By Lincoln DePradine
Editor, The Plain Times
It happens repeatedly. Some Grenadian, who has made a very great contribution to the nation, dies and the moment receives scant attention, including in the media. One is struck by the sparse tributes and wonder what can be done.
It’s something that came to the fore with the passing of Tyrone “Sampat’’ Harbin. In terms of media coverage, one TV station spent a few minutes quoting anonymous sources about the exploits of Sampat.
Thanks to veteran sports journalist and my Gairyite friend, Ray Roberts, there was coverage in last weekend’s Grenada Informer and Grenadian Voice. Although Voice had Sampat’s age at 77. Sampie’s brother Vaughan, who was my Carenage United football teammate in the 1970s, told me he was 78. Minor difference, anyway.
Sampat and George “Major’’ Jackson, who died weeks before him, were part of a glorious era of the best in national football.
These men played football at a time when spectators attended games to back their teams but – more significantly – to see particular favourite players: Sampat, Jackson, Telesford, Tank, Marquez, Motel, Ram, Paul Ben and others.
In the case of Sampat, I can’t recall attending a game where he didn’t score at least one goal; whether his team – Dauntless Sports or Grenada – won, lost or drew.
I met Sampie one year during the FIFA World Cup competition. At that time, one of the hot global players was Brazilian Ronaldo. Sampat told me: “They used to call me a loafer. But Ronaldo doing the same thing and they calling him a superstar striker.’’
In my view, Sampat was never given credit for possessing a high sporting IQ. He brought that IQ to cricket and was as dazzling in cricket as a batsman, as he was a football goal-scorer.
Sampat Harbin’s place in Grenada sports is huge. He represented the country in both cricket and football. He was a coach and was a manager of football and cricket teams.
He also was the first person hired as a fulltime football coach; employed in that position by former Prime Minister Eric Gairy. He was later promoted to director of sports.
Sampat was excellent at spotting young talent and quick to share advice and counsel to help them improve and elevate their game.
Sampat would make the rare public appearance as he dealt with his health issues. The last time I saw him was at Kirani James Stadium at a celebrity game organized by former West Indies wicketkeeper/batsman Junior Murray. I requested a photo of Sampie with Sir Walter St John and he agreed. (Photo attached).
To be fair, the issue of how we treat and remember the men and women that have made immense contributions to Grenada goes beyond the media. Some attempt must be made to teach children about them, and back up the teaching with text written by Grenadians. If this is not done, in time to come, when Grenadian need information about international stars such Kirani James, Anderson Peters and Andre Fletcher, they will be gleaning the information from foreign sources such as ESPN and CNN and google.
That’s not to take away from the herculean efforts of people like Naka Joseph. I, myself, have had conversations with a few people who are toying with the idea of launching a project – with the support of entities like the Grenada Olympic Committee, and with enough private sector backing – to try and document in text, photographs and videos – the performance history of our sportsman and women, from as far back as possible.
