressed a strong interest in coming.
This was announced during a press conference at the Queen’s Park Oval in St Clair yesterday. The trio are among a group of 13 local sporting legends selected to be honoured by the Foundation’s 12-member panel, which is chaired by Dr Keith Clifford.
The other inductees will include: Ann Browne-John (Cricket/Hockey), Hubert “Taffy” Crichlow (Table Tennis/Basketball), Victor Gamaldo (Football), Bernard Julien (Cricket), Richard Nieves (Hockey/Football), Jeanette Georgetti-Pantin (Cycling Hockey) and the late quartet of Zeno Constance (Athletics), Aldwin Ferguson (Football/Hockey), Jack Noriega (Cricket) and Pascall Roberts (Cricket).
The Hall of Fame was established in 1984 and has since initiated 181 athletes, administrators, coaches and referees including Olympic medallists Hasely Crawford and Ato Boldon, Test cricketers Ian Bishop and Learie Constantine and T&T’s 1979 World Championship-winning netball team.
In order to qualify, an individual must have consistently represented the country with distinction in local and international sport over a period of time. Speaking to the media yesterday, Foundation member Maria Nunes said the panel had done a lot of diligent research to narrow the list down to 13 inductees.
“Unfortunately, we are not good as a society at keeping records. It really poses a problem when there is no hard data to verify the wonderful things that people know about certain athletes,” she said, adding.
“The headline sports tend to have more people whose achievements have been documented. As we go forward, I think we are going to see more and more athletes from other sports coming in because the history of cricket, football and hockey in T&T has been relatively longer.”
Yorke, who will arrive from London on the day of the ceremony, will be the first Tobagonian to be included. For further information, visit the foundation’s newly updated website at firstcitizens-sportsfoundation.com or ttsportshall.com. There will also be a YouTube page featuring interviews and footage.