WHENEVER Allan “Skill” Cole ran into Delroy Chuck, his former classmate at Kingston College (KC), the greeting was always the same.

“He would say, ‘Wha’ppen, Hawmin?’, which is my family name and my middle name,” Chuck, Member of Parliament-elect for St Andrew North Eastern, told the Jamaica Observer. “Allan was always an affectionate person, always athletic.”

Cole — who died on September 9 at University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew — along with Chuck entered 1B at KC in January 1962. Both lived in the Deanery Avenue area of Vineyard Town, east Kingston.

Cole went on to have a stellar career in football as an attacking midfielder with Real Mona, Boys’ Town and Santos in the local Major League. He also played for the Atlanta Chiefs in the United States, with Nautico in Brazil, and many times for Jamaica.

For Chuck, he was always Allan, the teenager whose ability on the football field belied his age. Even when he was expelled from KC shortly after starting third form, they kept in touch.

“One thing I remember about Allan was his father who was very protective of him. I lost my father early and Mr Cole was like a father figure to me,” he recalled.

After leaving KC, Cole briefly attended Campion College, then Vere Technical High School in Clarendon where he became a star in the daCosta Cup. He also became an integral member of reggae star Bob Marley’s inner circle.

Neville Oxford, a KC football legend, was captain of the team that won the Colts competition in 1962. Cole, still in first form, was also part of that team.

“Allan was from Emerald Road which is near to Emmett Park, and before he went to KC he would play with the bigger boys there in the evenings. He had excellent ball control and a remarkable ability to pass the ball, which were always his strengths,” said Oxford.

Despite Cole’s abbreviated stay at KC, Oxford said he remained a Fortis man. He attended the school’s 100th anniversary gala in April at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

“Unfortunately, he left KC under a cloud but his heart was always there,” said Oxford, who played as a forward with the mighty KC teams that won the Manning Cup in 1964 and 1965.

Chuck, who graduated from KC in 1969, became Jamaica’s minister of justice in the Jamaica Labour Party Government of Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness. He last saw Cole in 2024.

“We would run into each other every now and then, and it was always pleasant. As I said, Allan was very affectionate,” he said.

CHUCK… we would run into each other every now and then, and it was always pleasant

OXFORD… he had excellent ball control and a remarkable ability to pass the ball, which were always his strengths