Along with senior members of the local basketball fraternity, and on behalf of the Kentucky Colonels Basketball Club, public expression is given to the profound sense of loss at the time-sensitive mortal transition of legendary coach and archrival Cougars counterpart, Arthur Adolphus 'Gully' Rolle. For in spite of our epic confrontations in the basketball arena, we shared a personal bond and intimate friendship founded on mutual admiration and respect which collectively served to confuse the minds of many supporters of my Colonels and his Cougars. We both faced accusations of sleeping with the enemy but ours was a subscription to the Post Civil War unifying theme of Abe Lincoln to cultivate friendships with enemies.
Gully and I were two of the first Bahamians to achieve FIBA's highest coaches certification at Grade One in 1974. He served as my assistant at Centro Basquet, the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) regional championships in Mexico (1977); the Central American and Caribbean Games in Medellin, Colombia (1978); and the AAU South Regionals in Delray Beach, Florida (1979). I subsequently served under him at two CARICOM Basketball Championships, returning with the title each time. In fact, Gladstone 'Moon' McPhee is the only Bahamian coach with better international results, and these with Gully as his assistant.
Foremost memories though are reserved for the 22 years of epic battles fought on home soil between the Beck's Cougars and the Kentucky Colonels beginning in 1968, lasting throughout the 1970s and 1980s and briefly revived in 2007 to honor the late sports reporter, Phil Smith. It is common knowledge that local basketball was at its highest standard in that prior era with regular game attendance by even the prime minister at that time, Sir Lynden Pindling.
To achieve and retain positions of dominance therefore, my Colonels and Gully Rolle's Cougars never practised for games. Instead both clubs conducted rehearsals, sometimes five times per week, inclusive of conditioning and classroom sessions beginning in the summer. Such levels of preparation created platforms for achieving excellence causing Gully's Cougars to be singled out as the only club to ever win what was regarded as the 'Triple Crown' of local basketball: the New Providence Championships, the National Championships and the prestigious Independence Tournament, all in the same calendar year (1973-1974). He heightened his fame by branching out on his own to form his own championship club, the Coca-Cola Explorers.
Regrettably, the name of Arthur Adolphus 'Gully' Rolle does not seem to resonate as much as it should among today's young ballers, coaches or sports commentators despite his vast contribution to national development through sports, basketball in particular. Perhaps his humble persona factored him into the same tragic misfortune which befell scores of other Bahamian athletes and sports administrators whose wonderfully heroic achievements have gone unappreciated, unnoticed and subsequently consigned to the dust bin of history. Prominent examples are the subdued acknowledgement of the remarkable accomplishments of the 'Bahamian Torpedo', Arianna Vanderpool Wallace, and concomitantly, the continuous national indifference assigned to the role Betty Kelly-Kenning played in our daughter finishing a slim 0.64 seconds shy of a gold medal in swimming at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Fortunately however, 'Gully' is among those few short-listed for induction into this country's National Hall of Fame, the state-recognized Parthenon for the elite among Bahamian sports heroes of the past century. As it was for the current 84 Hall of Fame members, such an eventual honor will celebrate and rescue from oblivion, the valiant efforts of Arthur Adolphus 'Gully' Rolle as he toiled to build his Bahamas through basketball. We therefore do not cry because his life has transitioned. Rather, we rejoice and are grateful for all the blessings he brought to us in the fruitful years he was allocated. Let us all offer genuine condolences to Helen and the children, offering deep prayers of intercession for Arthur Adolphus 'Gully' Rolle, a colleague I am proud to have counted as my friend.
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