Backbencher calls for knighthood for former star Best
HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) – Government backbencher Randy Horton has called for Clyde Best to be knighted after leading praise for the trail-blazing footballer in the House of Assembly.
“I don’t think we have had an athlete in Bermuda that’s been called a sir yet but I think, down the road, if there’s anyone who deserves that, it’s Clyde Best.
“One day we will have a Sir Clyde Best,” said Horton, a former star of the North American Soccer League himself with the New York Cosmos.
Horton was on his feet to congratulate Best on winning the football award at the Annual Caribbean Awards Sports Icons ceremony last week.
Best, whose father Joe came from Barbados, was one of the first post-war Black footballers in the British leagues.
He made over 200 appearances as a striker for the West Ham United in seven seasons at the club and was a huge favourite at Upton Park.
Horton, a former sports minister, said sometimes people did not understand what an impact Best made playing for West Ham alongside legends such as World Cup winners Geoff Hurst and Bobby Moore – both of whom were knighted.
He said famous black players who followed Best into the English game – John Barnes, Cyrille Regis and Viv Anderson among them – would all cite the Bermudian as their inspiration.
“Clyde was the black player who led the way for all blacks to follow in the UK,” Horton said.
Horton, who said he taught and played with the footballer, pointed to the injustices Best had to overcome, such as name-calling from the terraces, and added that he needed to show the “maturity to lead” to earn his success.
“He wanted to be a professional footballer and he committed himself to it, and he let nothing get in the way,” he told the House.
Opposition MP John Barritt said Best’s story needed to be told all over the world.
“History will record that he was the right man in the right place at the right time,” he said.
The 58-year-old Best, now works for the prison service, also played for Dutch side Feyenoord as well as the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Toronto Blizzard and Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League.
