The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

RHADI Ferguson, a national coach for the Bahamas Judo Federation, will be joining former quarter-miler David Charlton in the Howard University Bison Express Hall of Fame in Washington DC on September 26.

“I was excited. I got in touch with you immediately. I’m looking forward to meeting David in DC and have already tried to reach him on Facebook,” said Ferguson of their enshrinement at the same time. “Hopefully I will be able to spend some time with him during the weekend of festivities.”

Ferguson, a four-time national judo champion and a member of the 2004 Olympic Games team that went to Athens, Greece, coaches Cynthia Rahming, the first Bahamian to represent the country in judo at the 2nd Youth Olympic Games currently underway in Nanjing, China.

Now residing in Tampa, Florida, with his wife Traci and their two children, Rufus (8) and Rhadi (4), Ferguson said he has a strong sense of Bahamian heritage that will remain with him, no matter where he goes.

“I’m clearly African-American but was never reared with the slave mentality. I’m from the south and understand southern culture and resonate with it but I grew up in a very Bahamian household and most of my cousins are first generation Americans,” Rahming said.

“The names of Collie, Ferguson, Cox, Bullard, Farquharson and McCartney run deep and with much repetition through my lineage. All my cousins have the traditional names of Victor, Errol, Eugene, Florence, Arlington, Gregory, Benjamin and Ethel.”

The 3rd degree black belt in judo and a 2nd degree black belt in Brazilian said he enjoyed growing up in the Bahamas and being raised on boiled fish and grits, a healthy dose of conch, souse and pigeon peas and rice, while going to church on Sunday.

Ferguson was selected as one of the top mixed arts trainers in the world by the UFC Fit Magazine. In 2006, he was awarded the USA Judo Coach of the Year award and that same year he was nominated for the top sports science award issued by the United States Olympic Commitee, the Doc Councilman Award. He has also served as the Athlete Advisory Council representative for the USA Judo and the USOC.

He has also served as the head coach for the Bahamas Judo Federation where he has coached at the World Judo Championships, the Cadet World Championships and had the privilege of developing Rahming, the first Bahamian to compete in the Youth Olympics.

“Coaching for the Bahamas Judo Federation was one of the best moments of my professional career. I don’t ever think I will get the gravity of the credit for the amount of work that I did. I literally single-handedly turned the programme from nothing to a Pan Am powerhouse and one of international acclaim,” he said.?

“I wanted the job to make my family proud. And I believe I accomplished that and much more. I just hope that the waves of time do not wash out the amount of work that I did to get Cynthia Rahming to the Youth Olympics. She was and is one of my favourite students and clients.”

Ferguson is the son of Rufus Alexander Ferguson and Stephanie Riwena Bullard-Ferguson. His father was the first 1,000 yard rusher for the University of Wisconsin and also a Hall of Famer at University of Wisconsin (1993). His father was Arlington Ferguson (Crooked Island) and his mother’s name was Ceter Marion Collie (Acklins Island). His mother graduated from University of Miami and is an attorney. They are both retired and live in Boca Raton, Florida.