ERNLE Leighton Haisley, who made local athletic history by becoming the first Jamaican to win high jump and pole vault gold medals at an international event, died quietly at home on Friday, July 18, 2025, his family confirmed. He was in his 90th year.

Born June 20, 1936, Haisley attended St Jago High School in St Catherine and as a high jump standout represented Jamaica at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics where he placed 15th with a height of 1.96m.

He won the high jump and pole vault in 1957 at the British West Indies Championships, held in Kingston, Jamaica, recording the high jump mark at 2.04 metres and the pole vault at 3.35 metres. That high jump mark made him the first known Jamaican to clear 2.00m.

The next year, Haisley set a Commonwealth Games high jump record of 2.06m. He also took bronze at the 1959 Pan American Games and at the 1962 Commonwealth Games.

Colleagues remember him as a gentle, humble, and upstanding worker at the Department of Statistics and the Collector General’s Office.

He is survived by daughter Alicia Haisley-Evans, son Hugh Gregory McDonald Haisley, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.