Sir Garfield Sobers died on Friday, July 17, 2026, just 11 days shy of his 90th birthday. Sobers, widely considered the best cricket player in history, represented the West Indies team from 1954 to 1974. He played with skill, style and swagger. He moved with ease, never appearing hurried or harried. Slender and graceful, he would stroll to the crease, bat pointing downward and collar turned upward. He played in an era without helmets, which would have only obscured the handsome countenance that added to his mystique.
Tony Cozier, the voice of West Indies cricket for five decades, was once asked by a journalist who was the greatest batsman he had ever seen. Cozier responded: “You mean after Garry Sobers?”
I did not get to watch Sobers during his prime, which was a bit before my time, and have relied mostly on DVDs and YouTube clips to savor his greatness. In 2015 I had the privilege of interviewing him. However, 25 years earlier I got a glimpse of what the Sobers hype was truly about.
In 1990, an exhibition cricket match was held in Miami – where I reside. It was West Indies Legends vs. South Florida. The match was played at Bobby Maduro Miami Stadium, which was the Spring Training home of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team. The Legends team included Sobers, Clive Lloyd, Lance Gibbs and Rohan Kanhai – all Caribbean cricket stalwarts. The South Florida team comprised the top players in the local league. They were mostly transplanted Caribbean natives, many of whom represented their respective islands at one point.
The local team batted first. One of the opening batsmen was a brash, former Jamaican national team player named Kenrick “Bird” Dennis. He was one of the top players in the local league. The irrepressible Dennis could often be heard bragging about how he planned to punish bowlers.
Sobers opened the bowling for the Legends and Dennis faced the first ball. Sobers, 16 years retired from Test cricket and now graying and a bit plump, began his medium-pace run-up with his customary left-handed leaning style. Sobers delivered. Dennis swung and missed, and his stumps and bales were sent sprawling. The crowd went in a frenzy. One ball, and “Bird” was headed back to the dressing room, head down, no chirping.
“Bird” was 23 years old. Sobers was 54.
I watched in amazement at how Sobers so quickly defused the bravado of a young cricketer with a simple unspoken message: I may be old, but you’re still nowhere close to my league.
The next batsman sauntered in and took his guard. Sobers bowled him as well – with the first ball.
Sobers and former West Indies teammate Desmond Lewis pose with fans January 25, 2015 in Florida.
I AM LEGEND
My second interaction with Sobers came in early 2015. Former West Indies player Lawrence Rowe, who lives in South Florida, organized Cricket Legends Weekend, a charity event to benefit his foundation. A number of former West Indies stars were flown in, including Sobers. On Friday there was a Meet and Greet, on Saturday an awards banquet, and on Sunday there was an exhibition match at Central Broward Park in Lauderhill (Sobers and most of the other legends were spectators).
I covered the event for the Miami Herald, where I was employed at the time. My media pass allowed me access to all the legends, and I marveled as I observed them reminiscing about their glory days with booming laughter, hugs and playful back slaps. Shortly before the gala on Saturday I spotted Sobers – decked in a flawless tuxedo – in the lobby of the Sheraton Suites Hotel. I asked him to autograph a cricket bat and he obliged. I eventually added autographs from Sir Wes Hall, Lance Gibbs and Brian Lara. That bat remains one of my prized possessions and has now become even more sentimental with Sobers’ passing.
On Sunday, January 25, 2015, I attended the charity cricket match. I entered the media lounge and decided to interview the biggest legend of all. I approached with some trepidation. Every journalist, regardless how experienced, is eventually star-struck. Sobers, who was watching the exhibition match, seemed mildly annoyed at first but invited me to sit and ask a few questions. We spoke a bit about the early days of his career. I told him I heard that in his debut Test match in 1954 he batted at No. 7, a bit hilarious in hindsight. He corrected me. “I think it was ninth,” he said.
As luck would have it a photographer was passing by during our conversation and asked if he could snap a photo of Sobers and myself. He later sent me a copy.
Sobers granted many photo and autograph requests from fans, promoters and media. He seemed especially amused when approached by fans of the female persuasion. Although he was decades removed from his playing days he was still a rock star, and he soaked it up with glee. In a room full of cricket royalty, Sobers was still king.
Four West Indies legends autographed this bat in 2015: Sobers (top), Lance Gibbs, Wes Hall and Brian Lara.
FRIEND OF MONTSERRAT
Amid the hoopla of Cricket Legends Weekend I forgot to tell Sobers that I was a native of Montserrat. It would have surely conjured some memories. Sobers visited the Emerald Isle several times in the 1970s and ’80s to participate in golf tournaments at the Old Road golf course. One of his main hosts was Neville Bradshaw, once Montserrat’s most prolific golfer and well-known real estate agent. Bradshaw now resides in the United States.
“Management [at the golf course] brought Sobers in to help promote the sport in Montserrat,” Bradshaw explained. “He visited about two or three times. The first time he stayed at Vue Pointe [Hotel] and the other times he stayed at one of my homes. He had a nice golf swing just like his cricket swing and he liked hitting the ball long. He was a serious competitor. In one of the tournaments I finished first and he was second.”
Neville Bradshaw hosted Garry Sobers in Montserrat and also competed with him on the golf course.
Bradshaw said Sobers thoroughly enjoyed his time in Montserrat.
“I took him around and we went liming. I remember taking him to Gary Moore’s Bar [in Salem]. We became good friends. He called me ‘Braddy’. He was a very kind person, not selfish at all. No matter who you were he was hailing you up.”
Bradshaw said he lost touch with Sobers over the years.
“I regret that,” he said, “because we never know when death will come upon us. It was a great honor to meet him, play golf with him, and just to be in his company.”
Of the many plaudits bestowed on Sobers over the years, my favorite came from India cricket legend Bishan Bedi, who declared: “God must have made him in his very, very spare time.”
It was quite a creation, one that transformed cricket and the Caribbean forever.
