The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FORMER CI Gibson Rattlers senior boys basketball coach Bill Morgan reportedly collapsed at RM Bailey Secondary High yesterday and was pronounced dead on his arrival at Princess Margaret Hospital.

The death of Morgan, a 63-year-old science teacher at RM Bailey, followed the passing last week Thursday of Freeman Johnson, a home economics teacher in Andros and former track and field coach.

RM Bailey’s reigning Teacher of the Year Audra Tynes said her collegiate was an exemplary teacher.

“Mr Morgan was an exemplary educator who has positively impacted the lives of generations of Bahamians not only in the science classroom, but on the courts as well,” she said. “He was well loved by his colleagues and especially by his students. His skills, talents and work ethic were noteworthy.”

Former Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) president Alfred Forbes said both men will be greatly missed. But he said he will fondly remember Morgan because of their close association in basketball and, in particular, the Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic.

“I met Bill from 1983-84 and to me, he was one of the most congenial, most helpful, most giving of any, I shouldn’t say this but I’m going to say it, of any foreign teacher that I have ever known,” said Forbes, who is no longer coaching in the GSSSA. “His ability to bring people together and have them to the best that they can is more than outstanding to me. He was phenomenal.

“Bill will be sadly missed, not only by me, but this whole sporting Bahamas, especially the GSSSA sporting arena. I just pray that whatever caused his demise will also cause him to rest in peace and get away from this struggle that we are having today. My condolences to his family. I just pray that they will find strength to deal with this situation.”

Morgan, a native from Ontario, Canada, was famed by coaching the Rattlers’ during the initial stages of the prestigious Hugh Campbell Basketball Classic in 1982 when only the government schools from New Providence participated with the LW Young Golden Eagles - coached by Walter Rand - winning the title.

Among the players who participated on the Rattlers’ team were Valentino Butterfield and Ricardo Pierre.

The following year, the tournament included the schools from Grand Bahama with the Catholic High Crusaders - coached by Gladstone ‘Moon’ McPhee - winning the crown.

Doug Collins was one of the founders of the Hugh Campbell Tournament who coached against Morgan’s Rattlers when he was the head coach of the host AF Adderley Fighting Tigers.

“Bill was a very sincere fellow. He was a man who cared for his students and he took a special interest in them. He didn’t play any favourites. He treated everybody the same,” Collins said. “That’s why the guys who played for him respected him so much. He made everybody feel important. He was a very generous fellow. I found that out. He just fitted in well with the coaches in the Bahamas. He will be missed because he was very well liked by everybody he came in contact with.”

Having coached against Morgan and his Rattlers, Collins said his Fighting Tigers always knew that they were in a “dog fight” whenever the two teams clashed.

“He coached the game the way he thought it should be played,” Collins said. “I always looked forward to playing against him. He was always courteous before and after the game. And when me and Moon travelled with the HOYTES Basketball Programme, we took some of his players and they behaved very well and they performed very well. He will definitely be missed.”

Morgan not only coached basketball but also volleyball and one of the athletes who played on his latter teams was triple jumper Allan Mortimer.

“My first encounter with Mr Morgan was in grade seven at CI Gibson. He actually came to me because he wanted me to play volleyball,” Mortimer said. “He seen me doing back flips on the field and he asked me to come out and try out for the volleyball team. I played basketball also.

“I stayed in contact with him even when I went off to school. A lot of people don’t know, but he assisted me financially when I was in college. Whenever I came home from school, I went to see him. I just saw him before Christmas at RM Bailey and he told me how he has about a year or two before he retires and then he was going to go back to Canada. It was touching. That was a great man.”

Another former teacher Rupert Gardiner, who at the time was at CC Sweeting, said Morgan was a tremendous guy. “I coached against him in volleyball and basketball from 1989 to 1996,” Gardiner said. “It’s sad. He went on.”

Meanwhile Gardiner, the statistician for the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, also remembered Freeman Johnson for his coaching experience in track and field. “He was a good coach and a good mentor. He coached me at CC Sweeting when I set the intermediate boys’ record in the 1,500 metres,” Gardiner said of Johnson, who at the time was his hotel and catering teacher as well. “He was a very good guy. A great guy. I was shocked when I heard it. He was a good guy. He was a mentor. He coached one of our CARIFTA teams as well.”