GFF 2010 list of honorees – final part

Feb 13, 2011 Sports

---

Kaieteur Sport is pleased to feature the final two of five honorees that were recognised by the Guyana Football Federation for exceptional service to football over the years.
We first featured Professor Aubrey Bishop; Ivor O’Brien and Ms. Allison Peters. Today we are pleased to feature former GFA Vice President Lancelot Baptiste and former Pele FC President John C. Yates.
Lancelot Baptiste – A teacher by Profession, this individual has been involved in football since his school days. He played as a goalkeeper, probably because he was not good enough to play outside, for Christ Church and later Cambridge Academy High School. Somehow he did some amazing things because he was selected for the combined High Schools against Tutorial High School, the winner of the High School Football Championship that year.
In January 1961, when he joined the teaching profession at the St Ambrose Primary School he was given the responsibility for Sports and Games. Some notable footballers who came under his coaching and supervision were Clyde ‘Farmer’ Brown, Clyde ‘Wolley’ Forde, Clyde ‘Oiler’ Watson and Desmond ‘Airplane’ Morgan.
He was a member of Thomas United Football Club and rose to the rank of Vice President. He was one of the representatives of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) on the General Council of the then Guyana Football Association (GFA), the other being Rickford ‘Ricky’ Green.
In 1980 he was elected to serve on the GFA as Senior Vice President, a position he served with passion, under the stewardship of the late President Harry Shepherd for four years.
As VP of the GFA he was responsible for organising Youth Football. He was one of Guyana’s representative at the CFU Congress held in Trinidad and Tobago in 1982; the others were Ivor O’ Brien and the late Harry Shepherd.
In 1990, Baptiste was selected as the GFA representative on the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) and was elected to the position of Vice President under the Presidency of the late Sir Lionel Luckhoo SC and then the late Chief Justice Rudolph Harper.
As a GOA member he was Chairman of the Associations Committee responsible for all Associations and ensured that they were being run according to the correct procedures.
Lancelot Baptiste has been married for 46 years to his wife Jean and he is the proud father of four boys, all married, one of his sons, Lee is the Guinness Brands Manger of Banks DIH Ltd.
He was the Head Master of St Paul’s Primary School in Plaisance and then St Pius Primary where he retired after being there for 10 years. He served as General Secretary of the GTU from 1994 to 1998 and then President from April to December 1998, because only practicing teachers could have held the position of President.
In 1979 he was appointed as Chairman of the GTU National Sports Committee a position he held until 1995 hence becoming the longest serving Chairman. He was awarded The GTU National Sports Award Medal. The only other persons to receive this medal are George Cave, the late Quintin Taylor, the late Brindsley ‘BL’ Crombley and the late Deryck Whitehead.
Baptiste also functioned as the Chef De Mission at the Junior Carifta Games in the early 80’s and General Manager of the Inter Guiana Games on two occasions. From 1971 to 1995 he was the Organiser of the Under-12 Junior and Senior Annual National Ministry of Education/GTU Schools Football Championships where many footballers were selected for the Inter Guiana Games.
Born on May 19, 1943, the dapper and energetic Baptiste is at present the Administrative Officer and Field Secretary of the GTU.
John C. Yates – During the mid 1970s John C. Yates became President of the Pele Football Club after being approached by Lennox Author and Billy Brathwaite. The club will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in April this year.
Prior to that his main involvement in football was when he represented the Inter American University of Puerto Rico as their goalkeeper (1966-1969) and was awarded University colours.  In January 1982 he resigned as President of the club as he took up an appointment overseas.
During his tenure as President he saw the club win numerous championships and many members of the club represented Georgetown and Guyana. He was elected President of the Georgetown Football Association and subsequently replaced PQ DeFreitas as President of the Guyana Football Association (GFA) before leaving Guyana in 1982 to take up employment with the Inter American Development Bank.
John Yates noted that during his tenure as President of the Georgetown and the GFA Ivor O’Brien and Godwin McPherson, who were the Honorary Secretaries played important roles in moving the game forward.
It should be noted that while John Yates held these positions he was also President of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation and in 1981 held the First ever Caribbean Basketball Championship at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall. He was also one of the first International Referees in the English Speaking Caribbean.
John Yates was a Vice President of the Guyana Olympic Association when he left Guyana to take up employment with the IDB. Professionally John Yates is a Banker who started with Chase Manhattan Bank, resigned as a manager of the Grenada Branch to return to Guyana in 1972 when he established the Guyana Cooperative Agricultural and Industrial Development Bank and was its managing Director until 1982.
On retirement in 2003 he linked up with the Guyana Sports Development Foundation (GSDF), a Non Profit group operating out of Miami, Florida, and was appointed Chairman of the GFF/FIFA World Cup Committee.
He also worked to get the Golden Jaguars logo registered in North America. Mr. Yates also prepared a draft programme for a National League for consideration by the GFF. Currently, he is involved with the GSDF in the implementation of a school football academy programme as a pilot project to take football in Guyana to a higher level.

---

---