Lloyd 'Respic' Morgan. - PHOTO BY ANTHONY FOSTER
LLOYD 'RESPIC' Morgan has the distinction of representing Jamaica in senior competition at both cricket and football.
Since earning his first national cap at age 19, Morgan, now 60, has spent the majority of his life transferring and honing the skills of talented youth as a development officer with national organisation the Sports Development Foundation (SDF).
The former national goalie and all-rounder who bowls left-arm spin has six children, three boys and three girls with Conrad, Everton and Marvin on one side and Kerri-Ann, Bridgette and his idol, Jacqueline, on the other. There are also several grandchildren.
Only Marvin, who won the premier league title with Tivoli Gardens and now represents Boys' Town, has followed him on to the ballpark which brought him so much glory.
Much of it began in 1969 as a member of the first Jamaica team to win the Shell Shield regional league cricket title.
One who stands up for what he believes, Morgan was also banned - among 16 of 18 national players - from representing Jamaica for two years because they resufed to play a match in Bermuda.
He also has a distinguished track record as a coach, including victories with EXED Community College in senior and junior competitions among tertiary institutions.
One on One recently caught up with Morgan.
Q: Why do they call you Respic?
LM: Carlington Sinclair who used to be on the radio gave me that name. He's a Boys' Town man too. One day when we were at Boys' Town playing table tennis I was beating everybody and at the time they had an ad that had just started on the radio - Redifusion called Respic Rub. So Carlington was saying "spit fire pon them dragon, spit fire pon them dragon Respic" and from that day it stick. Some people don't even know my name, everybody just call me Respic.
Q: How did you get to play for both national teams?
LM: As a youth who was born and grew up in the ghetto, that was an inspiration. Boys' Town is the foundation of me and they always taught us to try to play for your country. It was something that pushed us. It was something that pushed us, and Collie Smith who had already done it inspired us.
Q: How did you get involved in football?
LM: I just got in football because the guys were there playing and I just went into the goal and then they said you can keep man. I guess I'm just a good all-round ball player and from there I started keeping goal.
Q: Which one do you love more?
LM: I love cricket more. Cricket is my number one sport. Actually, when I got my first call I was in MoBay. I used to play for MoBay Boys' Club and I'm a life member of that club. I used to take the diesel to come up to play Senior Cup for Boys' Town on Saturdays, go back down the following day. When there wasn't any Senior Cup I would play for MBBC.
Q: What is the major difference with playing back in those days as opposed to now?
LM: We didn't born come see any professionalism. What we played for is the love. It gives you the sense of satisfaction. I love how these guys are getting money now, I'm glad for them.
My first work, at 19 (years), was at Machado and it's through sports I get that. When I got my first juvenile tour at age 19, I was working at Machado and the whole of the people them gather up and put together money for me to go. They did that because I was playing for Jamaica. That made you feel wanted and want to perform to the best of your ability.
Q: How else has playing for the national team helped your career?
LM: I was lucky that I got a job with Sports Development Corporation (SDC) in 1973. That came directly from playing for Jamaica. I was interviewed by the then Prime Minister Michael Manley. At the time I was doing some welding and was asked to help to organise and discover talent. I've been doing that since 1973. That has made me able to buy a house and car.
It's 32 years now that I've been working with the Ministry of Sports. They sent me away to study several times. I have a level one coaching certificate in basketball, a level one in lawn tennis, diploma in football (Mexico) and a Sports Management certificate from Cuba. They have equipped me to help with the development of sports.
I have so many youths who have passed through my hand ... Carl Brown, Herbert 'Dago' Gordon, Denniser (Derrick). I remember one day at Boys' Town when they never used to play 'Dago' and were saying he was a youth, I pulled out of the team just to let him play. He cemented his game with that one performance. You know they suspended me the following week. But I feel it was a purpose for me to help the youth. I keep on doing it.
Q: What role did you play in Boys' Town's early successes?
LM: In 1959 we won the Division One football championship, beating Santos. That was the first major championship for Boys' Town. I was the captain. I was also the captain when we won Division Two the year before that in 1958.
Q: Boys' Town had been out of the Premier League for 10 years. What has the promotion done for Boys' Town now?
LM: It's another new era for us now. People who never came for 30-40 years are now coming back into the club. Boys' Town is not just a football club, it's an institution. We've a golden age home, basic school, All-Age school and we've one of the best heart academies in Jamaica.
Q: What are the specifics of your job?
LM: When we just started we used to go to youth clubs at nights and organise competitions and go there and look at the talent, take them out, get them into schools, high schools or any school, as many of the youth aren't in school. SDC had all different age group competitions, area squads, and everything led to the national level.
We used to have track meets every week also. Most of the athletes who have developed into top stars through the years went through INSPORTS (Institute of Sports). A lot of things that INSPORTS do don't come out because they are being done in the inner-city communities where a lot of gunshots are being fired.
We use the sports to help stop the gunshots, because most of the youths are idle and have nothing to do. So when you organise a six-a-side tournament and invite them to come together it keeps them from fighting each other.
On that point there's another thing I want to talk about. A lot of people are saying it's not right for Andrew Price to be coaching Boys' Town as there's a conflict of interest because he works with Wray and Nephew which sponsors the league. I don't think it is right for them to be saying that. It's not because we've won that he's here. He's been fighting with the team from a long time when nothing was there. So why is it that now that the team is here he should back off? Anybody who says that is bad minded and grudgeful. Him a suffer with the team from Major League and Super League. A four years we buck we toe, so why him should back off now?
I'm glad he's at Boys' Town because him hold the youth them together. Him don't have to be at Boys' Town, him could be uptown. He is serving a purpose and is God send him here. It touches me because him come from St. George's College, him come from uptown and don't have to be here. I'm proud of him and I worship him.
Q: Off the field how do you socialise?
LM: My work is 24 hours. Sports is recreational. Outside sports my love is music. When I was growing up as a youngster I used to go into the kitchens with Bob Marley and Alton Ellis them, I used to be with them and when they were singing I used to put in my one note.
One time I had a little group that used to sing and I used to play in a steel band. I spent nine months in MoBay playing steel band. When I got called for Jamaica I was playing steel band in MoBay and that is when I looked in the newspaper I realised that I got called for Jamaica and had to come up to Kingston.
The only place I find satisfaction now is Rae Town down a Norma, the regular Sunday night thing. It keeps me alive, it makes me feel like 16-17. I feel it inside of my bones, right through my body. When I go to Rae Town on a Sunday night I can lift up the world on a Monday morning.
The music brings you love ... money can't buy that. It's a communion. What more you can ask for out of life. I don't want to be rich, I just want to be comfortable so that I can feel alive with friends.
When I go there I see 'Dago', Allan 'Skill' Cole, Bob Campbell, Keith Latimore, Derrick Denniser. You've people who check for you and you've some friends who you even love more than your family. It's a family affair.
- Audley Boyd
