Former Cricket Coach at St. Jago High Gets National Award

Winston Spencer, like any proud past student, could not stand by and watch his alma mater, St. Jago High School, in St. Catherine, suffer defeat in cricket, a sport he loves and played as a student at the then Beckford and Smith in the early 1950s.

He tells JIS News that after seeing in the local newspapers how poorly the school’s cricket team was doing, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

“I noticed that they weren’t doing so well and I drove down and just walked on to the field that evening… and just took over the cricket, never consulted the Principal or anybody,” says Mr. Spencer, adding that the team was without a coach at the time.

This decision gave birth to him serving as coach of the St. Jago High School cricket team for some 46 years, contributing to the development of high-school cricket.

For his contribution, Mr. Spencer will be conferred with a Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service on National Heroes Day, October 18, during the virtual National Honours and Awards Ceremony.

“I really appreciate it a lot, to coach for so long and to keep the discipline intact. For it to reach this far, I appreciate it more. It is very encouraging,” Mr. Spencer says.

He informs that the first game played under his stewardship, which began in 1968, was against Wolmer’s Boys’ School.

“We beat Wolmer’s and the best thing you could ever do for Principal Howard Bell at that time was to beat Wolmer’s,” he adds.

Mr. Spencer tells JIS News that following the team’s victory, the principal congratulated him and the rest is history.

While serving as coach, the cricket team won four consecutive Sunlight Cup Championship finals as well as a number of championships in the 30-over Knockout Tapping Cup Competition.

He notes that although his popularity grew as St. Jago became successful, “beating all the top schools,” the most important thing for him was the “discipline” that he was able to instil in the boys through the sport.

“Cricket is very good for youngsters because you have to have good discipline to play cricket. The more disciplined you are, the better you do, and I concentrated very much on discipline,” the retired coach informs.

Mr. Spencer says that many of the players he coached still keep in touch with him today and are thankful for his input and guidance in their lives.

David Brown, who served as vice captain and then captain of the St. Jago cricket team in the 1980s, says ‘Skip’, as Mr. Spencer is called by his players, is an “unknown national treasure” who deserves to be recognised.

“He was perfect in his knowledge of all aspects of the game. He knew how to teach spin bowlers to deliver the devastating googly,” he says.

Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Cricket Association, Courtney Francis, who also benefited from Mr. Spencer’s leadership while at St. Jago High School, credits him not only for his intervention through sports but for the life lessons learnt.

“One of the things that is most outstanding for us as persons who came through his coaching was that cricket was a tool that he used to prepare us for life outside of cricket and to make us better persons for society,” he says.

Mr. Francis also credits the retired coach for producing quality players, who went on to play nationally and internationally.

Danza Hyatt, Tony Powell, Gregory Brown, Robert Harley, Steve Wint, Rudolph Nelson and Wayne Myrie are among the batsmen whose talents were nurtured by Coach Spencer, some of whom went on to represent Jamaica and the West Indies.