"In the early 1970s, when I started my career in the Olympic Movement as secretary of the Canadian Olympic Committee, I attended my first PASO (Pan American Sports Organization) meeting and there I met the remarkable Arlington Butler, a man almost as large as the country he represented. He was urbane, confident and articulate, filled with and radiating with confidence on all matters discussed. I expected that little has changed in that regard over the years. He was fun to be with and added immeasurably to the conviviality of the PASO meetings.
"As time went on, his renown increased, to match his girth. First, he became the Honourable Arlington Butler and, in due course, Sir Arlington Butler, a distinction he bore with effortless grace. He was never excessively formal. Close friends were permitted to refer to him as 'Most Honoured and Respected Sir'. This becoming modesty only added to his reputation. I am sorry to say that, with my own expanding Olympic responsibilities, I gradually began to miss more and more PASO meetings, a sacrifice that I felt only in a diminishing lack of opportunity to maintain regular contact with Arlington. I am sorry that I cannot be with you in person as you recognize him this evening, but extend my own congratulations and best wishes on this occasion."
This message was signed by none other than Dick Pound, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) member in Canada. This was only one of the tributes that Sir Arlington Butler, a man from Brougham St. and Farm Road, received on the occasion of him being awarded the Pierre de Coubertin Award, the highest award that could be given by the IOC, at Government House on Friday, November 1, 2013.
Pound, a Montreal lawyer, became the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). He also ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee against Jacques Rogge, this year's outgoing president.
Numerous friends from the Caribbean came to The Bahamas to join in the celebration. They sung Sir Arlie's praises. Unfortunately, few Bahamians have had the opportunity to see Sir Arlington in action on the world sporting stage. Sir Arlington was the longest serving president of the Bahamas Olympic Association, now Committee (BOC). He served from 1973-2008. Not many presidents of any organization around the world have served for that long. At his side through thick and thin was his wife, Lady Sheila Butler. Lady Sheila died in August of this year. She would have enjoyed this occasion.
About five years after the end of his reign, the BOC decided to honor Sir Arlington in a big way that fit the persona of Sir Arlington. He was elected after the one year stint of Dr. Norman Gay and preceded Wellington Miller in the presidency.
Sir Arlington served as the sixth president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), from 1964-1968. During his presidency of the Olympic body, The Bahamas won numerous Olympic medals in track and field, the sport Sir Arlie got his start in.
They started in 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, when Frank Rutherford became the first Bahamian to capture a track and field medal at the Olympic Games. Rutherford won a bronze medal in the men's triple jump.
Coming down to the end of his presidency, during the Olympic Games, in 2004 in Athens, Greece, Tonique Williams-Darling won the gold medal in the 400 meters (m) and Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie captured the bronze medal in the 200m. His contributions will be remembered for a long time.
On Friday November 1 at Government House along with family and friends, Sir Arlington Butler, a man from Brougham St. and Farm Road who walked with royalty and men and women of influence, got an opportunity to "smell the roses". We say: "Well done Sir Arlington!"

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian