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For five gloriously wonderful hours on Saturday night, Charles Christopher Griffith was the toast of the Empire Club and by extension, the entire cricket fraternity of Barbados.

The former outstanding Barbados and West Indies fast bowler and long- standing cricket administrator was fêted in a grand dinner entitled Charles Griffith A Salute to Excellence at the Sherbourne Conference Centre.

One by one, speaker after speaker paid glowing tribute to a man who, born out of poverty, battled tremendous adversity to become one of the game's most feared fast bowlers and a successful businessman.

From the Reverend Wes Hall, to Sir Everton Weekes, to Rawle Branker, to Prime Minister Owen Arthur, to former Attorney-General David Simmons, to current Empire and Barbados Cricket Association president Stephen Alleyne, the accolades kept coming.

There was just as much emotion as there was humour, which was best displayed during a skit dramatised by John Walcott, Wendell Smith and Tony Thompson of the popular Laff It Off production.

After the huge outpouring of tributes, the man himself took centre stage.

It has been said I am actually a man of few words and those few words have been taken away from me tonight. I am lost, were Griffith's introductory remarks.

But it was perhaps his closing remarks that will be remembered most by the more than 600 people who packed the hall.

Poverty is no barrier to success. One must have discipline in life and be dedicated to work hard in order to succeed, he said in winding up his address.

Cricket taught me discipline and the value of hard work. Those values have sustained me in business and enhanced my life.

For someone who claimed to be at a loss for words, Griffith was simply brilliant.

He touched on almost every aspect of his life from the time was born in St Lucy on December 14, 1938 to poor parents who made tremendous sacrifices to make sure that he and his seven other brothers and sisters were fed.

Griffith spoke his involvement in church, which he attended nightly; his beginning in the game of cricket with Barbados Cricket League clubs Crickland, Windsor and Lancashire; his recruitment to Empire by the then St Lucy MP and Empire vice-president Sir Theodore Branker; why he left Empire to join the BCL first division team in the early 1970s; the influence of his closest friends; the controversy over the bowling action that nearly drove him to quitting the game.

The world of cricket has been good to me. It has afforded me the opportunities to achieve cricket success, reasonable financial stability and has helped me to improve the life of my parents and other members of my family, Griffith said.

Invested

Through cricket, I was able to use some of my small income to invest in business and have a living after I was finished playing cricket.

My experience while playing and later in business added yet another dimension to my life. They served to equip me for assisting in the administration of the game.

As a fast bowler, the feared Griffith would always be remembered for his exploits on the 1963 tour of England where he claimed 32 Tests wickets at 16.21 each in 119 overs at less than 13 apiece in all matches.

It was especially depressing for Griffith when he had to contend with a barrage of negative publicity after he was called for throwing, once at Kensington Oval and the other in Lancashire, England.

No one can easily appreciate the effect on a person of seeing his name and photograph blazed across a newspaper with the headline Cheat, Griffith said.

None of you can appreciate what it was like to receive mail in England calling you a black bastard and many other unprintable names that I would not mention.

The abuse was poisonous. In these crises, I honestly felt like giving up. It was only my fellow players and a few close friends who kept me going.

© The Barbados Nation