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Cecil Chin remembers McPherson
Says GABF President made him a better person
Past International Basketball Federation (FIBA) accredited referee and Guyana Amateur Basketball (GABF) Technical Director Cecil Chin succinctly chronicled his memories of the late GABF President, Godwin McPherson in a statement.
Below is Chin’s recollection of McPherson:
It seems as if it was just a few weeks ago that Theron Caesar and Joe Chapman approached me and said, “Chino, we need a good man to run basketball, Colonel McPherson ran the just-concluded Guiana Games, which was very successful, you think he would consider taking up the appointment?” I approached the Colonel, and his response was: “Cecil, I never played basketball”. My reply was: “We don’t want you to play; we want you to be an administrator”. That was in 1991.
By 1995, the basketball fraternity in the Caribbean had acknowledged the title Colonel as a household name for every aspect of the game and local tournaments took on new flare; incentives and awards for players and officials were reinforced with a high degree of happiness and achievement.
From the period 1991 to 1993, tournaments were being played in and out of Guyana with both male and female (senior and junior) teams competing. In 1994, Guyana hosted its third successful CARICOM Championships, which were previously held in 1981 under John Yates and 1988 under Colonel Carl Morgan.
During this period (1991 to 1994), referees were sent to Jamaica and Trinidad and also in Guyana to recertify and acquire FIBA licenses. Guyana was also involved in tournaments in Suriname with their Dutch counterparts.
Basketball had a big year in 1995. For the first time ever, a male junior national team participated in a tournament in the United States of America with a high degree of recognition and success, while both male and female senior teams went to the CARICOM Championships in Bahamas.
Guyana’s male team also participated in the junior CARICOM Championships.
McPherson was elected first Vice-President of the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) in 1996 after attending a meeting in Trinidad and Tobago. He promoted the game in Guyana and with close association with colleagues in United States.
Through that US association, he was able to assist in the acquisition of sponsorship and scholarships for players and officials. In 1997, as acting CBC President in Jamaica, he enhanced Guyana’s position to host the junior tournament which was scheduled for 1999 and came off as the second CARICOM event he hosted.
It is with deep sadness that I do this tribute. I became a better person, having given the opportunity to spend such a short time and knowing and sharing the life and times of Godwin McPherson, who was a husband, father and friend.
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