Dr Glenton Smith

A wonderful show of various sports personalities, as well as a corresponding wave of tributes, was a feature of the thanksgiving service for the late, popular sports doctor, Glenton Astwell Smith, in Mandeville on Saturday.

Typical of all sentiments was the line that Smith, who passed on in Florida last month following medical complications, was as an extraordinary Jamaican doctor who gave service beyond monetary reward.

Among those paying tributes were Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) president, Captain Horace Burrell, Howard Aris, president of Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA), Mike Fennell, former Institute of Sports (INSPORTS) chairman, Clayton Solomon, Leroy Brown, media practioner, and a colleague of Smith's while he studied in Cuba, Evon Hewitt.

Eldemire Smith, a track and field coach and mathematics teacher at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), was a former schoolmate when Smith attended Thornton Primary in St Elizabeth. He remembered Smith as a very good cricketer who captained at his primary school, as well as Maggotty Secondary (now high), before going on to STETHS. However, as someone who regularly sent injured athletes to Smith, he opined that Jamaica would never fully understand the calibre of person Smith was.

"Here is a doctor that you could send your athletes to without notice, get the best attention and then instead of asking for money, he is trying to find out how they are are going to cope," Smith said.

JFF general secretary Horace Reid remembers Smith's first trip with the Reggae Boyz during René Simoes' first stint back in 1995, when he accompanied the team to Zambia.

Fees no issue

"He was the one who approached us. Fees was never an issue. He was always willing and very positive, even when the team faced difficult moments on the field."

Ferdinand Boyd, a lecturer at Church Teachers' College in Man-deville for 30 years, says Smith was heaven-sent.

"He was God's gift to athletes," declared Boyd. " I sent a lot of athletes to him and I also knew of his work with Special Olympics."

Former JAAA president, Pat Anderson, pointed to the fact that Smith hailed from Aberdeen, the same area that produced present West Indies fast bowler Jerome Taylor.

Following the service at New Testament Church of God on Knowles Road, Smith's body was whisked away for the 40-mile trip to the hills of Aberdeen, a deep- rural North East St Elizaebth community, where it was laid to rest.