ALMOST five years ago Calabar High School suffered the tragic loss of track and field coach Nicholas Neufville. Former middle-distance standout Jorel Bellafonte is now ensuring that Neufville’s legacy lives on while providing a much-needed financial boost to the school’s athletics programme.

Cayman Islands-born Bellafonte, a multiple ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ Athletics Championships (Champs) winner in the 800m and 1500m, has launched the Nicholas Neufville Fund which will provide millions of dollars in support of Calabar’s track and field programme. The fund is designed to help offset costs associated with the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys’ Athletics Championships, the Penn Relays, and Caribbean Examinations Council examinations.

Neufville, who coached the jumps events during Calabar’s dominant period between 2007 and 2018, was murdered in 2021. His body was found in Portmore, St Catherine, with multiple gunshot wounds.

Bellafonte, the first foreign athlete to win a gold medal at Champs, was among the many athletes impacted by Neufville, affectionately known as Soap Man, and felt it was only fitting to honour him in this way.

“He was more than just a coach; he really was a friend and a mentor. Even though he was a jumps coach, he was willing to speak to everyone. He didn’t just focus his attention on the jumps programme, which is why I took the approach of creating a fund rather than a scholarship. Scholarships are limited to a certain number of people whereas the fund can be accessed by the team for whatever they need,” Bellafonte told the Sunday Observer.

“You can never replace his presence, but by having the fund named after him, even students 20 years down the line will ask, ‘Who was Nicholas Neufville?’ and then we can have that conversation. He was the physical embodiment of what Calabar represents. Nicholas was incredible for us, and it truly is a tragedy that we never got to see him at the peak of his life.”

Bellafonte, who went on to attend Clemson University and is now the owner of New Cayman Construction Company Limited, said it was important to give back to the Red Hills–based institution that helped transform his life.

“I went to Calabar at a time when Michael Clarke was at the peak of his powers. The coaching staff kept getting better while I was there, and they were able to develop me not just on the track, but in the classroom and for life as well,” he said.

“So I always believed that if I ever became successful, which I always believed I would, I would give back to the school. Success should never be a singular experience; it should be shared among the communities that developed you, invested in you, and when the time is right, you return that investment.

“During my time there, Calabar’s success meant my success, and now that I’m an old boy my success means Calabar’s success. I believe in giving back and investing in the school so that other students can have the same experiences that I did.”

Bellafonte said he plans to make the initiative an annual one, despite the challenges of funding it as a single contributor.

“If other people want to contribute, that’s perfectly fine — the more the merrier. If not, I’ll still continue doing what I’m doing. Hopefully, as I achieve more I’ll be able to put more into the fund or even create other funds to ensure that the programme continues to improve. It’s really not about Champs; Champs is a bonus. That was always our approach, even when I was a student athlete.”

Calabar have won the Boys’ Championships title 28 times, with their most recent victory coming in 2018.