The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

NATIONAL Hall of Fame icon Roscoe Davies, considered a true “professional”, a “gentleman and a scholar” and one to “emulate” on and off the field in every sporting discipline community activity he was involved in, passed away on Tuesday.

He was 81.

Left to mourn are his wife Mavis and three sons, Father Stephen, Trevor and Kevin Davies, along with six grandchildren.

Fr Stephen Davies, the chaplin for the Royal Bahamas Police Force, called his father a “gentleman and a scholar,” but said many persons referred to him as a “national hero and an icon,” who played every sport and excelled in them all.

The National Hall of Famer, who also served as a former vice president of the Bahamas Olympic Association, now known as the Bahamas Olympic Committee, played sports under the St George’s Sporting Club, including cricket, softball, tennis, soccer and track and field, one of the traits that he passed on to sons Stephen and Kevin.

A devout member of St George’s Anglican Church where he served in a number of capacities, including the men’s vestry, Davies was also a member of the Valley Boys junkanoo group and was the longest serving grandmaster of the Prince Hall Masons Lodge fraternity. “As an engineer, my father kept meticulous records. He was transparent in everything that he did,” Fr Davies said. “For example, on a Sunday, he would sit down and count the money from the soccer concession stand five and six times until he made sure we accounted for every penny. “And he spoke his mind very calmly and precisely.

Roscoe Davie made sure you understood what he said. He was a good father. He was a good daddy and husband. My youngest sibling, Kevin, said he was a great father. I’m trying to be humble like him. He was a daddy’s daddy..”

In recognition of his contribution to soccer, the Bahamas Football Association named it’s playing site at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex the Roscoe Davies Developmental Center in 2007. BFA president Anton Sealey said it was just one of the tributes to a man worthy of so much praise.

“The BFA has lost one of its greatest fans and its biggest supporter,” Sealey said. “Roscoe was what you would call the consummate professional on and off the field. He was a competitor, who played the game and represented the Bahamas as a national team player.

“But he was also an administrator, one whom I learnt a lot and I tried to model myself after. His cordival, but firm demeanor led the association during an era that I feel was in the heyday of the sport, even though we are at a high level. But during his time, there wasn’t really any assistance from the governing body, but he and his wife carried the association through some lean years.”

Sealey said Davies has left a legacy that very few people, if any, can argue about.

“It’s one that could be emulated, but one that I feel not too many people could ever be able to attain,” Sealey stated. “He was quiet, but he was firm. You always knew where you stood with Roscoe. He never tried to mislead anyone. He was what you saw. He’s left us a great legacy. Roscoe was one of a kind.. I don’t know of anyone who would have a harsh word to say about Roscoe. He was a gentleman in every sense of the word.”

Calling him a “gem,” Sealey offered condolences on behalf of his wife, his sons and their extended families on behalf of the executive officers, members, players, officials and spectators of the BFA.

Olympian Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown also chimed in, expressing his condolences on behalf of the many athletes whom Davies would have reached out to during his tenure with the BOA.

“I’ve had many dealings with him and he was always a quiet, but sincere man, who was committed to what he did,” Brown said. “I know I speak for a lot of the athletes, who can truly say that he was a great man. He will be missed.”

Davies, a former engineer by profession at Batelco, also served at one point as the secretary general for the Bahamas Anti-Doping Commission, the legislated body, which at the time, had full responsibility for anti-doping in the country.