Sat | Apr 18, 2026

COBA Dinner and Awards honours stalwarts

Published:Tuesday | October 4, 2016 | 12:00 AM
Pause
From left: Oliver Bryan, Gregory Peart and Damion Green the class of 1999 (Lions of Calabar) at the Calabar Old Boys.
From left: Keith Whyte, Kenneth Lawrence, Gail and David Fraser at the Calabar Old Boys' Association Dinner and Awards at the Mona Visitors' Lodge last Saturday night.
From left: Olympian Michael Fennell, Reverend Karl Johnson, Calabar board chairman, Reverend Devon Dick, chairman, Calabar Trust and David Miller, president of the Calabar Old Boys' Association pause for our camera.
The 2016 Honourees. From left: Dr Dennis Johnson, Michael Clarke, Lincoln Eatmon and David Miller, president of the Calabar Old Boys' Association.
Members of the organising committee from left: Ray Nixon, Michael Roofe, Howard James and Garvin Grandison.
One of the many President's Awardees Andrea Hardware.
Charles Ross and his wife Natalie at the Calabar Old Boys' Association Dinner and Awards.
From left: Athneil Braham, Suzette Jackson and Garvin Grandison at the Calabar Old Boys' Association Dinner and Awards at the Mona Visitors' Lodge last Saturday night.
Andrea Rattray looking lovely.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

The impending effects of a hurricane could not muster enough fear to stop the Lions of Calabar from recognising those who had made outstanding contributions to the growth and development of sports at Calabar High School.
The event, a Green Tie affair, was held on Saturday, October 1, at the Mona Visitors' Lodge in St Andrew. It was planned and staged by the Calabar Old Boys' Association (COBA) to recognise four stalwarts in the area of sports - Olympian Dr Dennis Johnson, lifetime coach Michael Clarke, sports administrator and attorney-at-law Lincoln Eatmon and Reverend Canon Gervais Clarke - one of the founding fathers of the Gibson Relays.
"Tonight, we acknowledge the area of sports - an important part of our lives; an area that builds character, that strengthens our personality, that teaches us humility. These characteristics are ingrained in most of us as we are required to participate in one way or another in sporting activities while at Calabar," said COBA President David Miller as he lauded the stalwarts.
All four men, past students of the institution renowned for its many wins of Boys' Champs, shared the spotlight with Andrea Hardware, team manager of the school's track team; Dr Clyde Morrison, founder of the COBA mentorship programme; and Michael McPherson, who has contributed more than $8 million to various initiatives through his one-man COBA Washington, DC, Chapter.
H. OíNeil Williams, a member of the Calabar Centennial Foundation, and Paul Lai, who served as treasurer of COBA from 2009 to 2011, rounded out President David Miller's impressive list of awardees.
Responding on behalf of his fellow awardees, Eatmon, a senior partner with DunnCox, said it was satisfying for him and his peers to have managed to make a contribution in the area of sports, "which we hope, as our school song says, brought some honour to our school."
The annual dinner and awards ceremony was made possible through the effort of sponsors, including Sagicor, Fidelity Motors, Sterling Asset Management, MainEvent, The Gleaner (Media) Company Limited, MoBay City Run, Sandals, Citi, Supreme Ventures and Litographic Printers.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com