A glorious opportunity was lost at the 1994 Centro B/ball C/ship

Jun 08, 2009 Sports

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Dear Editor,

After matching skills with countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Panama, Mexico, El Salvador and Puerto Rico at the 1971, 1973 and 1975 Central American Basketball Championship, although the ‘Land of Many Waters’ only recorded two victories at these events against Trinidad & Tobago 1971 in Venezuela and Haiti 1975 in the Dominica Republic and although the 1973 team lost all their matches at the Puerto Rico Championship, Guyana missed a glorious opportunity by not attending the 1994 event in Guatemala.

The national team was only ignominiously defeated by Mexico and Cuba, the Mike Brusche-led the side proved that the boys could compete with the best of Central America.

Please note in those days the national team were a power house at the Caribbean level. Guyana warmed up by humbling Trinidad & Tobago at the Raymond Reid Centre in Port-of-Spain and stopped over in Barbados and destroyed the hosts at the YMCA Hard Court in Bridgetown.

Dominance of Caribbean teams continued at the 1975 Central American Championship in Dominican Republic, when the Mike Brusche-led side thrashed Haiti. So 19 years later in 1994 when the ‘Land of Many Waters’ qualified for its fourth Centro Championship by placing second to Barbados at the CARICOM Championship in Guyana, the talk around the Sports Hall and Burnham Court was whether Lugard Mohan, Auric Tappin, Leon Christian and others could emulate Mike Brusche, Winston Joseph, Melroy Fitzalbert and Ron Pickering among others.

The Guyana Basketball Federation never allowed the question to be answered because the CARICOM finalists never deplaned at the Timehri International Airport.

One of the reasons given for the withdrawal was that Guyana could not afford to assemble its best squad because of the unavailability of centre, Shawn Semple and Edgar Thomas studying at Dillard University, and guards Steven Nurse and Willie Hodges because of work commitment in the U.S.

All four played an integral role in helping Guyana reach its first CARICOM finals in July (1994) but even with the unavoidable absence of the four mentioned above players, a thorough perusal show that there were reliable replacements. Eion Leitch could have replaced Steven Nurse at the point or shooting guard position. Please note Leitch scored 13 points in Guyana opening win against Suriname, when Tappin could not get an early release from his employers Omai Gold Mines.

Remington Ram, who barely missed the 1994 Championship because of injuries, could have been Hodges replacement.

Dane Kendall, who stood tall against the German Professional Team in 1992, would have relished the opportunity to prove that his omission from the 1994 team was an insult to his ability. The Colts central forward would have fit in nicely for Sean Semple.

Last but not least, Nigel Hinds, who was part of the national team only the year before (1993) was in a far better option than Edgar Thomas at centre or power forward and his experience and courage would have encouraged Rookie Centres, Lancelot Loncke and Lorenzo Withrite.

So even without Semple, Hodges, Thomas and Nurse the rest of the players that took Guyana to the threshold of glory at the 1994 CARICOM Championship and those mentioned as replacement should have been allowed to continue the proud tradition set by their predecessors at the 1971, 1973 and 1975 Centro Championships.

The Centro Team in 1994 should have read:

Lugard Mohan – Point Guard (Ravens)

Eion Leitch – Point Guard (Colts)

Rawlwin Loncke – Shooting Guard (Pace Setters)

Auric Tappin – Shooting Guard (McKenzie Hawks)

Remington Ram – Small Forward (Globe Trotters)

Don Fletcher – Small Forward (Eagles)

Robert Cadogan – Small Forward (Pace Setters)

Leon Christian, Capt. – Power Forward (Hi Flyers)

Lancelot Loncke – Centre (Globe Trotters)

Lorenzo Withrite – Centre (Colts)

Dane Kendall – Centre/Forward (Colts)

Nigel Hinds – Power Forward (Hi Flyers)

For the position of coach, if Erik Rashaad was not available then Thereon Caesar could have amply filled that role.

So please GABF tell us why was these great sons of the soil not given the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that after 19 years Guyana could still compete with the best of Central America.

Barbados, the other country identified for the prestigious event, proudly attended. Unlike previous years 1971, 1973 and 1975 when Guyana participated at these Championships, the event is now a qualifying affair, so Leon Christian’s men were robbed of a well earned incentive.

Guyana just missed out on qualifying in 1996 by losing the CARICOM Championship semi-finals to Jamaica 104-98 and at the (2000) Championship in Barbados they were outplayed by the US Virgin Islands also in the semi-finals.

Charwayne Walker

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