Tributes flow after Lawrence dies

Source: Trinidad Guardian

KINGSTON, Ja­maica - Trib­utes have poured in for out­stand­ing track and field an­a­lyst and broad­cast­er, Hu­bert Lawrence, who passed away here Fri­day.

Lawrence, 64, who made a name for him­self over sev­er­al decades with his deep knowl­edge and in­ci­sive analy­sis of the sport, was found un­re­spon­sive at his home in the south­east­ern parish of St Cather­ine, me­dia re­ports here said.

And Prime Min­is­ter An­drew Hol­ness led trib­utes to Ja­maican Lawrence, hail­ing his "pro­found knowl­edge and pas­sion for the sport."

"With a ca­reer span­ning over three decades, Hu­bert played a cru­cial role in tele­vi­sion cov­er­age of pres­ti­gious ath­let­ic events such as the Olympics and World Cham­pi­onships, as well as lo­cal meets," Hol­ness said.

"His con­tri­bu­tions as a colum­nist for the Dai­ly Glean­er show­cased his pro­found knowl­edge and pas­sion for the sport.

"May his out­stand­ing lega­cy con­tin­ue to in­spire fu­ture gen­er­a­tions."

Sports Min­is­ter Olivia Grange, said Lawrence's pass­ing would leave "a huge void" in the pro­fes­sion.

"Eas­i­ly among the best au­thor­i­ties on the sport in the world," Grange said.

"His pass­ing at on­ly 64 years old has left me in shock and will leave a huge void in com­men­tary and analy­sis on the sport."

The Ja­maica Ath­let­ics Ad­min­is­tra­tive As­so­ci­a­tion, in a re­lease, de­scribed Lawrence as "ex­tra­or­di­nary".

"The JAAA is deeply sad­dened by the pass­ing of ex­tra­or­di­nary track and field an­a­lyst and jour­nal­ist Hu­bert Lawrence," the JAAA said.

"He ded­i­cat­ed his life to the sport we love. Sin­cere con­do­lences to his many friends and his fam­i­ly. May his soul rest in peace."

The Sports De­vel­op­ment Foun­da­tion, an in­de­pen­dent body which aids in fund­ing of na­tion­al as­so­ci­a­tions, said Lawrence had "[in­spired] gen­er­a­tions with his pas­sion and knowl­edge."

"Hu­bert Lawrence was a vet­er­an sports jour­nal­ist, an­a­lyst, au­thor, and com­men­ta­tor known for his in­ci­sive com­men­tary, in­sight­ful in­ter­views, and un­wa­ver­ing ded­i­ca­tion to lo­cal sports," the foun­da­tion said.

"He was a true cham­pi­on for ath­letes and sports de­vel­op­ment in Ja­maica, in­spir­ing gen­er­a­tions with his pas­sion and knowl­edge.

"He was well known as well for his bal­anced and in­sight­ful com­men­taries and in­ter­views and fur­ther not on­ly to lo­cal sports but al­so in the re­gion and in­ter­na­tion­al­ly."

Lawrence be­came syn­ony­mous with the Caribbean's cov­er­age of the Olympic Games, World Cham­pi­onships and CARIF­TA meets and was al­so an au­thor and co-au­thor of books on track and field.

And Christo­pher Samu­da, pres­i­dent of the Ja­maica Olympic As­so­ci­a­tion, praised Lawrence's con­tri­bu­tion to the Olympic move­ment, not­ing his analy­sis gave "con­text" to sta­tis­tics.

"He gave sta­tis­tics con­text in his writ­ten and spo­ken word so that play­ers could un­der­stand the cul­ture of the sport more, their role and re­spon­si­bil­i­ty, and be guid­ed by the prin­ci­ples of Olympi­cism, which is pen-inked in per­son­al­iz­ing suc­ces­sive Olympic Games," he said.

"The Olympic fam­i­ly mourns his mor­tal­i­ty, but is as­sured and as­sures his fam­i­ly that his soul now rests eter­nal­ly,"

Lawrence had been sched­uled to be part of the tele­vi­sion cov­er­age of the 2024 Gib­son Mc­Cook Re­lays on Sat­ur­day.