MONTEGO BAY, St James — The late George Forbes, the former sports administrator and journalist, has been hailed for leaving a lasting legacy on the Jamaican landscape, especially in high school sports.

Forbes, who was the competitions and executive officer for the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) for almost 20 years before he retired in 2020, died on Tuesday after a period of illness at age 63.

The former St Andrew Technical High School cricket representative, who studied in Cuba, worked as a journalist before taking over the role with ISSA. He also served the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) as manager for a number of national teams taking part in regional and international competitions.

Former ISSA President Dr Walton Small said Forbes was a “giant” who immersed himself in the administration of high school sports.

“Mr Forbes, for me, was my right and left hand…he was a giant. He was a very thoughtful person…he had a very good grasp of the operations of ISSA and what he needed to do to ensure things flowed smoothly,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“When I took over as president of ISSA I have to confess I was a kind of novice in terms of the real rigours of the operations of ISSA. That gentleman literally taught me the job as president of ISSA, so any success I had or any failure I had I shared with him. If it wasn’t for George Forbes, especially at the beginning of my presidency, I would have been like a fish out of water,” Small, who led the association between 2007 and 2019, said.

Linvern Wright, the principal of William Knibb Memorial High and chairman of the ISSA daCosta Cup committee, remembered Forbes as being “fiercely committed to the development of sports”.

“His reputation for fairness was legendary and he sought to lift the standards of all competitions he supervised,” Wright said on Wednesday. “I learnt much from his attention to detail and expansive knowledge of sports administration.”

Stephen Smith, president of the County of Cornwall Athletics Association (COCAA), the body that organises the Western High Schools Athletics Championships, said Forbes was a “fair and just person” who “supported our region in many ways whether it was equipment or technical support for all our events”.

Principal at Cornwall College Michael Ellis said he had worked with Forbes “for many” and that he “must be remembered for his astute leadership and administrative skills “.

Michael McIntosh, the vice-principal and track and field coach at Green Island High School, weighed in with his piece as glowing tributes flowed endlessly on Wednesday.

“George Forbes was the consummate leader. I remember in 2014 when I was the head coach to the Central America and Caribbean (CAC) junior championships and he was the manager, he was meticulous in his job and made sure all of the staff and the team members were always up to date on everything that was going on,” he noted.

McIntosh added: “I am personally blessed to have been in his company and to have dialogued with him and his concept of sports administration. He was a student of all sports and generally decent human being and the sporting landscape has suffered a big hit with his passing.”