THE athletics fraternity was plunged into mourning a few days ago, with the passing of Rocky McPherson, considered by many as one of Guyana’s best athletes in the late 40s through to the 60s.

“His impact on track and field in Guyana was significant,” said former Athletics Association president Claude Blackmore, who remembered the ‘pint-size’ athlete after his athletics career was over. He was employed as one of three County coaches by the Government of Guyana through the Ministry of Education.
Speaking to Chronicle Sport, a former athlete, Neville Denny, who competed during McPherson’s reign on the track, recounted: “Rocky was our champion. Back in those days, you had the 100 yards dash and he used to beat whoever they brought.”
“Barry Massy used to keep Games twice a year, around the Easter and the August holidays, when all the top athletes from around the Caribbean used to come to Guyana to compete. Athletes like George Lewis, who used to run for Trinidad and represented them at the 1948 Olympics. He came to Guyana and Rocky used to beat them all of them,” Denny said.
“I also remember one time they brought McDonald Bailey to Guyana. Those times, Bailey was a top athlete. He had won an Olympic medal (bronze in 1952), and Rocky was right up there. He was a special talent, Rocky, and everyone loved him,” Denny recalled.
According to Denny, McPherson was also very helpful to other athletes. “I used to run the 400m and he used to come to us, help with technique and so on, always there to correct you and always ready to assist in any way. He went to Germany to be a coach and when he came back he was responsible for a lot of athletes back in those days.”
Former Prime Minister Hamilton Green, an athlete himself during McPherson’s track career said, “To the older generation Rocky, his household name, was one of our best known athletes. In my early athletic days Rocky was small in stature but technique and speed earned the admiration of many of us.”
“Rocky never gave up athletics and won many medals and acclaims as he continued into his later years, never giving up or accepting advancing age as a hindrance or impediment.
Rocky’s continuous athletic progress is a sterling example to many of us who gave up our sporting activity as we approached the proverbial middle and later age,” said Green who is also Georgetown’s longest-serving Mayor.
Green believes that the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) and the Ministry of Social Cohesion should, “do something to remember this sporting giant. I remember Rocky on and off the athletic track, always pleasant with a smile, and his conversations were always optimistic and uplifting.
“He ran an excellent race; he has taken the inside track of the final bend and has now passed the finish line into eternity. May his soul rest peacefully!”