Jamaican Bobsled Captain (eBook)

Dudley &quote;Tal&quote; Stokes and the untold story of struggle, suffering and redemption behind Cool Runnings

Ben Stubenberg (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
276 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-6817-0 (ISBN)

Infos

Most people are familiar with the tale of the Jamaican bobsled team through the movie Cool Runnings. It's a funny, lovable film about hapless tropical islanders trying to compete as bobsledders at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary before ultimately crashing. However, the deeper true story of struggle, sacrifice and finally redemption is far more compelling. In this biography the Jamaican Bobsled Captain, Dudley 'Tal' Stokes, does indeed dangerously crash the four man sled he is driving. But rather than quit, Tal decides to put everything he's got into becoming a top bobsledder instead of the butt of jokes. Despite heartbreaking setbacks, he finally masters the sport and takes his place among bobsledding's elite at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. This is the untold story of his inspiring quest to succeed against all odds that reveals the transformational power of believing in yourself.

In 2011, Ben Stubenberg left his government job as a defense analyst in Washington, D.C. and moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands. The move had been a long time coming-almost a half century since he had lived on St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands in the mid-1970s, where he taught high school English and wrote for the local newspaper. As a private pilot back then, Ben took the opportunity to visit just about every island in the West Indies and later spent months living in Martinique and Haiti. The Caribbean seeped easily into his veins. As a feature writer for the Turks and Caicos magazine, Times of the Islands, Ben delves deeply into the region's rich and alluring past and chronicles today's unfolding developments and remarkable personalities that are shaping the future. Ben's connection with the Caribbean comes as no surprise. He grew up in vastly different multi-cultural environments, from Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was born, to Oslo, Norway, to Stockton, California, and learned to move easily between different peoples and landscapes-often as an outsider looking in, sometimes as an insider given access to tell a story. The Jamaican Bobsled Captain: Dudley 'Tal' Stokes and the untold story of struggle, suffering and redemption behind Cool Runnings is Ben's first book. He can be reached through his website BenStubenberg.com

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At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, the Jamaican bobsled captain, Dudley Tal Stokes, lost control of the four-man sled he was driving and crashed violently while millions watched around the world. As skulls slammed the ice for twenty-one perilous seconds before the sled came to a stop, a calming clarity settled over him. Instead of walking away from the sport glad to be alive, Tal internalized the experience and committed himself to becoming a world-class bobsledder, whatever it took. Disney later released the hit comedy film, Cool Runnings, loosely based on the original team's inspiring effort even if they didn't stand a chance. The true story of how Tal and the real bobsledders clawed their way back from a near-death experience in Calgary unveils an astounding perseverance in the face of failure, chronic lack of money, and constant doubt. Against all odds, Tal and the Jamaicans took on the highly experienced European and North American bobsledders at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer and claimed their place among the elite. This is the tale of that journey from rock bottom "e;crash dummies"e; to fearsome contenders that stands as an enduring testament to the human spirit.

Textauszug

CHAPTER 4
Growing Strong

In 1966, the family moved back to Jamaica, where Pastor Dudley worked as a circuit preacher in the tiny village of Galina in St. Mary Parish on the island’s rugged north coast. Blossom resumed her plans for higher education and enrolled in a local college, taking education courses. A couple of years later, she gave birth to a baby girl, Terry, who would grow up to give her brothers teasing grief as well as unwavering family support when they needed it most.

In this beautiful, but poor, section of Jamaica, deep green forests dotted by small farms slope down to tan sand beaches that spill out to a brilliant blue sea. Here, Ian Fleming built his house, Goldeneye, in Oracabessa Bay, and wrote his James Bond novels. He might not have completed any of these books if he had succumbed to the stunning views.

Fleming said, “I sat down at the red bullet-wood desk where I am now typing this and, for better or worse, wrote the first 12 best-selling thrillers that have sold around 20 million copies and have been translated into 23 languages. I wrote every one of them at this desk with the jalousies (shutters) closed around me so that I would not be distracted by the birds and the flowers and the sunshine outside until I had completed my daily stint.”

In 1962, Jamaica had secured its independence from Great Britain. As the first British colony in the Caribbean to strike out on its own, Jamaica inspired others in the region to believe that they too could take on the responsibilities of self-governance and full nationhood. A robust nationalism swept the Caribbean islands with the aim of framing a common destiny, succeeding or failing on their own terms without colonial overseers. After more than three centuries, British influence remained strong in all aspects of life—language, law, education, and democratic governance. But the country’s rich and raw past forged an identity that set Jamaican people apart.

* * *

Around 600 AD, Taino Indians canoed and sailed from Cuba and Hispañola to Jamaica and set up thriving communities. They called their new home Xaymaca, meaning “land of wood and water,” which evolved into today’s name, Jamaica. Arawak Indians followed a few hundred years later and settled alongside the Taino’s. Christopher Columbus landed on the island’s north coast at St. Ann’s Bay during his second voyage to the Caribbean in 1494 and shipwrecked in the same place on his final voyage in 1503–1504. He barely survived the year before being rescued. During the course of the exploration and early settlement in the late 1400s and early 1500s, the Spanish nearly wiped out the indigenous peoples within the span of a generation through enslavement, murder, and disease. Some of the Indians managed to escape deep into the mountain valleys of Jamaica, where they built hidden camps.

The British drove out the Spanish in 1655 during a decisive battle in St. Mary’s Parish and established their own settlements in Jamaica, including the infamous pirate base of Port Royal. Located at the mouth of present-day Kingston Harbour, Port Royal emerged as the largest, richest, and most notorious town in the Caribbean. Here, swashbuckling pirates of all stripes, most prominently Henry Morgan, found a safe haven to squander their plundered wealth, particularly from Spanish treasure ships they had raided with the tacit support of the British. This buccaneer paradise with its plethora of taverns and brothels soon gained a reputation as the “wickedest city on earth.”

For all their plundering, however, the pirates were in some ways ahead of their time by instituting democratic elections for captains and equal sharing of the loot from raids. Moreover, as many as a quarter of the crew on pirate ships were escaped slaves who instantly transitioned from the oppression of bondage to equal status once onboard. In 1692, a massive earthquake, followed by a tsunami, destroyed the structures built on soft sand and submerged a good portion of the town. Survivors set up another community nearby on more solid ground that, in time, became the thriving city of Kingston.

Piracy continued through the first two decades of the 1700s until the British had no more use for pirates and managed to stamp most of them out. The conviction and hanging of the dashing pirate, “Calico Jack” Rackham, in 1720 in Kingston signaled the demise of piracy in the Caribbean. Officials placed his body in a cage to rot while suspended from a pole at the entrance to Kingston Harbour as a warning of the consequences for would-be pirates passing through. The court also convicted Rackham’s cohorts, the legendary female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and sentenced them to hang as well. They were spared the gallows when they claimed to be “quick with child.” A doctor confirmed they were indeed pregnant—a good six months along. Mary died in prison, probably during childbirth. Anne apparently managed to escape prison and Jamaica, possibly eased by a bribe from her well-to-do father in South Carolina, and disappeared.

By then, the lucrative sugar plantations had begun to dominate the island economy, all made possible by the labor of enslaved Africans cutting and processing cane under brutal conditions. Typically, an enslaved man would be worked to death within seven years of his arrival on the plantation. The average enslaved person’s lifespan was 21 or 22 years. As with the Taino and Arawak people, the enslaved Africans would also escape into the remote mountains, where they established clandestine communities and sometimes integrated with the Indians.

Known as “Maroons,” the escapees quickly became a thorn in the side of British authority. Using guerrilla tactics, they raided plantations, killed white overseers and militiamen, and freed slaves, often family members and friends, who joined them back in the hidden valleys. Sometimes Maroons took on the British Army itself with attacks on barracks. The skirmishes went on for 12 years, from 1728 to 1740, when the British, unable to subdue the fierce resistance, signed a treaty giving Maroons rights and land.

Another major slave rebellion called “Tacky’s War” broke out in 1760 when an enslaved African chief from Ghana named Takyi organized a force to kill their enslavers. He also successfully attacked British fortifications but was soon overwhelmed by superior British forces that included, ironically, an alliance of Maroons that reflected the complicated history of Jamaica. Still, most Maroons held out and remained free deep in the mountains. The notion of fighting for freedom against the odds—and holding out—settled deeply into the Jamaican psyche and, today, forms an essential part of the national character.

* * *

Once while hanging out at the beach, quite possibly where Columbus once walked, Tal, then nine, challenged his brother Chris, who was younger by 18 months, to a race. Tal ran as fast as he could, but Chris beat him, twice, making painfully clear who was the better athlete at that young age. The embarrassing loss caused Tal to focus on soccer, where he earned the nickname “El Toro” for his bull-like tenacity. As a fullback, he often got out-dribbled by the forwards of the opposing team but always pursued them until he got the ball back. Chris would go on to become the Jamaican high school 100-meter sprint champion.

A few years later, the highly regarded all-boys Calabar High School in Kingston hired Pastor Dudley as the school’s chaplain and Dean of Discipline. Baptist abolitionists established the school in the 1840s as a theological seminary to train black preachers. In the early 20th century, it evolved into a school to give boys from black working-class families an education on par with the education afforded to wealthy white boys in Jamaica. Over the years, the school could take credit for producing many of Jamaica’s leaders in virtually every field, from politics to science to sports.

The school gave the Stokes family living quarters on the school campus and free tuition for both Tal and Chris. Pastor Dudley taught classes too and didn’t spare the rod when he felt discipline was necessary. Once, when none of the students in class would reveal the name of a boy who had pulled a prank, Pastor Dudley gave a paddling to everyone. Notwithstanding his way-over-the-top punishment by today’s standards, the boys respected him. Some would later recall that without Pastor Dudley’s discipline, they would have gone down the path to joining gangs.

Blossom and Pastor Dudley sternly disciplined their own children and pushed them to study hard and work hard. Tal internalized his feelings while accepting the punishments with less resistance. Chris talked and sometimes fought back. Terry, the youngest, had no interest in studying and got away with everything. How they handled the family tensions would shape their passage into adulthood. Tal, the more introverted, found his gift for mastering complex details with precision. Chris, the extrovert, would excel at cultivating relationships. Terry, notwithstanding her resistance to school, stuck with it, did well, and attained high success as an educator like her parents.

Calabar also included, as part of its elective curriculum, a fine cadet corps called the Jamaican Combined Force. It was similar to the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps in the US. When Pastor Dudley arrived, a very capable senior Calabar student, Leo Campbell, led the 120-strong company of cadets with the rank of sergeant major. When the teacher who oversaw the cadet...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 25.10.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-6817-0 / 9798350968170