Remembering distinguished Jamaicans – Gerald Claude Eugene (G.C.) Foster

With the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls Championships (Champs) concluding on Saturday, I thought that I would tell the story of my discovery of Gerald Claude Eugene (G.C.) Foster, 1885-1966.

I took note that the College of Physical Education and Sports in Spanish Town was named for someone called G.C. Foster, but I had no idea who this was. I was browsing in Sangster’s Book Store and saw the only remaining copy of a book titled Remembering G.C. Foster: His Life, Times and Achievements in Athletics by Diane Shaw, his granddaughter. I bought this book and read it.

From this biography, I learnt that Gerald Claude Eugene Foster, known as G.C. Foster, was born in Spanish Town on November 30, 1885, to educator George Foster and his wife, Lydia. With his siblings, he grew up on High Holborn Street, near Rae Town. He attended Wolmer’s Boys’ School up to about 1902, where he was a sports all-rounder. Recall that the first boys’ athletics championships were held in 1910.

After leaving school and being employed in the government service, he continued in sports, his passion. In 1904, at age 19, he ran the 100 yards dash in record time. He competed in Jamaica’s first track and field competition at Kensington Park in 1906. He was also a good cricketer and footballer.

Having set another record in the 100 yards dash, 9.8 seconds, G.C. set his heart on participating in athletics at the 1908 London Olympic Games. He was disappointed to find that he could not compete on arrival in London. Jamaica was not a member of the International Olympic Committee. He competed in track events in England after the Games, making a name for himself at the international level as a talented athlete. Jamaica’s national Olympic committee was established in 1936.

From then on, G.C. Foster dedicated himself to promoting sports in Jamaica. He became a highly respected athletics coach. He would go again to the Olympics in London, this time in 1948 as coach with the highly successful Jamaican team that included Arthur Wint and Herb McKinley. He also was a coach at secondary schools, taking Wolmer’s Boys, Calabar, Jamaica College, and Kingston College to Champs winners’ trophies.

G.C. AND HOLY CROSS CHURCH

G.C. Foster lived at Half-Way-Tree Road, then called “Ernescliffe”, next door to Holy Cross Catholic Church. He married his first wife, Blanche Dennis, in 1911, and with her encouragement, bought this property. He would live there for the rest of his life. Adjacent properties were called “Argyle” and “Maryville”. From 1927, the Roman Catholic Church purchased these properties and constructed Holy Cross Church and the Holy Childhood Preparatory and High Schools. G.C. Foster, through the years, knew the priests at Holy Cross and was known to play bridge with them using the gate between the properties. Influenced by his second wife, Felecia Curphy, a Catholic, whom he married following the death of his first wife, he converted to the Catholic faith.

At Holy Cross, I enquired whether anyone now attending knew that G.C. Foster had lived next door. Surprisingly, I discovered that Charmaine Lawson, recently deceased, who had attended mass regularly, had lived at Ernescliffe in her youth. She told me that her parents had been G.C. Foster’s tenants.

G.C. Foster died on October 1, 1966. The Gleaner obituary described him as a legendary sportsman and a gentleman. The site of his home, Ernescliffe, is now the Victoria Mutual Centre, a Jamaican financial institution founded in 1878, by Anglican clergymen.

G.C. Foster made a sterling contribution in laying the foundation for Jamaica’s remarkable track and field accomplishments. The achievements at Champs this year indicate that Jamaica’s track and field will continue to reap success at the global levels into the future. And coaches were trained at the G.C. Foster College.

Contributed by Marcia Thomas