The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NORRIS Bain stands alone as the winningest coach in the history of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic. He has coached his Tabernacle Baptist Falcons to a record six titles.

But for Bain, who has passed the coaching mantel onto his former player turned assistant and now head coach Kevin Clarke, it was not an easy road to the top.

"Winning the Hugh Campbell has been difficult, but Tabernacle is now a brand in this country," said Bain of the highly acclaimed senior boys' basketball programme out of Grand Bahama.

"It's going to be a while before they are not always contending. Kevin (Clarke) got his first one last year and honestly, I expect him to get many more, but it's going to be tough."

While the Falcons, under coach Clarke, come in as the defending champions, Bain was able to take the title back to Tabernacle after winning in 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2009 and 2010.

But as it was in the years when he roamed the sidelines, Bain said he anticipates that the CC Sweeting Cobras and CI Gibson Rattlers and their arch-rivals from Grand Bahama - Sunland and Jack Hayward Wildcats - will always be a force to reckon with.

The closest coach to at least tying Bain's record is Kevin 'KJ' Johnson with the Rattlers. He won titles in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2014. Bain believes Johnson has the ability to catch him up and maybe even surpass him, but admits that it's not going to be easy.

"Winning six Hugh Campbell titles was a tough order. That was not an easy feat," he pointed out. "The guys will have to work if they want to get it.

"I never set out to do it. It almost caught me by surprise when I was told that I did it. When I looked back over the years, I said maybe it should be more like 10 because I got so close, but I think I did such a poor job in some of them that I didn't win. But it's a feat and I'm happy that we did it."

And looking back at all of them, Bain acknowledged that his last victory in 2014 was definitely his sweetest. "Those guys were with us since they were in kindergarten," he said. "To see them win was an awesome feeling for them and for me so that definitely was special."

Since then, Bain offered himself as a candidate on the political scene in Grand Bahama, first with the Free National Movement and then the Progressive Liberal Party. Each time he lost, but while he's no longer coaching at the high school level, even though he still assists Clarke when they travel to compete overseas, he's now making his contribution as an assistant coach on the men's national basketball team.

Does he miss coaching at Hugh Campbell?

"No. I still go to the gym and I will go back this year to watch," he said. "But I love doing this national team coaching and that kind of substitutes for not being at the high school level.

"High school in my opinion was more pressure. With the national team, I can relax a lot more and enjoy working with the professional basketball players when they come home."

As for the Falcons, Bain said he's confident that at the end of the tournament on Monday night, Tabernacle Baptist could be contending for another title.

And if everything goes as planned and guard Dominic Bridgewater, who played briefly in Florida last year, is allowed to play for the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves, Bain said they could end up facing his Falcons in the big dance.

If not, he likes the Rattlers as a legitimate contender.