Rey O'Neal with his CAC Hall of Fame award

Rey O’Neal inducted into CAC track and field Hall of Fame

BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Rey O’Neal, a founding member and former president of the BVI Amateur Athletics Association who stepped down after 23 years at the helm, was recently inducted into the Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Hall of Fame, during a ceremony held in Bermuda.

“I think it’s recognition for my efforts over the years on behalf of the athletes and the various track and field associations in the smaller islands of the Caribbean,” said O’Neal, now vice president of the athletics association. “I’ve tried to act as a resource person for those who might not have had access to certain information. By and large, when someone need statistics on one of their athletes and might not be able to gain access, much more so in the pre internet days, they would call me and I would try do my best and to furnish the information.”

A member of the CAC Technical Committee, O’Neal has been instrumental in identifying athletes for several regional countries they didn’t even know about. “It’s somewhat surprising to some people but maybe its something I inherited from my father, the ability to sort of match a surname with a country,” O’Neal pointed out. “The first big name athlete I located was probably David Peltier who ran on the 4 x 400 meter relay for Barbados in the Los Angeles Olympics. There have been several others from Guyana, Trinidad—all of the Eastern Caribbean countries and Jamaica as well.”

O’Neal guided the BVI’s first venture into the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Ponce, Puerto Rico in 1975, and said the BVI has grown as the CAC has grown. He said the presence of the smaller OECS countries and countries like Bermuda and the Cayman Islands has enhanced the competition.

“Jamaica and Cuba will continue to be the strongest countries in the region, but we have had our share of medals over the years. We’ve won gold medals at the junior, age group and games levels, silver and bronze at the senior level,” recalled O’Neal. “The CAC is the first step. It’s the regional championships and then we have the zonal championships and the Pan American Games. The fact that we are able to compete in a fairly close geographical area, although travel expenses can be prohibitive at times, has done much to further the cause of the smaller countries in the Caribbean.”

While the OECS track and field championships seemed to have died, O’Neal said he hopes it can be revived one day. Through that medium, he said they were able to identify Dominca’s Jerome Romain, who became the first OECS athlete to win a world Championships medal.

“St. Kitts’ Dian Dunrod, Antigua’s Heather Samuel, and our own Keita Cline were able to gain athletic scholarships and develop that way,” O’Neal said. “In our little corner of the world we are trying to see how we can continue to provide opportunities for the young men and women who obviously have as much talent as anyone else, but it’s just a matter of developing it.”