... Howard Aris cared for track and field

Jermaine Lannaman, Star Writer

He was a super chairman, a man who cared, a great son of Jamaica, were some of the expressions that were used by members of the sporting fraternity to describe the late president of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Howard Aris, who died on Thursday night.

Aris, who held several posts in sporting administration in Jamaica, especially in track and field, died after a reported heart attack while attending a political conference in Port Antonio, Portland.

Mike Fennell, president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, who along with Aris played pivotal roles in Jamaica's record showing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, said the passing of the 75-year-old marked a sad day in Jamaica's sporting history.

"It is with deep regret and shock that we received the very sad news of the sudden passing of our friend, colleague and outstanding sports administrator, Howard Aris," Fennell said.

"This is a terrible loss for sports, and in particular athletics, as Howard's contribution over many years has been truly outstanding," he declared.

an iconic figure

Ambassador at large and reigning Olympic sprint double champion, Usain Bolt, said via his Twitter account shortly after the passing of Aris that track and field had lost an iconic figure.

"The track and field fraternity has lost a man who cared for the sport," said Bolt.

Olympian Grace Jackson, first vice-president of the JAAA, and who will be in charge of the association in the interim, described Aris as an outstanding leader and a true gentleman, who always tried to do things in the best interest of all those concerned. "He was a strong leader, someone who brings out the best in you, a caring and kind person," said Jackson.

"He always thinks of things in a manner of is it in the best interest of the athlete or the organisation?, and believed in doing things together."

Former president of the JAAA, Pat Anderson, who preceded Aris, also had glowing words for the former Kingston College student, who took over leadership of the JAAA in 2004, and was a founding member and past chairman of the government agency, the Sports Development Foundation (SDF).

"He was a super chairman," quipped Anderson. "He was cool, calm and collected and never allowed anything to bother him much, so to see him pass the way he did was shocking.

"He was the man who encouraged me to be president, and throughout my tenure mentored me, though we were relatively in the same age-group bracket.

"That man Fudge (as he was called) has really done his share for nation building."

sporting legend

Meanwhile, president of the Kingston and St Andrew Football Association, Rudolph Speid, in showcasing the wide-ranging abilities of Aris, said it was not just track and field that lost a sporting legend.

"He, along with Leighton Duncan and others, founded Cavalier Football Club on August 1,1962, and Jamaica will miss a very outstanding administrator," said Speid.

"He was an icon for sports, always ready to assist not just athletics that he loved, but in other sports as well."

The interim board and staff of the Sports Development Foundation hailed Aris as a man who spent his entire life promoting the development of sports in Jamaica, particularly in track & field.

Aris was one of the founding board members of the SDF. He served on the board from 1995 to 2011 and was chairman of the foundation from 1998 to 2007.

"His overall contribution to the development of sports in Jamaica is second to none and his talent, knowledge and skill will surely be missed by the sporting community in general, and the track & field fraternity in particular," the SDF said in a release.

Aris is survived by his wife Sandra and two children, Quentin and Shan."