SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Munro College, the 156-year-old all-boys high school at Potsdam, high in the hills of Malvern, recently inaugurated its Hall of Fame with the induction of the first four members.

Inducted were Richard B Roper, a former headmaster; former deputy headmaster and revered chemistry teacher, the late Stephen Harle; as well as two old boys — legendary former professional footballer and sports broadcaster Lindy Delapenha, and Manchester entrepreneur John O ‘Jackie’ Minott.

Delapenha is generally recognised as Jamaica’s first professional footballer. He played in England in the late 1940s and 1950s, representing Portsmouth, Mansfield Town and Middlesbrough.

After football, Delapenha returned to Jamaica where he built a very successful career in sports journalism and administration at the now defunct Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation, before retiring in 1997.

He is considered among the most successful of Jamaica’s schoolboy sporting talent as he excelled in a range of activities, including cricket, football and track while at Munro.

Minott, who attended Munro in the late 1940s and early 1950s, rose to become chairman of Jamaica Standard Products which manufactures High Mountain Coffee, among other products. He is credited with founding the High Mountain Coffee 10K Road Race in 1983.

Roper — appointed headmaster of Munro at 28 in 1955 — served the school in that capacity until his retirement at the end of 1982, and Harle, for his part, was a legend among Munro’s boys for his excellence as a chemistry teacher, his administrative competence and his outreach activities.