L. G. Rowe: Finding His Footing, Elsewhere

Last anything positive and in public, was said about Lawrence George Alphonso Rowe, was some thirty-three years ago.
Under-lights 'Down-Under', Jeff Thomson had served a 'loosener' to his name-sake. Hardly ever getting one, the batsman clicked his heels and punched straight. Bill Lawry's pigeons scurried, and the other camp's crowd, 'oowed-and-aawed'.

“A glorious shot this by Jeff Dujon,” Alan McGilvray hailed it. Finding an illustrious comparison, he then mumbled into his microphone: “Only Lawrence Rowe could have timed that better.”

Things returned to normal-service last Saturday night at the South Florida Conference Center in Margate, Fort Lauderdale, when a glitterati of West Indies cricket stars, were singing from the same hymn book.

“I'm seeing great evidence of him helping the youth,” said Sir Wesley Hall, a man these days, who gets around with a cane. But one of the men, who seemed delighted to have made the long-haul – in his case, from his far-away Barbados.

“You can give back not only to the place where you come from, but also give back to your adopted country,” Sir Wesley noted instructively, of the non-profit Lawrence Rowe Cricket Legendary Foundation, which targets under-privileged children in the South Florida area.  

And then there was Sir Gary, who when he made his way as elegantly to the podium, as he had done to cricket-middles all over the world, patrons rose to their feet while pounding on their tables. “This weekend has been wonderful.” And said the man who has travelled the world attending banquets such as that one, “It's one of the best I've been to in a long time.”  

'The Garf' then briefly, rolled back the clock to touch on, still the most regal entry into Test cricket.

“I captained Lawrence in his first Test match,” said Sobers to the, by then, hushed crowd. They wanted to hear more about what took place at that Test match staged at Sabina Park in February 1972, against New Zealand. “And I saw Rowe play one shot, that I'd never before, nor ever after, seen.” The crowd of over three-hundred, began again to pound their dining tables, as if at Gordon House. “Such was the timing and the elegant placement,” remarked Sir Gary.

But back to the order of business.

“Lawrence worked hard to put this on. And I know that he will be successful,” said Sir Gary, in a commanding tone, which seemed to have suggested: 'Enough-was-enough'.
Then there was, Faoud Bacchus, Lance Gibbs, Larry Gomes, Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Alvin Kallicharran, Collis King, Desmond Lewis, Deryck Murray, Albert Padmore, Sir Andy Roberts, all whom Rowe had greeted at the Sheraton Suites in Plantation, the night before. “I'm pleased to be among my team-mates once again,” said Rowe, the one-time batting genius, choked-up with emotion.   

And it was Deryck Murray who gave the keynote address on Saturday night in Margate. He too was full of respect for Rowe, and full of praise for his cause.

But how could he have forgotten the scene at Kensington Oval back in March 1974, of the crowd on-hand for that West Indies-England Test match? He didn't.

 “Kensington Oval never saw a crowd like that,” reflected the West Indies vice-captain at the time, and one of Rowe's batting partners during his legendary triple-century.   

“This means the world to him,” said Rowe's wife Audrey, who knows what it is, to see Lawrence beaten down – and by his own people, and in his own homeland.

It was in October of 2011, that Lawrence and Audrey, suffered ignominy.

Unless he or she comes with a box of money in-tow, Jamaica has not always done well, when it comes to acknowledging, much less, dignifying the works of its own. It does not bury hatchets easily.

“For what you are now doing (referring to Rowe's foundation), it shows that you are not only a great West Indian, but a great man,” said Brian Lara, when his turn to speak on Saturday night, came.  

And it was Lara who on the Sunday which followed, and batting for the Legends, stole the show with a scintillating 108 in twenty of the allotted 30 overs. It virtually sealed the victory over the Cavaliers on a chilly night under-lights, at the Central Broward Regional Park and Stadium.

Lara by his presence for the weekend extravaganza, represented the younger brigade of the likes Carlisle Best, Merv Dillon, Darren Ganga, Wavell Hinds, Nixon McClean, Ricardo Powell, who now resides in Texas, and Ramnaresh Sarwan.    

Every man deserves to find his own way back, to his own redemption.

And if one road is blocked, there's always an alternate route.