The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK


Tribune Freeport Reporter


dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE family of Grand Bahama coach and 2025 Sports Hall of Famer Bonnie Basden believes an island-wide power outage in response to a bomb threat on Thursday morning played a role in her death.

Basden, 64, who relied on an electric oxygen machine, was found unresponsive on the floor of her bedroom at her home at Tasmania Road shortly after 7am. She was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

The outage began shortly after 7am when the Grand Bahama Power Company initiated an emergency shutdown and evacuation of its operations following a reported bomb threat at its generation plant on West Sunrise Highway and Peel Street. Police, firefighters and a bomb assessment team searched the facility. No explosive device was found. The outage lasted several hours.

“I absolutely think the power outage contributed to Bonnie’s demise,” Adrianne Sands said at the family home. “We’re not blaming anyone. We know it was God’s timing. But the power outage caused her machine to shut down, which is unfortunate.”

“I don’t like that the power went out — and all of that is why that happened,” Yvonne Sands, Basden’s sister, said.

Basden suffered from lung disease and depended on an electric oxygen machine 24 hours a day. A hired caregiver, Carol Johnson, assisted her. Two of her sisters also lived in the home and helped with her care. Basden was the youngest of 10 siblings.

Adrianne Sands said she left for work around 6.30am, leaving Basden with the caretaker and her sister Michelle, who has Parkinson’s disease and uses a walker. Another sister was expected to arrive later that morning.

Around 7.30am, she said, Michelle called to say the power had gone out and that Basden was on the floor.

Adrianne, who worked nearby, drove home and called her nephew to start the generator because Bonnie’s oxygen machine required electricity. When she arrived, she said Basden was face down on the tile floor with her oxygen mask still on her face. She checked for a pulse and breathing but found none.

She called 911 and said she was told the call had gone to New Providence and would be transferred to Grand Bahama.

She contacted a family friend and others familiar with the medical equipment. With their help, they turned Basden onto her back. A niece who is a registered nurse in Canada guided them through CPR by phone until emergency medical personnel arrived and took over.

Basden was rushed to the hospital but was pronounced dead a short time later.

“I was in another world when I walked through these doors where I live with Bonnie, my sister Michelle, Ms Johnson, and her seven boys who live here,” Adrianne Sands said. “This is unbelievable. It has not processed for me yet.”

Those seven boys were in New Providence attending a basketball tournament when they learned of her death.

Basden was a fixture in Grand Bahama’s sporting and youth development circles. A standout athlete, she played for the Bahamas National Women’s Basketball Team before becoming one of the country’s most respected female coaches.

Twenty-seven years ago, she founded House of Hoops & Dreams, housing, tutoring, coaching and mentoring hundreds of young men from Grand Bahama and the Family Islands. Many earned scholarships and went on to university. Some became professionals and entrepreneurs.

In November, she was inducted into the Grand Bahama Sports Hall of Fame and received national honours for her contribution to youth and sports.

“She touched lives not just in Grand Bahama, but throughout The Bahamas and internationally,” Adrianne Sands said.

Basden is survived by her son, Anthony Basden Jr., 36, who lives abroad. The family said he is devastated but determined to honour his mother’s legacy. On Thursday morning, one of the last people Basden asked for was her adopted son, Donald “Ping” Basden, whom she took in from Abaco at age 13 after Hurricane Dorian.

Community activist Dudley Seide, founder of Reach Out Ministries, said Basden’s influence on his life began nearly 40 years ago when she coached him. She had called him just days earlier.

“So when that message came to me, it was devastating,” he said. “She helped me in my life, and every week, I assisted Bonnie in some form or fashion.”

“I hope it doesn’t die with her. She devoted her life to changing young men’s lives, and to say she will be missed is an understatement.

“We need to name a building or something after her.”