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Tony Cozier, the LEGEND

Posted by Sargeant I haven’t listened to cricket on the radio in decades but the passing of Tony Cozier has stirred some long dormant memories. I can’t remember when I first heard Cozier on the radio but my first memories of listening to cricket was the WI tour of Australia in 1960-61 when as a…

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Posted by Sargeant
tony-cozier1
Tony Cozier

I haven’t listened to cricket on the radio in decades but the passing of Tony Cozier has stirred some long dormant memories.

I can’t remember when I first heard Cozier on the radio but my first memories of listening to cricket was the WI tour of Australia in 1960-61 when as a sapling I was able to stay up late at night to listen to Johnny Moyes in a colourful Aussie accent on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corp.)

Later during the WI tour of England in 1963 we were treated to the dulcet tones of John Arlott whose descriptive commentary of Cricket as well as the surrounding countryside provided a picture as vivid as any contemporary movie scene.

Cozier came on the scene sometime after that tour and I recall his voice on the radio as one of our own and that voice although lacking the timbre of some of the other commentators was very informative. I also remember his reports in that other media- newspapers- I believe he came from a media family as his family was involved with the Daily News (now defunct) and I seem to recall a column by his father EL Cozier which appeared under the byline ELC. The immediacy of TV has diminished the importance of the radio voice but those of the generation which came of age in the 60’s remember radio as our connection to the outside world and we relied on the eloquence of the person behind the mike to fuel our imagination and Cozier fit the bill.

An innings well played.

282 responses to “Tony Cozier, the LEGEND”

  1. John Avatar
    John

    We have playing fields provided by Government, pavilions with the best of amenities spare time like we never had to play sport and nothing really happens in most sports in Barbados, Cricket included.

    What are the preeminent teams in the various divisions of Cricket?

    Does cricket even play any more in Barbados?

    We have all sorts of honours sharing out for excellence in this and that field yet Barbados is owned by foreigners and excels at nothing much.

    What is going on?

    Like we need a Trump here!!

  2. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    sARGE
    we used to laff at Gerry Richards when he would say on CBC “Tonight we have some RUSTLING”. He was the uncle of my buddy Ricky Richards who we learned eventually to be Lionel Craigg’s son when he started to make runs for Caw/mere

    and yes David Dodson used to argue bout everything
    We had lots of Foundation students in the choir and attending Sunday school, confirmation class etc

    the reports of Sylvanus Broome of the Ministry of Agriculture, were usually well recieved

  3. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    Sarge/ GP

    Dont forget Kolij had Bridgetown boys who had a tendency to be more aggressive than country fellas. Bayland, Eagle Hall, Carrington’s Village and other crazies! Some from those areas were known to bring cutlass/ whompers in their bags! There was one BadAss from Bayland who was real racial to me for absolutely no reason and I had to tell him that i could bring school one of my father’s guns if needed.

  4. John Avatar
    John

    But look at these wild boys with guns and cutlasses at HC from even back then … I never even knew

    The only blood I saw shed was in 5.1 class room upstairs of the Hall behind the stage.

    One student from Trinidad at HC for a term and a local boy … won’t call names … argued over horse racing of all things and came to blows.

    There was probably some of the old discrimination based on origin … insularity … involved so they caught hold …. except the guy from Trinidad was a former student of QRC where I guess boxing was still practiced …. anyway to cut a long story short the Trini who was alot taller stood back and picked off the Bajan with jabs straight to the face.

    I remember his head rocking back with each blow and was amazed to see who I always thought was a bad boy getting so soundly beaten.

    He is a friend of mine too so I won’t call names … he admitted to me when we had long left HC that he realized he was going to get the his @ss cut and the sh!t beaten out of him so he went for a bottle to save his skin before he passed out from the blows.

    He broke it over a desk and started swinging … blood all over the place.

    Both ended up at Tank …. I don’t remember anything major happening …. I think a few lies were told … the broken bottle vanished ….. and then life went on as usual.

    My friend learned an important lesson I had been taught from boyhood … a vagabond is a vagabond till he meets another vagabond and then there are two, …. and I add … one is usually badder than the next.

    I also remember to humbug Tank one morning a couple of boys hung an empty bottle on the stage wire for the curtain and pulled it out to the middle so it was suspended over where he sat.

    It was a surprise and he spent the whole prayers watching the bottle wondering what would happen.

  5. John Avatar
    John

    Bush Tea May 18, 2016 at 10:57 PM #

    LOL @ Sargeant
    BTW Bushy is probably short
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++
    Depends on the standard of comparison …. to a horse – perhaps….:)
    Wait ’til Islandgal writes her book and tells all…. you will then pay due respect,,,,,
    +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    I think the lady doth protest too much!!

    Sargeant, …. yup …..I think you hit the nail on the head.

  6. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @GP
    Glad you could recall the Christian name his brother was Wayne, wunna grew up under the tutelage of AI Johnson @Ch Ch Parish Church I even attended Sunday school there in the building that eventually housed Christ Church HS under Rev. Crichlow (now don’t ask for my name I believe in the anonyminity of the blog although people of that era who read this may deduce who I am).

    Dem old time boys used to get around, I think Lammie also had a son who went to BFS and the same Shell also had a son (initials MC) who went to BFS who had an unforgettable nickname.

    @MB
    Stop blaming the usual suspects “Carrington Village” and “The Bayland’, I spent a little time in Carrington Village (one of my best friends who went to Cawmere is from that area) and the group that I hanged with were some of the best.

    BFS had a chap who took a Collins in his bag to Inter School Sports, it was no surprise that he later served time in jail on a gun related offence. At the time we used to say he was real igrunt or mad but people usually steered clear of him.

    @Bushie
    Always was a fan of short stories and when the subject is short……

  7. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    errata “anonymity”

  8. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Sargeant May 19, 2016 at 10:52 AM #
    @GP
    Glad you could recall the Christian name his brother was Wayne, YOU ARE CORRECT
    wunna grew up under the tutelage of AI Johnson @Ch Ch Parish Church CORRECT AGAIN

    RE I even attended Sunday school there in the building that eventually housed Christ Church HS under Rev. Crichlow (now don’t ask for my name I believe in the anonyminity of the blog although people of that era who read this may deduce who I am). CANT PLACE YOU BUT IF YOU ATTENDED BETWEEN 62-68 YOU MUST KNOW ME, AND I YOU. SMALL WORLD

  9. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    Sarge,
    Had a situation at Waterford Inter school Athletics @Ntl Stadium once where I was in the company of an igrunt white English fella who was Big and a touch crazy. Whole gang of Cawmerieans started to get mouthy and crazy with us as we were on the fringe of the Kolij section and this English fella called dem out,”so U think U bad which one of U wants to go down on the field right now to fight me?”

    Total silence everything done!—I was worried cause we were out numbered 10-1 and I thought I may have to enlist the nuse of my trustee Dagger strapped in my boot.

    BFS were not likely to really get into the real trouble as it was always Cawmerians or Lodge fellas wanting at HC. We had trouble at Lodge after a Soccer game in like 1972, but those Lodge animals were clever and waited for the majority of us to leave on the bus. One Lodge boy cracked our Headboy over de head wid a lead pipe. Dont know more details but the HB was a massive fella who was certainly not someone to attack without a weapon, although he was a peaceful type.

  10. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    John,
    that sounds like Sluggo was involved. There was also a Brazilian guy, Sergio, that came in that was a bit crazy. Strangely I cant remember the Trini or the situation. Only Trini in your Yr was Antonio Griffith (think he had Trini roots) but he was with U fellas for years.

  11. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    John,
    that sounds like Sluggo was involved.

    OR WAS THAT NOW SIR MICHAEL STOUTE………Trainer of The Queen”s racehorses?

  12. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    GP
    M.Stoute was years before John and was gone long time! Even his brother “Joe” was only with us for a couple years, he must have been ahead of U!

    I did’nt know Michael, was he a Bad/ Violent Boy?

  13. John Avatar
    John

    Not Sluggo!!

    I hear he is a corrections officer in an American Jail!!!

    I would never have imagined that.

    … and the Trini’s surname was Wellington!!

    Had a brother in the lower school too

    …. and you mean Carlos Alejandro Izzo Pueblo, the half mad Brazilian guy!!!!!!

    I did not even know he came from Brazil.

    He brought a dimension of imagination to being wutless that superseded anything any Bajan I knew at school could dream up.

    He was responsible for the bottle over Tank’s head … Chinese torture!!

    Once he came up with the idea to put a piece of candle wick on a knockout as a fuse, light it and put it in the drawer of the master’s desk.

    Mr. Walker, who taught Spanish, known also as Oy!!!

    When it let go Mr. Walker did not flinch, must have been army training as he was from England.

    …. buuuut ……. Tank was passing or heard it from his office!!

    He hadn’t bargained on that …. or maybe he did!

    I could never understand that guy … good fun … but just different from any Bajan, black or white.

    Joe Stoute was a good boy!!

    And I remember the confusion over the lead pipe … both were “white” boys …. I knew the perpetrator well in later life, sadly he is dead now.

    He was a good guy too … just made a bad mistake.

  14. John Avatar
    John

    Griff became a Vet, I seem to remember his family came back from the UK …. but you are right, Izzo was just different … operated at a completely different level

    But he was not bad, just different … and bare fun

  15. John Avatar
    John

    Griff was with us since L1A … a footballer par excellence

  16. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    John,
    I knew Izzo but this chap I am thinking of was a much larger, hairy Brazilian that always had a scowlish expression on his face, mean bastard, Serge or Sergio.

    Izzo was different but looked friendly enough.

    Griff was a good Soccer player who I had to mark in house matches he was Armstrong and I was Dalton. A handful he was, but I kept him from any goals or even a high % shot, had to focus 100%.

    The lodge perp was a Johnson? or was a Clarke involved?

  17. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Sarge
    Do you know what became of the two Callender boys from St Lawrence who both attended BFS with the nick name Bake Fowl or Bakie?

  18. John Avatar
    John

    Johnson, did not hear Clarke

    I knew a Clarke from Lodge when I was growing up …. from Kendal

    Johnson was the most deadly practical joker I have ever known …. if he came in your house you always knew … but a while after because he would do something out of the ordinary you would only notice after he had gone.

    One time he caught a blackbird and put it in the post box for when his wife opened it …. then he and his friend waited to watch what would happen!!

    He is gone now but it was a pleasure knowing him.

    Bake Fowl ….. Bajan nicknames are out of this world and deadly accurate ….. the most recent one I heard was Wring Neck because the guy held his head funny so Bajans decided he had a wring neck

  19. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    The elder Callender turned up at BFS with baked fowl in his lunch boy and was accordingly named. When his younger brother joined him at BFA he was Bakie too……….or 2! We sang in St Lawrence choir before we started to go to the Parish Ch

  20. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    John,
    That was William from Kendal. The other family was from 4 Roads, StJ, El Red, Basil (gone now) Eddie, Sagicor CFO.

  21. John Avatar
    John

    I just can’t remember any hairy Brazilian at HC when I was there.

    What form was he in?

    Clarkes (St. John), Shepherds (Drax Hall), Corbins (Charlie, Claybury), Whiteheads (Fortescue, Allie), Croneys (St. John) and Fentys (Steve, Roy, St. John) were often visitors when I was growing up in my mid to late teens.

    Had more to do with the ages of the boys and the girls at the time than any sinister “white” plot!!

    In any case, these families. like mine, are of mixed descent!!

  22. John Avatar
    John

    Asked the old cane cutter if he had ever heard of Garnet Ashby.

    Told me he knew him and described a feat of strength he used to perform at the “Oistins Fish Festival” when he was a young adult, long before the politicians claim to have started it!!

    Garnet Ashby used to lie down on a bench, put a towel over his chest and torso and have two strong men lift a soft (sawed?) stone block and place it on the towel under which he lay.

    He then had a “big able man” with a sledge crumble the stone.

    When it was fully crumbled he would get up and dust off himself.

    When I think of the puny, little men (some short too) who masquerade about this place I quickly realize why Barbados is in the mess in which it finds itself.

    We clearly once had lions walking bout here!!

  23. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    John,
    The Brazilian was at HC for a year or so, probably 1972. I thought he was in your year. It is tough to remember everyone that was at HC for a year eg Maybank, Smedley, David Southerland,Ian Senior—most of the fellas in my year might not remember these short timers who were in our year.

    Socialising in Bim is much like anywhere else you end up with friends that are approximately like you in terms of father’s career eg plantation guys stick together, school ties, home area etc. I was different in that i used to run away down in the village to play Cricket and Soccer whereas most parents would not want their child with the lower classes, who in Bim were mostly darker people. In England or Africa, it is the same class/ income status system where it had no relationship to skin tone. The majority of my friends were not white but as I started to go out to dances etc it was with the higher “class” ie children of DRs, Lawyers etc, it was not my village playmates, besides the villagers did not have cars to drive about. I used to go to the Marine to hear The BRC and Troubadors dont think I ever saw another white face.

  24. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    Bajans have become “soft” eating nonsense at Cheffette versus proper Cuckoooo– green bananna, cornmeal, Breadfruit etc–I still look forward to eating a good stew pun top of a cuckooo—would eat dat wid de devil! Split pea soup which is more a stew as it thick with provisions and drops/ dumplins/ water welps! OMG!

  25. John Avatar
    John

    You go where your interests lie and grow up with people you come along knowing through your family or who you meet along the way.

    I have lost contact with most of the people I grew up with, doesn’t mean I don’t remember them and the fond memories of shared experiences.

    .. and you are right, I just remember a couple of the names you mention of students who passed through HC for a year or two.

    I think that was a aspect of HC … QC too … that made going there so great … you always met people who came from backgrounds as different as imaginable from yours.

    You remember Mr. Bosey and the son?

    I felt for that boy … his father was Canadian and just could not get on with Bajan boys and they took it out on the son.

    I hope he did not leave HC with a complex!

  26. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    Bosey was the very first guy I put in Detention, the very day I received my Prefect Badge, damn idiot was rude to me!

    Bosey the father took an exercise book to Dodson’s face and then Dodson’s Dad put a gun in Bosey’s face at the Supermarket the next Saturday! Crazies all!

  27. Donna Avatar
    Donna

    Just got it from an ex of mine that Vibert Greene told him that it was Tony Cozier who got him into Wanderers Club. I told you guys not to speak about things you obviously know NOTHING about. I knew you were wrong. I just knew it!

  28. John Avatar
    John

    I realize now why there are two classes in Barbados.

    Some children had chauffeurs and some did not …. I think it is as simple as that.

    So I googled “children need a” and came up with “children need a champion”

    The chauffeur/champion does not need to be a member of the family.

    Garnet Ashby was Garry Sobers’ chauffur/champion for a while … then there were others, Wilfred Farmer, Dennis Atkinson etc etc. …. and he had a mother.

    I found this clip enlightening.

    All children who have chauffeurs/champions do not necessarily turn out well and the lack of a chauffeur/champion does not necessarily doom a child.

    But, chauffers/champions are the ones who create the class into which we should all try to enter.

    I realize sitting here that I had easily a dozen adults I came into contact with on a daily basis who provided positive influences for me when I was growing up.

    … and when I was at school, that number rose.

    I also realize now there were a few adults/children who meant me harm but they failed because they could never penetrate the shield my chauffeurs/champions had built around me.

    The need for some Bajans to poke fun at people who were driven to school by chauffeurs reflects I realize a deep emotional void they have because they never had many chauffeurs/champions for an extended period in their childhood or the chauffeurs/champions did them harm.

    … and that’s why there are two classes in Barbados.

    We all need to be chauffeurs/champions whenever we can.

  29. John Avatar
    John

    One of the wisest human beings I ever met was a former labourer on a nearby plantation who came to work in her retirement with my family in the house and around they yard.

    She had green fingers, could make anything grow.

    She came to work one day shaking with laughter … a tractor driver on her old plantation had told her and others that his philosophy on life was …. “what is the point of having a good mind when a bad one will do !!!!!!!

    I realized there were people in this world who could do you harm and not think twice about it and that just because I had the benefit of numerous good chauffeurs around me, not far away there would always be people who set out to do me harm.

    As I grew to manhood I became more and more adept at spotting them and the chauffeurs with whom I grew up kept sending information my way that identified the threats.

    That’s the thing with chauffeurs, they will always help you.

    It is in their nature … God put it there.

  30. Money Brain Avatar
    Money Brain

    John.
    There are so many variables, internally and externally, in a person’s life that contribute to who they become that the mere complexity is far too much for most to comprehend.
    I know fellas that went to HC who not only did not have chauffeurs they did not have FOOD, even proper shelter. Several such chaps are Managing Directors of major organisations today, some are Bdos Scholars who are the very most brilliant Lawyers/ Doctors etc.

    On the other hand there are total failures among those from elite homes where both parents are highly educated and well off. In the mid 1970s the preponderance of Scholars were from well off homes but this was not true in many periods.

    Much of the time people react to Psychological factors:

    1 gent had a very dominant Mother so she determined he must be a Doctor which he was not keen on. He finally had the courage to act when he received his Medical Certs he tore them up in front of her and refused to ever practice!

    2 chap refused to come first at school because his mother would expect that all the time if he did. At Uni he was given a Scholarship after 1st yr by which time he did not care about Mother’s dominance.

    3 some parents are ridiculous especially Chinese who will ask why U missed the other 3% and only got 97% in your Calculus exams.Impacts differently depending on the child, my son would say I will not kill myself to receive 100% surely 85-90% is adequate.

    4 people are motivated in various ways, some are very greedy for Power/ $$$$$ others not, some it is religion, some it is having several sexual partners etc.

    Humans are very interesting, I just love watching individuals, groups and interactions even among those that are highly educated far less those that are average in most respects. This is why BU is of interest, to witness the various characters on exhibit and I must say some are very clever, write brilliantly and some still reach the wrong conclusions (usually when things are emotionally charged)

  31. John Avatar
    John

    Humans are very interesting, I just love watching individuals, groups and interactions even among those that are highly educated far less those that are average in most respects. This is why BU is of interest, to witness the various characters on exhibit and I must say some are very clever, write brilliantly and some still reach the wrong conclusions (usually when things are emotionally charged)
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    Could not dispute this.

    Humans can be totally illogical, myself included, regardless of their background.

    I have a friend from Germany who lives in Canada and who is at the moment trying to apply German logic to the Trump phenomenum!!

    A professor at a University … expert in his field.

    He just cannot make sense of it.

    I told him it is a waste of time!!

    Sit back, relax and enjoy the “Greatest Show on Earth”!!

  32. Geoffrey Alleyne Avatar
    Geoffrey Alleyne

    I recently stumbled on this piece. I really enjoyed the comments about cricket and life in Barbados back then. I suspect that I should know Georgie Porgie and Sargeant. Seems like they were BFS alumni like myself

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