It was the year 1964, the third year in the 14-year reign of Kingston College (KC) winning the Boys’ Athletic Championships. It was the year that saw the entry of the first Jamaican high school, that is Kingston College, in the Penn Relays, marking the birth of what would eventually grow to become a major event on the Jamaican athletics calendar.

It was the year that, among the galaxy of schoolboy star athletes, were Lennox Miller, Rupert Hoilette, Alex McDonald, Jimmy Grant, Tony Keyes, and Lennox Tulloch from KC. They formed the pioneering group of athletes that left our shores, bent on foreign conquest.

Lennox Miller would later become the first athlete in Olympic history to win medals in successive Olympics in the 100 metres.

McDonald was the first schoolboy to break the two-minute barrier in the 800 metres.

Hoilette, with a year left to complete high school, reached the second round of the men’s 400 metres in the Tokyo Olympics, running 47.2 seconds. Be reminded that that feat was 55 years ago, and for those who don’t know, the Olympic track was a mixture of damp clay and sand which had to be swept and rolled (such was the state of the art ).

Let me digress at this point to highlight an important moment in Jamaica’s track history. Hoilette was one of three schoolchildren in the small (by today’s standard ) contingent of athletes to the Tokyo 1964 Olympics. Una Morris and Neville Myton completed the threesome. Morris, as a 16-year-old, came within one place of winning an Olympic bronze medal in placing fourth in the women’s 200 metres.

Myton, to this day, 55 years on, still holds the Jamaica Junior 800 metres record of 1 minute 46.6 secs (the metric equivalent of his 1964, 880 yds run, timed in 1 minute 47.2 secs)

Three-time Olympian Vilma Charlton, at age 17, was just out of high school when she competed in her first games in Tokyo.

The participation of Jamaican schoolchildren in the Olympics was foreseen by that visionary, the legendary “Foggy” Burrowes, years before it came to pass.

So, with such awesome talent on hand, bolstered by the advice given to coach Donovan Davis by Olympic great Herb McKenley, that KC could be competitive at the Penn Relays, the bold decision was made to go challenge the mighty Americans on their own turf.

That scenario must be viewed against the backdrop of the USA in 1964 being number one in track and field in the world. At that time, Jamaican athletes, in order to advance their track careers, left our shores with track scholarships in hand, bound for the USA, to hone their skills under the guidance of American coaches.

Getting accepted to compete at Penn was by no means smooth sailing. There was the feeling that KC was not welcome. The first snag was when the entry application to compete was initially turned down on the grounds that it was late. Furthermore, because the word “College” in America means university, the organisers feared the athletes from Kingston College would be university students seeking to compete in the high school division. Coach Davis sought to allay their fears by “renaming” Kingston College “KC High School”.

Then there was the rule stipulating that the competition was open only to schools within a 600-mile radius. When it was pointed out that in recent years Canadian schools outside the 600-mile radius had competed at Penn, that fact, along with favourable input from the relays’ meet Director Dr Kenneth Doherty, KC was given the green light. Dr Doherty was a 1928 Olympian (decathlete bronze medallist) and a good friend of Herb McKenley, and he really pushed hard to have KC at the meet.

And so it was, that the six athletes, accompanied by coach Davis, Youngster Goldsmith (weights instructor), Dr John Hall (team doctor) and Olympic great McKenley, descended on Franklin Field, Philadelphia in 1964, with no knowledge that they were participants in the making of history.

Kingston College won the sprint relay and placed second in the mile relay. That performance did not go down well with the Americans who voiced the possibility that they were beaten by athletes not from one school but by the best athletes selected from all the schools in Jamaica.

The following year, Excelsior travelled with KC to the Penn Relays. KC won both the sprint and the mile relays. Myton from Excelsior won the one mile race. There was no more talk of an all Jamaica team.

KC, in 1966, won the sprint relay for the third-successive year, thereby retiring the trophy to its new home at North Street. It was the first time in Penn’s history that the trophy was being retired.

In the years following, more and more Jamaican high schools, and then colleges, made the north-bound journey to the relays, until in 2018 there were 34 schools and five colleges present. The presence and performance of the Jamaicans have much to do with transforming the Penn Relays into the spectacle that it is today.

Kudos to Team Jamaica Bickle for the tremendous assistance given to the visiting athletes from Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. Their support unquestionably plays a big role in the top-quality performance displayed by the athletes.

At the 2014 Penn Relays, it was seen fit to have a ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of Kingston College’s entry in the relays. Of those specially invited, in attendance were coach Davis, Tony Keyes, Dr Hall (of the original party) and KC’s Headmaster Dave Myrie. Hoilette and McDonald did not attend. Of blessed memory are Lennox Miller, Jimmy Grant, Lennox Tulloch, Youngster Goldsmith and Herb McKenley. At the ceremony KC was given the singular honour of henceforth having its flag flown at all future Penn Relays carnivals.

In the beginning, the participation of a Jamaican school in the Penn Relays was met with resistance. Today, without the participation of Jamaican schools, what would become of the Penn Relays?

The late, great Neville “Teddy” McCook, founder of the Gibson/McCook Relays, attended the Penn Relays in the early years of KC’s participation. Need anyone ask the source of the inspiration which brought into being the once named Gibson Relays?

— Dr Patrick Robinson represented Jamaica at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964