Football mourns Winston Davidson

PROFESSOR DR Winston Davidson was a no-nonsense defender, a total team man and an integral member of one of the most dominant high school football teams ever, the 1964 Kingston College aggregation.

Speaking days after Davidson’s passing on November 19, Neville Oxford grieved for the Kingston College teammate he has known since their days at Vaz Preparatory School.

He said Davidson faithfully followed the counsel of legendary coach George ‘George T’ Thompson.

“Wint was a sturdy, no-nonsense defender. Attention to detail, when George T said follow instructions: ‘defenders don’t get carried away - safety first.’ Always listened to the coach and carried out instructions to a T,” Oxford recounted.

“I guess that’s why he became a medical doctor, you know. He followed instructions, attention to detail.”

Davidson emerged on the winning 1963 Walker Cup team, with the likes of Tony Keyes, Baldwin Fisher and Lloydie McLean and was a solid left back on the 1964 team.

“A total humble team man, always willing to go the extra mile and as I say, when George T said ‘defence people, just control, distribute. Don’t bother to try any trick. That is for the linkmen and the forwards’ and that is how he played,” Oxford added with a further tribute to the instructions of the coach.

The 1964 team ruled Corporate Area competitions, collecting the Manning Cup and the Walker Cup. In addition, they annexed the symbol of all-island supremacy, the Olivier Shield.

Asked if he was surprised at the success Davidson had in his career, Oxford replied, “No, not at all, Winty was an academic too, you know. Winty was one of the bright boys in sixth form. He was always, as I said, diligent. Whenever he sets up a project, he’s going to deal with it.”

Davidson was part of what his colleague described as a thinking team.

“Of that ‘64 and ‘65 team, you know, we have five doctors, and seven have first degrees. It’s a thinking team. You see at breaktime, we would do blackboard work, planning, you know. it was just a thinking team and Winty played his part immensely,” Oxford recorded.

Davidson never stopped loving the game and served as chairman of Boys’ Town Football Club from 2000 to 2020.

A release from the club said Boys’ Town had “benefited for over 20 years from Winty’s leadership and that “he guided the revitalisation and redevelopment of the institution”.

Professor Davidson, who served as parliamentary secretary in the Ministry of Health in the late 1970s, died at the University Hospital after a short illness.