Dear Editor,
I have heard that Bernard De Santos was one of our legal luminaries, but I did not know that Bernard very well. The Bernard that I knew was an avid cricketer as a teenager. He was about three years older than I was but we attended high school around the same time. He attended Central High School while I attended Tutorial. One Friday afternoon there was a cricket match between Central and Tutorial at Central High School ground in Thomas Lands. Bernard was an all-rounder and the captain of the Central High School team.
Tutorial was batting and everyone thought that the ball was going for a six. Bernard was fielding on the boundary and with arm outstretched he leapt into the air and caught that ball before it went over the boundary. Everyone was stunned at how effortlessly he positioned himself under the ball and calmly took that catch with his feet several inches off the ground and his arm in the air. There was no fumbling of the ball. It was a clean catch and comparable to anything I had seen in a test match. Even the opposition cheered Bernard on that particular day and it will go down as one of the most spectacular catches that I have seen in my entire life.
Every time I hear about Bernard De Santos, the outstanding lawyer or Bernard De Santos the highly regarded Attorney General, I always remember that catch. With all of his achievements in the legal profession, I doubt whether he could have pulled off something as brilliant and memorable (at least for me) as what he did on the cricket field that day.
Yours faithfully,
Rudy Vyfhuis
