The Tribune

By FELICITY DARVILLE

Today is the anniversary of one of the most memorable events in all of Bahamian sports history. On August 3, 1992, Frank Garfield Rutherford Jr won a bronze medal in the triple jump at the Olympics in Barcelona. This was The Bahamas’ first Olympic medal in track and field, and the first achieved by an Independent Bahamas.

At the time, national pride was at a historical high because it was the year of the Quincentennial anniversary of Columbus’ landing in The Bahamas. Cultural celebrations were taking place all year, and spirits were high.

Bahamians were already expecting great things from Frank. He attended the University of Houston and became the first Bahamian to win more than three NCAA triple jump championships. He won The Bahamas its first World Championship medal with a bronze in the 1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships. He was the US Indoor Track and Field champion in the triple jump in 1991 and still currently holds the triple jump record for the University of Houston. He then won a silver medal at the 1992 World Cup in Cuba.

All eyes were on Frank in Barcelona. He jumped well at 17.36 metres and secured the bronze medal. He was jumping for gold but he fouled on the jump and kept the bronze instead, with Bahamians all over cheering him on. Nonetheless, his performance set a trend in Bahamian track and field Olympic history and for it, he is considered the father of track and field in The Bahamas.

When I spoke to Frank leading up to this anniversary, he implored me to speak to his mother, letting me know, with much excitement, that there was a time when she was the country’s fastest female runner. What I did not know was that by interviewing her, I would be blessed by a phenomenal woman whose story of faith and tenacity helped to shape and mold Frank into the fine man he became. Yvonne Elaine Hanna Rutherford Moncur reigned as the top junior female athlete in the country in 1962. She won the coveted Victrix Ludorum - Female Athlete of the Year trophy after garnering more points than any other female at the national inter school sports meet that year. Former Minister of Sports Bernard Nottage claimed the Victor Ludorum that same year, which earned them a feature in The Tribune.

St Augustine’s College, at the time, was the only place in New Providence with a proper track to run on and field to participate in. There, Yvonne competed in the 100 and 200 metre races, as well as long jump, high jump, shot put and discus under coach Keith Parker. Yvonne was competing for The Government High School, where she also played basketball and performed dramatic arts. Yvonne was even involved in gymnastics and sang in the school choir. She joined the school the same year that it moved from its Bay Street location (opposite the British Colonial Hilton Hotel) to Poinciana Drive.

In order to attend The Government High in those days, one had to pass an examination and parents had to pay school fees, making it an elite government institution. Yvonne earned high marks and continued to excel academically and athletically. Her father (Everette Hanna of Delectable Bay, Acklins) promised to buy her a piano if she passed the exam, and she did. She got that piano and in order to play started lessons. The young Yvonne would walk from her homestead off Wulff Road to Nassau Street for lessons with Timothy Gibson, composer of the Bahamas National Anthem. Her mother (Esther Irene Knowles Hanna of Tarpum Bay, Eleuthera) also enrolled her in ballet and the Elk’s Lodge for Children, giving her a well-rounded upbringing.

This was no easy feat for Everette and Esther Hanna in the 1960s. Everette was a mason and Esther, a hotel maid. They were parents to five children - Herbert, Yvonne, Wendy (mother of athletes Dennis and Devard Darling), Philip and Franklyn. The homestead was located on Whites Lane in Centerville, right near the historical Centerville wall. Yvonne’s childhood days saw the last hard years of racism in The Bahamas prior to Majority Rule. She and her siblings could not go to the Savoy Theatre in downtown, Nassau, as it was a ‘white’s only’ establishment. Ebenezer Methodist Church still had a section for whites and blacks to sit, segregated at the time. The higher professions for blacks were teachers and nurses. “Our grandparents and great grandparents, when you look back, were successful entrepreneurs,” Yvonne said.

“I remember when your parents made your clothes to go to school and to play in the yard. We used to take the sacks that the flour came in and wash them and sew clothes and even underclothes. We learned what it was to work hard. Our parents worked all the time. We were taught how to clean. We used to get on our knees and clean wooden floors with the wire scrubber. We had an outside toilet - only the wealthy whites had toilets in their homes. We used the bush to wash the dishes. We used the bush to heal ourselves - there was no pharmacy to talk about. We had no running water. You had to walk to the pump. It wasn’t until I grew older that we had a hand pump in our yard. All we had was a tin tub and slop bucket.

“We grew our own food in the yard. We had beans, cassava, sweet potatoes... chickens, hogs, goats... these provided the meals for the family. There was a small neighbourhood convenience shop where you would buy your salami and half pound of lard, and mom would make baked bread and rolls. The fish man would come around on a bicycle with a box attached to the back and he would sell goggle eyes, grunt and jack fish. He would sell the lobster head - because we couldn’t afford lobster, and you would cook with the fat and make minced crawfish from that - it was delicious!

“Our grandparents would send boxes of fruit and vegetables on the mailboat. We walked to the mailboat to collect them... we walked everywhere. Our days were full of respect - that is what you were taught and that is how you lived. You had to be creative, smart and wise. You had to use your God-given gifts to survive, and it made us stronger individuals. “

It is the virtues of respect and hard work that Yvonne handed down to her children - Juliet Carol Rutherford Moss, Frank Garfield Rutherford, Jr, and Chad Alexander Rutherford. Yvonne had all three of her children before the age of 20. Note these were times when children left school from as early as age 13 in order to work and support the family. In Yvonne’s case, her father fell ill and he could no longer work to pay her school fees. She could not attend day school, but because of her success at the school, she was allowed to continue night classes. However, by August 4, 1963, her daughter was born, and her athletic career ended. She had to focus on her newborn while also helping her mother with the raising of her younger siblings. Four months later, her mother put baby Juliet to sleep in the bed next to her, and she slipped away into eternity. Yvonne then came into great responsibility to raise her siblings. She married Frank Rutherford, Sr, a bar boy at Emerald Beach Hotel, and on November 23, 1964, Frank Jr was born. Chad came by March 5, 1966.

“Frank was strong and independent from a child,” Yvonne told me.

“He was the easiest birth I had. They had to burst my water bag and when he came out, he was smacking his lips! They did not have to spank him. He came ready! As a child, he always had the attitude that ‘I am a go getter and I have to get things done; I am a man and I have responsibility’.

“Juliet fell sick as a child, first with meningitis and then a rheumatic fever. When she was in the hospital, they gave me a card that allows you to come and visit your loved one at any time, because they expected her to die. But I went to my church (St Barnabas, where she attended from the age of six until now) and I laid prostrate at the altar, and God saved my child’s life. She needed a lot of love and care and attention, and Frank was a baby. But he was strong and vibrant. I remember I would put him to bed - he wasn’t even walking yet - and he would crawl out of the bed to go to the backdoor to be with our neighbour Beryl, he just loved her. Beryl’s brothers had bicycles and one time, Frank’s hand got caught in the chain and although we took him to the hospital he lost a part of his finger.

“Frank, to my mind, was always a good moral support and strength to me. He was always there for me. My children were always with me everywhere I went. Frank always had the attitude that ‘I have to protect my mummy. I have to take care of her’. When he was a boy and men would hail me, he would say, ‘don’t hail my mummy!’ He is still like that, even though his father and I were married for 25 years. I had a brain aneurysm back in 2006. Frank came and took over and I had to be airlifted to Miami to Jackson Memorial Hospital to save my life. Then in 2016 they found a small lump in my breast. But today, I am cancer free! Frank always took over when I needed him. Thank goodness my husband (Reginald Andy Moncur) is an understanding man!”

Frank showed athletic prowess as a young child, from around the age of four. He not only did track and field but he played a very good game of squash at the Squash Club on Village Road. He once had a dream of being a pilot, but he ended up earning Bachelor of Science degrees in both Economics and Computer Science.

When Frank attended LW Young High School, he really excelled in sports. Being from the over-the-hill area, he joined the Bain Town Flyers Track Club, coached by former Sports Minister Neville Wisdom. Frank was an excellent runner and jumper, and it earned him a spot on the Bahamas national team to CARIFTA when he was 15 or 16 years-old. Yvonne got the call and instructions, and took her son to the airport, bags packed. But in what was considered a show of last minute favouritism, another athlete was chosen and the plane left without him. It was a devastating time as he and his mother consoled one another at the airport.

“Frank has had a number of major disappointments as an athlete,” Yvonne said, “But I always told him that promotion comes from God.”

“He didn’t let it kill his spirit. He was more determined than ever. Frank always wanted to be an Olympian from a very young person. That kept him going.”

Watching the Bahamian athletes compete at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, Frank shared these sentiments: “For me, it’s like a father - a parent - watching their children grow. I feel totally responsible for the failures and successes of our athletes. I know all the things I had to go through with fighting the BOC (Bahamas Olympic Committee) just for a uniform just to compete at the Olympics, when everything should be centered around the athlete.

“(Some officials) used the BOC as a vacation club for them and their families and friends. Whatever money that would come through the International Olympic Committee for the welfare and training of Olympic athletes in the country, some executives would take the money and split it up between them. Likewise, when shoe companies and such would sponsor the Olympic team and give uniforms, they would give it to their friends and family members before the athletes.

“Even in 1992, I didn’t have a uniform to compete in. These are the things that I fought against and complained about for years as the athlete carrying the flag at the highest level. Pauline Davis-Thompson was inspired by me. I discovered her at LW Young from our house sports back in the day. So when I hear all the griping going on about the coaches and managers at the Olympics, and them not being athlete-friendly, these are the things I talked about from back then. They don’t understand that at that level, you need total support. You have to pamper an athlete so that the athlete could usher in the best performance they could ever dream of.

“Troy Kemp, Pauline, Shaunae, Tonique, the Golden Girls... all of them, I see myself as the driving force that gave them the understanding and confidence to do it.”

“When I see the athletes compete today, I feel very satisfied that they are going into these competitions knowing that they are not just there for the experience. They are there as legitimate contenders for medals. And when people see The Bahamas, they see us as a powerhouse of track and field that is going to do something significant in terms of getting on that podium. Gone are the days when they only see The Bahamas as sun, sand and sea. They see us as a track power.”

He first declared this during his press conference after winning the Olympic medal on this day, 29 years ago. He put the world on notice to expect The Bahamas to be on every podium, and ever since he said it, The Bahamas has won a medal at the Olympics. Today, he owns a foundation in his name that makes it possible for young Bahamians to earn university scholarships and fulfil athletic dreams. He is also the owner and President of Megamalt, the nutritious malt drink found in stores across the country.