The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FROM the time they attended Bishop Leonard Junior High School, Matt Maura said his late friend and classmate Steve McKinney used to emulate former veteran sportscaster Peter 'Giant' Bowleg with his sports broadcasting rendition.

During those formative years, Maura remembered how McKinney would spend a few minutes before school started giving a sportscast report to their classmates.

From a dream to reality, McKinney would not only eventually become one of the country's top sportscasters, but also a popular newscaster and host of his own talk shows, including "Hard Copy," before he passed away this week at the age of 64.

"That's where he actually started and he worked hard at it," recalled Maura, out watching the fairy tale play out from school to becoming a co-worker of McKinney at The Tribune in the late 1970s.before they both went on to become broadcasters at ZNS.

"He knew from a young age that he wanted to be involved in broadcasting, and he worked hard at it. Many days rehearsing in front of a mirror, fine tuning his voice. He knew the kind of voice he wanted to project, and he worked on that for years and years."

Maura said while McKinney had the talent and worked at "fine tuning and enhancing it," he came from humble beginners and through his "hard work, his professionalism and his entrepreneurship," he became the pride of Chippingham and Fort Charlotte communities and was able to touch the lives of a lot of people throughout the Commonwealth of the Bahamas.

"There was a uniqueness and skill about him that very few people in the industry in my opinion matched what he was able to accomplish."

While McKinney developed a knack for broadcasting in junior high school, Maura said their relationship started in Montessori, or kindergarten at St Francis/Joseph Primary School.

After they both completed Aquinas College, where they both played basketball under the tutelage of the late principal and coach Vince Ferguson, their paths crossed again at The Tribune where they were sports writers.

"Steve always wanted to be the best broadcaster that he could be, and he was eager to move on to ZNS," Maura said.

When McKinney was preparing to leave The Tribune for ZNS, the door was open for a budding young cub sports reporter named Brent Stubbs (the author of this article)..

Stubbs worked under McKinney until he departed and then was further groomed by Maura before he eventually left for The Nassau Guardian and subsequently reuniting with McKinney at ZNS.

"Steve was the type of person who helped those who he could have helped," Maura pointed out. "The training that we got at The Tribune, he was the kind of person, once he decided that he was going to do something, he wanted to be the best at it.

"So, the transition from The Tribune to broadcasting worked right in his favor. He had a writing background, which helps you even more as a broadcaster."

They both eventually departed ZNS with McKinney venturing into his own business with the launch of The McKinney Media Group through Peace FM, while Maura moved to Bahamas Information Services and Stubbs remained at The Tribune.

"Steve McKinney was a top-notch sportswriter, sportscaster," Maura summed up. "When he went to ZNS, he was involved in news as a News Director, and he eventually became his own boss of his company and top-notch talk show host.

"He really, really lived out his dream and really left a mark across this country by the outstanding work that he did from high school emulating his idol to having so many people idolizing him."

In addition to his journalistic skills, McKinney played for the Beck's Cougars Division II basketball team when the sport was in its heyday at the AF Adderley Gymnasium where there was only standing room on a nightly basis.

Condolences are extended to McKinney's wife, Treva, and children and the rest of his family from Maura as well as The Tribune Newspaper where he got to hone his journalistic skills.