A Historic Year in Sierra Leone: St. Edwards Secondary School (1972/73)

Note: A version of this article first appeared in the pioneering SALONEDiscussion forum on September 9, 2014.

By Mohamed (Moh’m) Jalloh (USA), Amadu Massally (SL), and Sebleh Smith (USA.

This year our famous annual St. Edwards Secondary School alumni weekend celebration that historically has brought together Edwardians, their families and friends from states across the U.S.A., as well as the U.K., Africa, Asia and other places, will be held in adjacent locations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (the city of Philadelphia) here in the U.S.A. on September 19-21, 2014.

Many of you know from the recent posts of our SALONEDiscussion Group founding owner, Moh’m Jalloh, my co-moderator of this our very brilliant forum who is also my senior fellow St. Edwards Secondary School alumnus (he graduated in the high school Class of 1973 when he was 15 years old), that September 19 -21, 2014 promises to be the greatest St. Edwards celebration ever.

As you may also remember, Moh’m, who is the Grand Chief Patron of this year’s St. Edwards Secondary School Alumni celebration, has tasked us to identify the 41-year old ACADEMIC record set in 1973 by St. Edwards Secondary School which has never been broken by any secondary school in Sierra Leone since! I gave it my best shot but Moh’m indicated that while I was in the right area, I did not precisely identify the record. He has now thrown open the competition for the precise nature of that national record to each and every one of our valuable members in this our forum.

While we await the correct answer to Mohm’s challenge (which he has promised to reveal during the celebration week-end on Sept. 19-21, 2014, if no one gets the right answer here before then), I would like to showcase the versatility of the St. Edward’s over-achievers in that nationally historic 1972-73 school year. As you will notice below, those national SPORTS records feature arguably SL’s greatest sprinter, Sebleh Smith, who is one of the Chief Patrons at this year’s best ever St. Edwards alumni celebration on Sept. 19-21 in Philadelphia and nearby New Jersey.

It is with great pride that I present below the Sierra Leone national SPORTS records set in that multiple discipline record-breaking historic 1972-73 school year for our alma mater, St. Edwards Secondary School:

For the 1972/1973 School Year

1. ST EDWARDS SECONDARY SCHOOL became the only BOYS secondary school in SIERRA LEONE to win 3 major championships: in football (soccer), athletics and cricket.

2. In the Western Area Inter Secondary Boys Soccer tournament our school was undefeated on its way to the championship trophy.

3. In athletics, we won the junior boys 4×100 meters relay and the junior championship.

4. We won the intermediate boys 4×100 meters relay and the intermediate championship.

5. We also won the senior boys 4×100 meters relay and the senior championship and therefore the overall championship.

6. In only one relay (medley) were we placed second behind the Sierra Leone Grammar School.

7. Out of the eight (8) trophies at stake during the athletic meet, we won seven.

8. We came in second in the boys volley ball championship.

9. We also won the Western Area secondary schools boys’ championship in cricket

10. Sebleh Smith, representing none other than the great St. Edwards Secondary School, was named captain of both the Western Area Boys Secondary School football (soccer) and athletics teams. Both competitions were won by the Western Area. [Other notable students on that Western Area team included Brima Mazola Kamara and the late Abioseh Manning representing Government Technical School and Bishop Johnson School respectively].

In closing, I would like to humbly note the following very historic fact that cements St. Edwards Secondary School’s well-deserved, longstanding reputation as a sports power house in the 1970s and beyond:

No other school in the history of Sierra Leone has ever broken in a single year the above-cited SPORTS records set by the mighty St. Edwards Secondary School in that unbelievable year of 1972-73.

In addition, given the historic ACADEMIC record that has never been broken by any boys secondary school in Sierra Leone since it was set in that same 1972-73 school year, it is indisputable that the 1972-73 school year will live on in the history books of our beloved Sierra Leone as the year that St. Edwards students made ACADEMIC and SPORTS history not just for our school but also for our country.

We invite all our compatriots, women and men, from all schools in Sierra Leone and friends of Sierra Leone from the 1960s to the present time to join us as we celebrate our country’s historic glory in 1972-73 — absolutely the best year for Sierra Leone’s secondary school academics on Sept. 19-21, 2014 in beautiful adjacent locations in Philadelphia and in New Jersey.

For and on Behalf of SALONEDiscussion Group,

Amadu Massally (Class of 1980)

Credits: Information about St. Edwards Secondary School sports provided by Sebleh Smith (Class of 1973). Co-written by Mohamed (Moh’m) Jalloh (Class of 1973) and Amadu Massally (Class of 1980).

Sports Meet
September 20, 2014.
Start Time:2pm-7pm
Gloucester County Community Park
Peter Cheeseman Road and Hickstown Road
Sickerville, NJ, 08081.