Sports bar honours top local athletes

The great and the good of Bermudian sport have been honoured in a Wall of Fame at the Boundary Sports Bar and Grille at the Fairmont Southampton.

Many of the 25 athletes included in the photography exhibit, whose framed pictures adorn the opposite walls of the restaurant’s entrance, gathered at its official unveiling last night.

Among those in attendance were Clyde Best, the former West Ham United striker, Bermuda goalkeeper Freddy Hall, former boxing world champion Teresa Perozzi, Dominique Mayho, a former amateur cyclist in Belgium, and Bermuda Day Half Marathon Derby winners Ashley Couper and Deon Breary,

The idea was the brainchild of Brent MacLean, the Boundary maître d’, who approached local sports photographer Lawrence Trott about curating the display.

Trott, who is also a sports reporter for The Royal Gazette, enlisted the help of fellow photographer Ras Mykkal, with the pair pooling together a selection of the favourite moments they have captured of local sport.

Previously, portraits of overseas sporting stars had decorated the walls of the restaurant’s entrance.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity to honour and recognise our former athletes and those still competing,” Trott said.

“I got Ras involved right away because I knew he would be able to provide photos that I didn’t have. We’re always out there shooting together and talking about our work. Hopefully this could be the start of something. I know they’re talking about a Hall of Fame.”

Mykkal said it was important for the island to celebrate its sporting stars, past and present.

“Lawrence asked me if I would contribute some pictures and I’m very grateful to him for giving me an opportunity to be part of this,” he said. “Any time my pictures hang on somebody’s wall, I’m happy.”

Best, a trailblazer for black footballers in England, praised Trott and Mykkal for helping highlight some of the island’s top sporting achievers.

“This is something worthwhile,” said Best, whose picture with local footballing icon, Earl “Townsey” Russell, features prominently in the exhibit and is one of Trott’s most treasured.

“I like to see our athletes get the recognition they deserve. We need to keep doing it until we get what we need — a Bermudian Hall of Fame.

“You look at Eldon Raynor [who is photographed playing golf with fellow former Bermudian cricketer Winston “Coe” Trott], if it wasn’t for him I probably wouldn’t have been able to do what I wanted to do in sport.”

Mayho, who is bidding for a third Sinclair Packwood Memorial Race title tomorrow, said he felt privileged to have been included. “It’s an honour to be pictured on the wall with the likes of Clyde Best and Flora Duffy — all these great athletes.

“Things like this do give you more motivation and energy to keep training. It shows you that people do see what you’re doing.”

Shelley Meszoly, the regional director of sales and marketing at Fairmont Southampton, said the designers of the restaurant, which opened last November, were American and had not recognised the significance of using portraits of Bermudian sporting heroes.

“[Brent] realised we had made a big mistake and that it needed to be Bermudian sports heroes rather than overseas sports stars,” she said. “We made the switch.”