Three forgotten names in Cole legend

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Before the dust settles on the life and times of Allan “Skill” Cole, three names ought to be recorded in history in the player’s rise to legendary status: “Foggy” Burrowes, Ben Francis and Derek Tompkinson. Without their help and direction Jamaica would likely never have heard of Cole. I know because I witnessed first-hand the events that led to Cole’s rise to fame.

Cole, as we now know, had left Kingston College with a red card and had gone to Campion College, a school which did not then play in the Manning Cup. Had he remained there, it is unlikely his light would have shone so brightly, if at all, on the football field.

On a Monday afternoon in 1965 just before the schoolboy football got under way, sports journalist Burrowes, a former Kingston College athlete and sportsmaster, was driving up South Camp Road turning into Vineyard Town. A game was going on at nearby Issa Park. I was in the passenger seat and looked across only to see an unknown ‘baller” making some extraordinary moves, and alerted Burrowes. He stopped the car, watched for 15 minutes and then decided he had to find out who this “baller” was. He then reversed the car and went over to Issa Park, only to discover it was Cole, who he knew from his KC involvement.

Within a week Burrowes convinced Cole’s parents to effect a transfer to Vere Tech. There the school’s outstanding principal, Ben Francis, agreed to take in this Kingston lad, “blind” and on faith so to speak, and encouraged him along the straight and narrow path.

By then English-born coach Tompkinson had transferred from Jamaica College after three straight Manning Cup and two Olivier Shield victories. Tompkinson, a stickler for fitness, added this dimension to Cole’s game, recognised his very special creative genius and gave him full freedom. Later he arranged Cole’s first pro contract with the Atlanta Chiefs.

The rest we know.

ERROL TOWNSHEND

Scarborough, Ontario

Canada