“Omnia Res Dignitate”, the Harvard Club’s motto, that means “All Things with Dignity” but may be rendered in free translation as “Dignity in All Things”, was composed by one of the founding club members, Pat Massy, back in 1943, and at the time most aptly expressed the vision and aspirations of fellow founding members.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of T&T’s Independence, the 69-year-old club was awarded the Hummingbird Medal of Merit (Silver) in the sphere of community service, and members who turned up at the club on Friday could not have felt any more pride than they did on that day.
It is important to note that the club was never a “cricket club” or even a “sports club”, since from its inception the vision was broader and the award that was received by vice-president Andy Palmer on behalf of the club was accepted with the pride and dignity that the club has espoused over the years.
Served by past presidents Michael Lee Lung, Ralph Boland, Cecil Kelsick, George Hislop, Oliver Camps and at present Brigadier General Carl Alfonso, the club in that time has established many firsts.
The Harvard Club was the first organisation to own a clubhouse, the first to host an in-house calypso competition, the first to have a resident steelband, the fist male-only club to accept female members, but most significantly, the first club to introduce sporting clinics, and to date it is the only organisation to run clinics in five different sporting disciplines.
The cricket nets were built in 1965, almost exclusively by members, namely Ken Roberts, Frankie Pierre, Carl Sankar, Earl Murray, Andre Sanchez, Steve Weekes, Ollie Camps and Alec Clarke. Over the last 47 years the Harvard Youth Clinics have produced thousands of well adjusted citizens and some of the country’s most outstanding sport personalities. The clinics began with cricket, the first of its kind in Trinidad and Tobago, and over time have expanded to include football – 1976; hockey – 1984; tennis – 1987, and rugby – 2001. The best known personalities are Brian Lara and Shaka Hislop. However, numerous other national athletes including young track stars Richard Thompson and Jehue Gordon; cricketer Dwayne Bravo; footballer Stokeley Mason, and others in various disciplines were nurtured in one way or another.
The true measure of the clinics’ influence is the thousands of young healthy citizens (in mind and body) that have been moulded and delivered to the ranks of communities throughout T&T.
Cricket: Average 250 youths a year for 47 years consecutively. Football: Average 325 youths a year for 35 years consecutively. Hockey: Average 50 youths for eight years.
Basketball: Average 60 youths for six years. Rugby: Average 75 youths for 11 years consecutively.
By Joan Rampersad
Source: www.newsday.co.tt