KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Organisers are planning a week of activities to commemorate the 100th birthday, life and legacy of West Indies legend George Headley.
The celebrations will be held from May 24 through to May 30, the birthday of Headley.
“We are hoping to remind present day Jamaicans who may have heard of him and those may not, of the greatness of the legendary George Headley,” said Easton McMorris, the former Jamaica and West Indies batsman and chairman of the organising committee.
“He made phenomenal achievements in cricket at another time and era, and was as important as Marcus Garvey in the struggle towards uplifting the black race.
“Garvey said, ‘up you mighty race’, while Headley actualised it as a black man in a white era with his performances. He was one of the founding fathers of modern Jamaica.”
An exhibition, a symposium in association with the University of the West Indies, a family fun day, and an all-star cricket match at the Lucas Cricket Club, where Headley played, will form the main planks of the activities.
“We want to celebrate the centenary of probably the greatest cricketer that Jamaica and the West Indies have produced,” said Brian Breese, a member of the organising committee.
“Australia did the same thing to Donald Bradman last year, and we thought that it would only be fitting to do likewise. Something was done for the ‘White Headley’, so we are doing something for the ‘Black Bradman’.”
Headley, who scored 2,190 runs at an average of 60.83 in 22 Tests before and after World War II. he, died in 1983 at the age of 74.
“We appreciate what is being done to honour my father,” said Headley’s son, Lyndie. “It is things like these that brings out the greatness of my father to us, as growing up, I didn’t understand much and thank the organising committee for making it happen.”
