The Thirty Eight Honourees for the nation’s 43rd Anniversary of Independence are: Eddie Ford; Frank “Pancho” Rahming for Track and Field Coaching; Ed Smith for Football; Donnie Martinborough for Sailing; Edward Leon “Apache” Knowles for Softball; Wil Culmer for Baseball; Keith Parker for Coaching; Bradley Cooper for Discus and Shot Put; Sterling Quant for Basketball; Ray Minus Jr. for Boxing; Sir Arlington Butler as a Trainer; Tom “The Bird” Grant for various sports; Leonard “Boston Blackie” Miller for Boxing and Cycling; Cecil Rose for Basketball; Cynthia “Mother Pratt” for Volleyball; Ivan Johnson for Cricket; Della Thomas - Bodybuilding; Andy Knowles as a swimming coach; Peter Gilcud for Basketball; Dr. Timothy Barrett for Triple Jump; Chavano “Buddy” Hield for Basketball; George “Tony” Curry for Baseball; Yolett McPhee McCuin as an NCAA Women’s Basketball Coach; Vince Ferguson for various sports; Dame Albertha Isaacs for Tennis; Byron Ferguson for Volleyball; Richard “The Lionheart” Johnson for Softball; Gorman Gomeo Brennan for Boxing; Edmundo Moxey for Baseball; Candice DeGregory Culmer for Softball; Fred “Papa” Smith for Baseball; Linda Ford for Softball; Glen “The Master” Griffin for Softball; Charles Thompson for Basketball; Randy Rolle Sr. for Baseball; Laverne Eve for Javelin; Edney Bethel for Softball and Jonquel Jones for Basketball. Prime Minister Christie told the 38 athletic legends recognized that day that there were so many of them who had “lifted the spirits of Bahamians” wherever they had played or served. Prime Minister Christie shared stories about how he knew each honouree and the part they played in his life, telling in particular, how he
met a nine-year-old Buddy Hield and they posed for a photograph, where the youngster insisted that he held the basketball for the group shot. He pointed out that Mr. Hield was not living, at the time, a life of “any degree of comfort” financially in his household. “This is one of the magnificent stories of our country, where so many of you can reminisce tonight, looking back at your own past, to know that life was not easy for you and your family; and the conditions under which you worked, you played, you performed, was not as some have it today -- and that even to those of you who performed, you did not even have the nutritional contribution that some of the modern athletes have (for proper physical development),” Prime Minister Christie said. “So, I urge those of us who are in public life, and on both sides of the democracy, to recognize that we have an obligation to understand the relationship between those young people who contribute to the sporting development of our country and, in the process, uplift the glorification of sports through their achievements,” he added. “We owe them a further commitment to develop our country on the basis that they have demonstrated what sports, talents and gifts can do for The Bahamas,” Prime Minister Christie said.
“We should feel good, notwithstanding the challenges of our country, about what our country has been able to produce and there is no secret to the fact that the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, per capita, is the greatest sporting nation in the entire world. God Bless The Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”