Even if one was not truly that of Dennis “Den Den” Hutchinson’s vintage, the tales of his exploits on the football pitch magnetise across generational lines.

The stories of his amazing individual attacking ability — especially operating as a winger for school, club and country — endure in the corridors where the game is a constant talking point.

With Hutchinson’s death on Tuesday at the Kingston Public Hospital at 63 years old, the name of the schoolboy icon was back on the lips of those with the most vivid memories of a man whose interest in sport swelled beyond his primary passion of football.

Coach and former player Andrew Price has had the benefit of interacting with Hutchinson on both sides of the half-line divide — as teammates and rivals.

Either way, those moments were crafted for the ages.

“Interestingly, we were both teammates and rivals. As a rival, I played against him when he used to play for Tivoli Gardens, and I used to play at Boys’ Town. We had some interesting match-ups in those competitive West Kingston derbies,” Price recalled.

“As teammates, we played together in the Caribbean Semi-Professional League for Kingston Lions as he was a part of the squad,” he added.

Price says Hutchinson’s guile on the ball drove fear into the hearts of the most accomplished of defenders.

“Den Den was a wily customer. He was very tricky on the dribble, and I preferred playing against him with his back turned [to me]. He was very skilful and had to be marked closely,” noted the former Reggae Girlz assistant coach, himself a feared one in defence.

Hutchinson, who had his favoured left leg amputated shortly before his passing, is perhaps best remembered for his role in the all-conquering Clarendon College team of 1977.

Price admitted that the team’s key protagonists — Hutchinson and Lenworth “Teacher” Hyde — were his earliest football inspiration.

“I will always remember that ‘77 Clarendon College team where ‘Den Den’ and Lenworth Hyde inspired me as a young boy to play football.

“Also, I can never forget that ‘77 Oliver Shield second leg against Calabar High at the National Stadium. It is forever etched in my mind,” said Price.

But he believes that as good as Hutchinson was, he never had the platform to self-actualise.

“I think being away from Jamaica and attending school in US, we probably lost the best opportunity to see ‘Den Den’ at height of his career. But this was so typical for many great schoolboy players of the 1970s and 1980s, and that getting scholarships or migrating overseas and getting lost in the system,” Price reasoned.

But off the football field, the former St George’s College standout says he maintained a close friendship with Hutchinson to the very end.

“We would always talk about sports and how it could help young people. He was a humble servant and always willing to help. He will be sorely missed.

“My condolences to the entire family and friends of Dennis ‘Den Den’ Hutchinson,” Price ended.

In addition to winning the daCosta Cup, Hutchinson also lifted the Manning Cup with Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High in 1976.

In the daCosta Cup final against St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in 1977, Hutchinson and tricky Coach Winston Chung-Fah pulled off a stunt like no other.

Having won the first leg of the final 2-0 away in Santa Cruz, Clarendon College were leaving nothing to chance and hatched a plan that would play with the psyche of the STETHS team.

On the return leg at Chapelton, the tournament’s leading goal-scorer with 26 strikes appeared on the bench with a heavily bandaged left foot, an apparent ruse to give the opponents false hope as Hutchinson feigned injury.

The STETHS fans were delighted when they saw Hutchinson with his bandaged left leg on the bench.

Trailing 0-2 from the first leg, STETHS were leading 1-0 courtesy of a beautiful free kick from one of rural Jamaica’s best talents, Noel “Sweetie” Smith.

Then like magician reaching into his bag for his final trick of the show, clever Chung-Fah asked Hutchinson to unwrap and get ready to enter the battlefield.

With that masterstroke, Clarendon College quickly overturned the one-goal deficit and went on to win 3-1 for a 5-1 aggregate and giving the school their first hold on the daCosta Cup title.