The Tribune

SIR JACK Hayward was a wealthy man, but he was also a generous man. He donated to many causes, not only in his Mother country, but also in his adopted home — the Bahamas.

His charitable donations are too many to list here, but he and his late partner, Edward St George, were noted philanthropists.

There was the Jack Hayward and Edward P St George Foundation that awarded many scholarship based on “merit and need” to Grand Bahamian students.

There was the $7m donation for the building of the two government high schools in Freeport, which were named after them in February, 1998.

“We have chosen to name, not rename, this school as tribute to and in honour of Sir Jack Hayward on our own accord as an expression of our thanks, and appreciation and gratitude to a great benefactor of Freeport,” said then Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham.

“Sir Jack,” said Mr Ingraham, “has done much good for this community. Sir Jack’s father, Sir Charles, would be pleased and proud to see how wonderfully the dreams he shared with others about their wilderness turned out.

“He would be even more proud to know that an appreciative people, a grateful people are today honouring his son by naming this state-of-the art school after him. And he would be proud to know that this city, which he so greatly contributed to building, has now attracted to its environs, first, international investors and then over the years, enterprising Bahamian business men.”

In Nassau in 1978, Sir Jack provided the funds to make it possible for the Bahamas National Trust to purchase The Retreat, the 11-acre tropical gardens on Village Road, the former home of the late Arthur Langlois.

“This is not the first instance of Mr Hayward’s generosity in the Bahamas, but this particular most generous donation is a unique and commendable gift not only to the Bahamas National Trust but to the Bahamian people,” said the then Governor General, the late Sir Gerald Cash in making the announcement at the Trust Ball at the Lyford Cay Club. The ball was attended by HRH Princess Alexander and her husband, the Hon Angus Ogilvy.

In 1984, Sir Jack donated another $1m to the Trust to launch its fund raising drive. His $1m was to be forwarded to the Trust when its fund raising campaign had raised its first $2m.

In 1971 in England, Exeter University awarded Sir Jack an honorary Doctor of Laws degree for his services to the West Country, particularly when he purchased Lundy Island for the British nation, and provided the funds to return the 127-year-old ss Great Britain back from the Falkland Islands to her home port of Bristol. The ss Britain, the first propellor-driven ocean going ship, had been beached in the Falkland Islands in 1936. It was considered one of the most significant ships ever built in the British Isles. Launched by Prince Albert, the Prince Consort in 1843, she was at the time of her construction the largest ship ever built, and the first vessel to be constructed of iron ore. It was Sir Jack’s money that brought her home.

But Sir Jack will probably be best known for his purchase of his hometown team, the Wolverhampton Wanderers, which he bought in May 1990 for £2.11m. It is estimated that he spent more that £70m in redeveloping the club’s stadium, writing off its debts and purchasing players for the club during his 17 years ownership. In 2007, he sold the club to businessman Steve Morgan for the nominal fee of £10 on condition that Mr Morgan invest £30m in the club. Sir Jack remained president of the club and was later inducted in its Hall of Fame.

In the Queen’s 1969 Honours List, Jack Hayward headed the list when he was awarded an OBE for services to the Commonwealth. In 1985 he was knighted by the Queen becoming Sir Jack Hayward. But to the Bahamian people — particularly to Grand Bahamians — he will always be their “Union Jack.”