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Submitted by The Rev Glenville Butler
Sir Conrad Hunte  West Indies  Player profile  Full name Conrad Cleophas Hunte Born May 9, 1932, Greenland Plantation, Shorey's Village, St Andrew, Barbados Died December 3, 1999, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (aged 67 years 208 days) Major teams West Indies, Barbados Batting style Right-hand bat Bowling style Right-arm medium Other Administrator
Sir Conrad Hunte West Indies Player: Conrad Cleophas Hunte Born May 9, 1932, Greenland Plantation, Shorey's Village, St Andrew, Barbados Died December 3, 1999, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia (aged 67 years 208 days) Major teams West Indies, Barbados Batting style Right-hand bat Bowling style Right-arm medium Other Administrator – Source: Cricinfo.com

Dear BU,

Don’t know if you are a lover of cricket (the game); maybe you can help.

The Advocate published an article, “Arise, Sir Conrad” 3 Jan 99 after he was knighted. I don’t have my copy (usual stuff: ‘you will get it back’)- but I never did.

I would like to reproduce and readapt that article come Jan 2009 ten years or so after Sir Conrad’s passing. The last PM chose his specifically. Cant seem to get any joy from the Advocate.

Sir Conrad was to revive W Indies cricket starting in Primary schools because of his moral stance in life (Moral Rearmament) and his belief in equality of humanity.

I was freelance (Theology, Cricket, Politics) and interviewed him before he went to Australia never to return. That was sad. I belonged to his club Empire CC


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55 responses to “The Memory Of Sir Conrad Hunte 10 Years On”


  1. Maybe just maybe a member of the BU family can assist the goodly Reverend:-)


  2. Go to the Public Library and ask to use the Microfilm of past Advocate editions.

    I am not sure if it can be printed out but you can sure copy the text.

    Might be a bit of a challenge since the research section remains closed, …. but go and ask, you may be accommodated.

    There are good folks there!! Give them a chance to help you.


  3. You can also try your luck with the library at the university of the west indies , cave hill campus-WIC section.

    At UWI, the article can be printed.

    Respect !


  4. The goodly Butler may not want to travel to Barbados for only this purpose. Do we have a volunteer? We are sure that person will be blessed.


  5. I will see what I can do but I make no promises


  6. We are forced to wonder if Sir Conrad were alive supported by his deputy Stephen Alleyne how would the Barbados Cricket Association be faring?

    It is eerie that both died.


  7. Re: Sir Contrad Hunte remembered – Ten (10) years on.
    Dear BU and family,
    1. Thanks for the advice and initial promises. A sneak preview from memory of what I wrote back then. “I NAMED MY SONS after Conrad Hunte and Wes Hall. As a lad on an errand with a new cycle (1950s) I saw this cheerful chap (Conrad) humping his Barbados cricket bag at the top of Ayshford Hill, St Thomas – where his lift set him down, though he was playing at Belleplaine.
    2. I put the genial gentleman and bag on my cycle and dropped him at Sturges – where his next lift was waiting.
    3. We next met in UK (1970s) where he was into the Arts; he became a committed christian and involvement in Moral Rearmament on tour with WIndies to Australia (1960/61).
    4. His first christian act was to return 12 cents he had “sneaked” from the study of his alma mater, Alleyne School.
    5. Conrad was from a crowded chattel house home (like many of us), yet he passed 9 subjects GCE “O” level (pass mark 60 per subject)
    6. He did well with the bat “Down Under” – (Sir) Frank Worrell’s leadership – and featured in the field in the first ever “tied test” at Brisbane
    7. Bajans saw all 5 tests LIVE on Mobile Cinema and at the Cinemas.
    8. Research material: “Playing to Win” (autobiography), “My Country’s Keeper” (Wally Grout). But I must not get ahead of the play/show/plot
    9. Thanks in advance, BU and contributors.
    PS
    Stephen Alleyne’s father, Charles, was a stalwart at Empire C C when I played there. Years later I asked Charkles if his sons also played for Empire. He replied, “Who else could they play for, while living at my house?”


  8. Dear David at BU,

    Thank you for alerting JOHN that I am overseas.

    I smiled at mention of the Public Library – I had two cousins working there until a few years ago

    When the article [“Arise Sir Conrad”] is located, please may the “volunteer” scan it through to my e-mail address which is in my wife’s name, Margaret.

    It should reach both newsprints by 03 Jan 2009. Thank you all.
    PS
    Do correct any spelling mistakes before printing. We read from the PC screen and cant photocopy to check typing


  9. @ Rev. O. Butler

    I hope you counselled the great Sir Conrad Hunte, to return that 12 cents with appropriate interest, compounded not simple.

    I owe my alma mater for some books I “borrowed” and have included them in my will.


  10. It is said confession is good for the soul 🙂


  11. @ Pat
    Your honesty is touching, He above has looked upon you with much generosity…it seems you are blessed.


  12. @Yardbroom

    Thanks for the kind words. Lots of people think the same.

    I returned the books years later. After another borrower returned his and left a cheque for $5,000 which made the press. So, I am waiting until after I die. I dont want to be famous “in life”.


  13. The Rev O Glenville Butler // December 13, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    Dear David at BU,

    Thank you for alerting JOHN that I am overseas.
    +++++++++++++++++++++
    Sorry, didn’t realise.

    I try to avoid town nowadays except for specific errands so can’t offer to check it out for you.

    I hear the traffic isn’t as bad as it used to be but I just don’t like the waste of time stuck in traffic and Town seems to be about traffic most times I to go.


  14. Re: Pat’s “Returned books” and her “proposed will and testament.”

    Dear Pat,
    1. Your two contributions are “top-drawer” – I didnt know whether to laugh, or cry with laughter! But “a merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance”
    2. David, permission to explain “the unpardonable sin” (blasphemy)? One would have to satisfy ALL of 5 specific conditions (a) be born again (a la Nicodemus) (b) be baptised is the Holy Spirit (day of Pentecost experience – not gibberish or fleshy manifestations) (c) be used in the Gifts of the Spirit (1 Cor 12) (d) regard the blood of Jesus as not Atoning, but just ordinary [if not atoning, then no one can be saved by it] (e) reject Jesus deliberately and say so outright.
    3. Hence, very few people can “blaspheme” – not even St Paul, as he opined in his 2/3th writings of the NT – because when he was persecuting the Church he was NOT all of the above
    4. Thank you David, BU family and Pat – have a gret Lime (does that mean cool out?)
    5. Dear Pat, I am still laughing and/or crying. Bless you and all.

  15. Barnabas Collins Avatar

    I have to say that I thought that Mr. Hunte would have restructured our cricket so we can return to dominance.

    He once made a statement that a “cricket academy” is more than a building but a programme. Up to that point he was the only person to make such a statement.

    Barbados and West Indies cricket are in such disarray but what is significant that those in authority seem not to understand or don’t want to understand that we need some restructuring of our cricket. And calling everyone who played Test cricket a legend is not it. It is not only disappointing but frustrating to see our cricket reach the level when we think that mediocre is acceptable. We in Barbados have not produced a competent international cricketer for quite some time yet we play primary school cricket, u13, u15,u19 and domestic cricket.

    I have more that I can say about cricket in the West Indies but I will keep them to another thread on the subject.

    While I didn’t know Mr. Hunte from what I have read it seems he had a very sobering character. May he continue to rest in peace……


  16. @Reverend Butler

    Thanks for the blessings. I like to make amends where ever I have done a wrong. I dont want my “sins” to fall upon my children heads unto the fourth generation!

    You make think this strange, but I cant pass a pan handler and not give something. Same thing for the Salvation Army kettle this time of year.

    One year, I was out walking at lunch time and came across a kettle. After searching my purse I could not find a ‘suitable’ donation. However, I had a refund cheque for some travel expenses I had incurred with my work. So, I just dropped the cheque in the kettle.

    Why the Salvation Army? When I was at university, I was very poor and I shopped there for all my clothes. That is why I had to “borrow” some of my texts (being poor). I paid my way through school and now that I am better off, I can sympathise/empathise as I, myself, have been there.

    I must say I also had some good school mates who lived in residence. They used to smuggle me into the dining hall most evenings for dinner. One would distract the checker at the door and I would walk in with the others. lol.

    By the way, I had an uncle up in England who was a Reverend, now retired to Bim, Pearson Bryan. His son who was also in the ministry died suddenly earlier this year. It was a sad time for all, he was so young.

    I hope you live long and prosper and continue in the ministry. It is a calling.


  17. What you are saying Pat is that you were always crooked– stealing books and stealing into dining room most evenings.


  18. Dear Pat,
    1. An interesting missive. No problem with regards to your children down through generations.
    2. Once you are “born again” [Rom 10 v 9-13 (AV)] you have authority to (a) bless your offspring (b) cancel past “sins”
    3. (a) Lay hands on them and say : “Lord, I bless my children [XYZ]with the Abrahamic blessings – in the name of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name (b) and I cancel all generational curses by the blood of Jesus in His name [if there is a father or father- figure, that’s his job]
    4. As a mother you may go further and say ONCE out loud, (a)”Lord, I claim
    the salvation of my children [XYZ] for Christ in Jesus’ name. (b) of others, say DAILY, “Lord, I claim the salvation of blocks of people all over the world for Christ in Jesus’ name; send labourers of the Lord of the harvest in their pathway to talk to them”
    5. For any queries you may ask David of BU for my e-mail address, if you dont already have it
    6. I knew Bryan family from St Joseph


  19. I hope you endorsed that cheque, Pat (LOL)


  20. @ Juris

    Dont worry, the university is good for it. I intend to leave most of my native art as well, for the Art Gallery.


  21. Thanks Reverend for the good advice.


  22. Re: Sir Conrad Hunte remembered
    Dear BU, Pat, John, Collins et al
    1. Now that Pat “is better off” and has words of wisdom regarding the wellbeing of her offspring, maybe she will “volunteer” to obtain copy of the article
    2. With respects to all mentioned: treat as constructive criticism. John, you could have reached the UNI or Library during the time taken to type about the traffic etc
    3. B. Collins, Sir Conrad Hunte is appropriate – not “Mr Hunte”
    4. Dear David of BU, not nick-picking -but it is noticed that one section of the press referred to Sir Louis Tull as plain “Louis Tull” at the interment of Duncan Carter (my former colleague).
    5. It was worse when an Asst Supt of Police (ASP) was referred to as Asst Commissioner (ACoP); Archdeacon as “Archbishop” – I drew these to the attention of Editor
    6.Where is protocol, etiquette, basic knowledge/understanding in respect of free secondary education since 1961.


  23. I remember Sir Conrad, then just Conrad, I think it was 1965, playing against Australia at Kensington Oval. the bowler coming from the southern end was Mackenzie, Conrad was Gary were chasing runs to win. mackenzie’s ball moved away just outside the off stump and Conrad went for his favorite square cut and Wally Grout gathered the ball. Immediately Conrad walked, there was no appeal. When he got to the pavilion, a reporter asked him what happened out there and Conrad said he touched the ball. That was when cricket was a gentleman’s game. The sport, like most things now, has lost it’s honesty.


  24. Re: Sir Conrad
    Dear The Scout,
    1. (Sir) Conrad did likewise Barbados v Rest of the World XI (1967) when we had 9 test players in the Island team
    2. Unlike Sir Conrad, Aussies did not believe in “walking.” In Michael Holding’s first test “Down Under”, Ian Chappell almost cut the husk off the ball, but did not bulge – days before neutral umpires. “Down Under” WI were playing against 13 men
    3. Dennis Lillee even “kicked” Miandad (Pakistan) in a test – which could not have happened to a WI player.


  25. @ Rev. Butler

    I would gladly volunteer to retrieve the article. Alas, I live in the Great White North.

    I was at Kensington Oval 1965 in the Shool boys/School girls stand when Rohan Kanhi walked for an LBW that no-one saw, except us in the best stand at Kensington. He was not called, but we told him he was out, and he walked.

    I remember the Aussie bowler Hawk, who could not get a wicket for almost an entire day, so we advised him in chants to drink our favourite drink!

    “Hawk needs cocoa malt”, was the chant.

    It was after this match that the pundits started asking for the removal of the school kids stand.


  26. Scout you are correct!
    In the second innings of the 65 test Hunte was indeed dismissed as shown:

    CC Hunte c Grout b McKenzie 81

    Sir Conrad also walked in the Barbados 1st innings of the game against the Rest of the World in 1967 to a legside catch by England’s John Murray as indicated
    CC Hunte c Murray b Hawke 15

    Pat you are a blasted liar!

    I have never heard or read such rot!

    Who walks for an LBW decision? This does not even happen in back yard cricket far less a test match. Batsmen are adjudged to be LBW by the umpire.

    It is amazing that the umpire who was standing in line with the wicket and relatively closer to the action could not see that Kanhai was out LBW but some silly little girl sitting almost at some ungodly angle a distance away could make an LBW decision. It is most unlikely that Kanhai would walk because some school children decided he was out – and in a test match? What a load of bull shit!

    This jackass who pretends she knows everything about everything has revealed that she knows very little about cricket!

    In the first innings of that test Kanhai was out thus!
    RB Kanhai c Hawke b McKenzie 129

    In the second innings Kanhai was out thus
    RB Kanhai lbw b McKenzie 1
    Can you imagine Kanhai walking for an LBW decision given by school children in the stands?
    Pat you are a blasted liar!


  27. You don’t WALK for an LBW, Pat. There must be an appeal and the umpire must indicate that the batsman is out.


  28. bobbie
    You are perceptive and obviously understand the game, unlike Pat.

    In the 65 test as I remember, the school boys stand was next to the score board, which would mean that it was situated at about square leg or backward square when bowling from one end, and extra cover when bowling from the other.

    I cant see how any one could adjudicate an LBW decision from such a position or from such a distance- except Pat, of course.

    How could you know 1- where the ball was pitched? or 2- what is was doing of the pitch? And what doth teenage girls know about adjudicating LBW decisions?

    The catch by Murray to dismiss Hunte in the first innings of the Barbados vs the Rst of the World in 1967 was a faint tickle down the leg side that no one heard- because as I remember it, there was no appeal. The ball probably came off the glove, but Sir Conrad walked.

    This was followed by a most embarrasing batting collapse by one of the best Barbados batting line ups. We were all out for 81. It has been said that most of the team were drunk in response to the death of Sir Frank Worell who died in Trinidad of leukemia during the match


  29. ganong
    That’s true, it was the years after Barbados Independence and he was the first of the “w’s” to be buried at the UWI. As a young Boy Scout I was part of the Guard Of Honour for that funeral. We had some honest cricketers then. I also remember the incedent with Holden and Chappell. The whole field appealled and Dujon caught the ball behind the wicket, Chappell indicated that it came of the edge but yet the umpire wouldn’t send him. Later the umpire said the fielders appealled for a LBW. Obvious, if he wasn’t out LBW, he was out Caught behind. Holden sat in the middle of the pitch and cried.Then there was the famous or notorious tied test when the umpire refused to give out the last man when Gary took the catch and the team started to walk off.


  30. Sir Conrad favorite shot was taking the bouncer off his cap peek and dispatching it to the squre leg boundary for four. Thesr were the days of the back foot rule when fast bowlers uesd to put that front foot up in the batsman face and the batsmen never wore helmets in those days. The only one I know that got seriously injuried was Contractor when he ducked into a Chalie Griffith bouncer, I though he was dead that day.


  31. @ Scout

    The only one I know that got seriously injuried was Contractor when he ducked into a Chalie Griffith bouncer
    *************************************
    It wasn’t a bouncer, Contractor was afraid of Griffith and when he saw? a short pitched ball he ducked into the ball. He wasn’t the only batsman afraid of Griffith I remember Ken Barrington collapsing ( heart attack?) during a WI tour of England when he was batting against Griffith.

    Ganong’s memory is correct when he refers to the position of the Schoolboys’ stand.


  32. @ Sargeant
    I wasnt aware that Ken Barrington collapsed with a heart attack during a WI tour of England when he was batting against Griffith.

    However, it is well known that Ken Barrington died in Barbados in 1981 after witnessing from the pavillion the quality and quantity of pace from the genuine four prong attack of that era.

    The first over to Boycott from Holding and another one later that afternoon to Botham were particularly lethal!


  33. @Ganong

    I believe it was the 1966 tour. It wasn’t during a Test I think he collapsed during a county game against the WI.. I remember the conversations about his feeling very stressful while facing Griffith. Incidentally I Googled his name after I posted my submission and discovered he died in Barbados of a heart attack ( I wasn’t aware).


  34. Juris // December 16, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    You don’t WALK for an LBW, Pat. There must be an appeal and the umpire must indicate that the batsman is out.
    **************************

    Juris you are right. He did not walk on our protests, but we considered it the same when he turned the very next ball to the fielder in slips.

    We all c onsidered he did it because of us, and gave him a standing ovation.


  35. Of course Kanhai did not walk because he was given out LBW by school children from a position where one could not possibly make that adjudication correctly.

    It is a non sequitur and a most convoluted argument to consider that Kanhai then “turned” the next ball to the fielder in slips, and that is the same as being adjudged LBW by some silly school kids in the schoolboys stand.

    And how exactly do you “turn” a ball into the slips?

    According to Cricinfo
    In the first innings Kanhai was out c Hawke b McKenzie 129. that is interesting since Neil Hawke did not field in the slips.

    In the second innings Kanhai was out lbw b McKenzie 1

    Clearly there is a cricket illiterate trying unsuccesfully to impress here.

    Kanhai did not “walk” as Sir Conrad used to do! “Walking” is a term that denotes that a batsman turns towards the pavillion when he knows that he has been fairly dismissed without waiting for the umpire to give him out.


  36. You seem very anxious to denounce with some venom Pat’s recollection, Bobbie. Don’t you know that this is a true sign of a poorly educated person. Be more gracious.


  37. @ Juris

    You can not adjudicate anything about my education; you do not have all the facts. Your sentence -Don’t you know that this is a true sign of a poorly educated person, is an obvious nonsequitur.

    The issue here is not about recollection but about pretending to know everything .

    I have seen Pat being less than gracious to others, and make nasty remarks abvout scholarly posts. I did not see you rebuke her then.

    Quid dixi scripsique, dixi scripsique.


  38. Sargeant
    Ken Barrington died at the Hilton Hotel, I think, in Barbados the very night Holding almost took Geoff Boyctt”s life at Kensington Oval. That over Holding bowled to Boycott shook Barrington’s heart out of its place. Barrington was the manager of the team


  39. Sargeant
    Ganong is right that over from Holding to Boycott especially was too much for Barrington to take.
    i think it was at the Hilton he died shoutly after dinner. Boycott wrote in his book that that was the worse six balls he even faced in any kind of cricket. He too said he feared for his life. Boo, the little groundsman at Kensington at the time prepared the wicket and told W’I bowl first if they won the toss. It is alleged that Boo used to sprinkle a soap mixture on the pitch when he’s rolling it so that the ball would skid on and get more bounce. That was the most lethal over I’ve ever witnessed in cricket


  40. Come on fellows, give Pat a break, we KNow she just don’t know or understand cricket and therefore as usual write stupidness. Don’t waste time with her, she has tha right to write foolishness, we too have the right not to respond.


  41. The West Indies did not bowl first in that match!


  42. Scout, Sargeant
    Boo, the little groundsman at Kensington at the time prepared the wicket and told W’I bowl first if they won the toss.
    =========================

    I remember arriving just before lunch with WI who batted first 81/4. As I walked up the stairs to my seat in the George Challenor Stand, a Trinidadian chap called Tony (cant remember his surname now, but he was in insurance)asked me “You come to see Gomes man?” I said “who comes to cricket to see Gomes, man.: He responded “you will see him though.” Gomes and Lloyd saved us that day, and England started to bat the next morning, the Saturday.

    If you google Patrick Eagers Photography you will find a lovely photo of Boycott’s dismissal!


  43. Boycott’s book with some not too nice comments on that 1981 tour is called IN THE FAST LANE.


  44. Gentlemen, I don’t want to gang up on “Pat” but if we were scoring this the scorebook would read “ Pat” Retired Hurt” 00.


  45. Talking about cricket did we hear the news correctly tonight that Billionaire Stanford fired the West Indies Legends today?


  46. Yes David but it also happened at the end of the first regional Stanford series. It seems Standford has issues with the WICB and he is regrouping to come back different in 2009.


  47. Re: Sir Conrad et seq

    Dear David at BU,

    1. The Sir Conrad Hunte episode has brought out a number 0f things not relevant to the matter at hand
    2. Someone mentioned Geoff Boycott and his book, “Fast Lane”. About 4 years ago his biographer (an Oxbridge graduate/journalist) wrote about how much money the former cricketer has in offshore banks etc, and how Boycott refused to pay a taxi-driver a fare in T & T because the latter guessed wrong Boycott’s score ( 99 and 112?) on a previous tour
    3. This writer suggested that despite the time lapse Boycott should try to locate the driver or his family whichever way and make good the “debt” – because “the labourer is worthy of his hire.”
    4. If the driver were defrauded it smacked of “capitalism” versus colonalism or neo-colonialism; “first world” versus “third world;” “rich man; poor man” etc
    5. The biographer thought it would seem “bizarre” – the taxi-driver wont think so if he were not paid. “Rob not the poor because he is poor.”


  48. Rev
    I don’t think Boycott would try that now in T& T anyhow, not with the mood down there now. However this posting is too great to be spoilt with the negativity of a bloke or a joker like Boycott.


  49. Here is the “great” Geoffrey Boycott being toyed with by Michael Holding.

    Reminds me of the evening Charlie Griffith gave M.J.K. Smith “one ball” at Kensington. 1961 tour I believe.

    Enjoy the video…and be proud of our cricketers.


  50. P.S. That same match, Barbados vs. MCC, the English set Barbados around 60 to win in around 20 minutes.

    Cammie Smith and Sir Conrad put ’em to the sword in fading light, made the runs with a few minutes to spare. And England had Freddie Trueman and Brian Statham opening the bowling.

    Glorious!

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