My first opportunity to pay public tribute to our most adored National Hero, Sir Garfield Sobers, was on the occasion of the award of his honorary doctorate by The University of the West Indies at Cave Hill in 1992.
That citation brought the audience to their feet, with a full five minutes of continuous applause. It was repeated at the presentation of our 10 National Heroes at Government Headquarters on April 28, 1998, when the hundreds of seated guests stood as one, and the roar of applause from the whole crowd of thousands gathered seemed in danger of “bringing down the walls of Jericho”, for the love and admiration of Sir Garry is both local and global.
I had opened my UWI citation with the words, “Chancellor, I present to you the man who has done more than anyone else in recorded history, since the settlement of Barbados in 1527, to bring Barbados to the attention of the rest of the world.” But in drafting it, I subtracted the date of settlement, 1627, from the year 1992, and I got his amazing record score of 365 runs. I came out in a cold sweat. It was the magic of Sir Garry, the perfect timing that has been a part of everything in his glorious career.
The late great C.L.R. James wrote, “Sobers was the greatest of living batsmen”. Everyone agrees he was the greatest all-rounder of all time. Sir Donald Bradman described him as a genius. He is the embodiment of the West Indian dream. And his records and his exploits will be talked and written about for generations without end.
But above all, he was a most wonderful human being – modest, generous and willing to help whomever he could. And he remained unspoilt by unrivalled adulation. He must be the single most loved Barbadian of all time and for the longest time.
Our sympathy to his family and all those closest to him.
