The year was 1958.
A young Bahamian basketball player who was so good they called him "The Pro" got a scholarship to play basketball for the San Francisco University Dons. He was a nifty backcourt specialist with style and grace. A knee injury hampered what would have been a sterling collegiate career.
But, Godfrey Pinder was a special athlete, so much so that the nickname stuck. He is now an attorney of note but still known as "Pro".
He was the pioneer.
Around about 1967, Sterling Quant, who we used to call "Robert Lloyd" went to Central State University and was drafted to play in the old American Basketball Association. Sammie "Bookie" Johnson and Keith "Belzie" Smith followed Quant at Central. They represented that second noteworthy wave of Bahamian collegiate basketball players.
The trend was established.
In the early 1970s, a quartet of Bahamian players, Charles "Cowheeler" Thompson, Cecil Rose, Osbourne "Goose" Lockhart and Michael Thompson took the Florida high school scene by storm. They gained legendary status at Miami Jackson High and later became college stars. Charles Thompson and Cecil Rose went to the University of Houston and Michael Thompson and Lockhart enrolled in the University of Minnesota. Michael became known as Mychal and earned the nickname "Sweet Bells" for ringing in those many soft jumpers from around 10-15 from the basket.
Mychal Thompson was the first Bahamian to be drafted and signed by a National Basketball Association team. He was the No.1 selected player in the 1978 NBA Draft. He went to the Portland Trailblazers and later the San Antonio Spurs and the Los Angeles Lakers, the team with which he earned two NBA championship rings.
Lockhart went on to play with the world-famous Globetrotters. Charles and Cecil played well at Houston, tried out in NBA camps but did not catch on. However, the word was out. Basketball talent abounded in The Bahamas.
The trend continued.
There was Kendal "Tiny" Pinder, Ian Lockhart, Dexter Cambridge, Rick Fox, (who became the second Bahamian to play in the NBA and earned three
championship rings with the Lakers) and many others.
Mychal Thompson is long retired. Fox called it a day three seasons ago. When the Lakers traded him to his first NBA team, the Boston Celtics, he opted for retirement.
Who will be the next Bahamian to make it all the way to the NBA?
Will it be the 6-9, 260-pound Jeremy Barr who plays now for the University of Southern California? The Trojan was discovered by sports mentor Frank Rutherford and certainly has the potential to play in the NBA.
It could be Barr or any number of Bahamians now playing within the U.S. system.
Maybe it will be Keno Jaraun Burrows.
The 6-8, 195-pound sophomore out of Metro Christian Academy, plays for the Volunteer State Community College Pioneers and this season has come into his own.
Recently, he led his team all the way into the semi-final round of the 2006 Tennessee Junior and Community College Athletic Association (TJCCAA)/National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region VII Tournament. On the host court at Southwest Tennessee Community College, Burrows blossomed on one of the state’s biggest sports stages.
In the opening game, he sparked a 110-81 romp over Dyersburgh State Community College. In the process, he scored 23 points, pulled down 16 rebounds, made five assists and stole the ball three times. He was able to leave the game with more than 12 minutes left and his team ahead by 31 points.
According to his dad, James, the youngster "mesmerized the crowd with several thunderous dunks and low post moves." Reportedly the play-by-play announced called Burrows the best big man he has ever seen.
Then, it was a quarter-final game against Walter State Community College. The Pioneers overcame Walter State 76-69 and Burrows had another one of his patented games. He scored 25 points, grabbed 14 off the glass, recorded six assists, three steals and two blocked shots.
The success ended in the next game against the Southwest Saluqis team. Burrows and company went down by the score of 101-78. He was doubled and tripled team but still managed to score 15 and snatch 11 rebounds. He was named to the TJCAA First Team and later honoured as the TJCAA Player of the Year.
Those are same lofty credentials for young Burrows and testimony to the wealth of talent coming out of The Commonwealth of The Bahamas these days. Even if solid players like Jaraun Burrows do not catch on in the NBA, international basketball has suddenly crept right up alongside. Barr, Burrows and others might well form that nucleus which allows The Bahamas in the not too distant future to become an international basketball power.
Today, we salute Keno Jaraun Burrows. We wish Burrows and other Bahamians out there claiming basketball glory for their country, the best of luck.
- Austin DWI - New York DWI