Mr. Sand’s Profile was published in The Eleutheran on April 21st, 2015. He passed away in Governor’s Harbour, on Thursday evening, December 17th, 2015 while rushing with the Harbour Boys Junkanoo Group.
(First published April 21, 2015) – Intro: Mr. John Sands of Governor’s Harbour was specially honoured on March 25th, 2015 by being inducted into the Bahamas Softball Federation’s Hall of Fame, in recognition of his accomplishments during his stellar career with the legendary Hustler’s softball team. He sat and chatted with The Eleutheran newspaper during a quiet evening after his return from the big night in New Providence, and shared the story about his life and times in Eleuthera, with a bit of softball thrown in for good measure.
Early Days: On September 29th in 1951, John Henry Sands was born to his father, Mr. Edward Sands and mother, Mrs. Eliza Sands. “I was born in what they call ‘The Bottom’, near the Blue Room”, he said with a smile. He described his boyhood home as a two room house nestled next to several of similar size in the same area of Governor’s Harbour. He had two brothers, James and Peter, and recalled his early boyhood as being filled with good memories, saying, “In the 1950’s life was great. After doing our time in school we’d go out and play – shooting marbles and playing ball – and in the evening time your Mommy would be looking for you.”
“Most of the time Eddie (Edmund) Johnson and myself, James and Peter hung out by our [maternal] grandmother, Ellen Bethel, who used to live on Cupid’s Cay – until she gave us our supper and would say, okay, it’s time to go back to your Mommy”, shared John, and continued, “Eddie and I were two sisters children (first cousins), so when we left Cupid’s Cay, we would have to drop him home first, in the area by the Catholic Church, and then we would go home.”
School Days and Loss: “We had a lot of English teachers”, recalled Mr. Sands. “I could remember a Michael Priest, and Ms. Whey. Then we had Father Morris, who was a priest also. My last teacher was out of Spanish Wells, and Samuel Guy Pinder was the District Superintendent at the time. During my time in school, we had to go through Class 1, 2, and 3, then Grade 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. I left school at the age of 14. My mother had died, one week after Hurricane Betsy in 1965, and my [paternal] grandmother took us over [took care of us], Muriel Sands, until we became men”, he added.
Career and Family: At the age of 15, a young John, started to work at French Leave – and said he cried like a baby on the first day.
“At that time they were constructing a building for ‘Mademoiselle’, and I was doing masonry. I was on trade at that time, learning under Alexander Sands, my uncle; Sam Pinder, and Bernard Farrington. After that construction was finished, I got into the domestic part of it at French Leave, as a waiter, and I worked there for a couple of years at night. I could remember Mr. Sidney Burrows Sr., he used to pick us up and drop us home. He had the contract to take the staff to and from the French Leave hotel. I can remember it well, he had a blue Volkswagen bus”, he stated.
After a few years at French Leave, John’s ‘Grammy’ wanted him to finish up a trade, he said. “So then I quit and went back to work in construction with Mr. Richard Rolle, and finished learning the masonry trade. The first job I did with Richard Rolle was the Post Office/Administrative building. First we had to cut the trench, and the foundation for that building was eight feet deep and about four feet wide. We had to cut the trench out, put the steel in, then pour the concrete.
“Before that time, where the ball park is now was lone bush and pond. I remember when they pushed all that bush out of there. A dredging machine came over and pumped the sand out of the sea into where the ball field is now. I was still a little boy, flying kites around that time. They had two piles of sand in there, and the sand was so high – when our kites got caught up in the Casuarina trees on the bay, you could get up there and just take it and poke it out of the trees. That’s how high they were.
“Where the food store [Eleuthera Supply] is was pond, and Gordon Sands family owned a lot of that property. They lived there in a wooden two storey structure, and when Mr. Jack Sweeting [from Spanish Wells] came up to purchase that land, I think they made some sort of agreement and they rebuilt their homes where they are right now [Betsy Village].
“In the area by the Library, there were Casuarinas on both sides, even where the coconut trees are now. It was like an arch. We used to be scared to go through there, and was always scared to go near the graveyard. There were elderly folks like Patrick Bethel and others who used to try to scare you with ghost stories. But we had to, because if you went this way their was a graveyard and if you went the other way another graveyard was right there. The Casuarina trees were small by the front graveyard and they used to keep them trimmed neatly, and the other had a picket fence until Hurricane Betsy, which even took up a number of big Casuarina trees, like you wouldn’t believe it. As a little boy, after the hurricane I remember cutting up Casuarina trees with that big handsaw – you push and I pull.
“While working with Richard Rolle, we completed the Post Office/Administrative building in about 9 months, and I worked with masons like Alexander and Bernard Farrington, and they never used to play. A mason like Alexander, used to use two helpers – one with cement and one with the blocks, laying 800 to 900 blocks a day and thing like that. We worked all over the place. At that time you know, Richard Rolle was the number one contractor. We worked in Double Bay and did homes on the north shore.”
Young John said he continued in construction until he became a young man on his own. Then he went back into French Leave, waiting tables, and did this and that, anything that would put money in his hand. He explained, “We were never idle like the young men today. You would go to work, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – then on Saturday my ‘Grammy’ would have us on the north shore pulling grass for beds and pillows. We would cut the straw top, and all those things we would be doing. They would take the grass, sew the mattress together, leaving a hole in it. Then you would tote the grass and they would stuff the bed with the grass.”
“I was back and forth in construction and at French Leave at night, until it closed. Craig Kelly owned it during that time”, said Mr. Sands. After French Leave closed, he was employed at the U.S. Naval Facility in the Commissary. In 1974, while employed there, John married Patricia Turnquest Sands, who had also grown up in Governor’s Harbour. “That was during the time I used to play ball – you know, I was big and tall, young and strapping”, chuckled Mr. Sands. The couple were blessed with six children, Chantell, Pedro, Andre, Jerome, Sherice and Claudia.
“The Commissary, or Navy Exchange”, explained Mr. Sands, “consisted of the Food Store, Barber shop, Snack bar, Gas Station, Laundry and they had another store that sold things like clothing and stereos. I used to run the gas station in that area. After working there for eight years, I got bullied and fired. Shortly after I had been promoted, a lady from James’ Cistern who worked in the laundry had to go on vacation, and I was told they were not going to bring anyone on, and that I would have to wash clothes. I said, I don’t wash my own, and I’m not going to wash nobody else own. So I lost my job.” With three children already in the picture, Mr. Sands said that he couldn’t stay home at that time, and whatever came up at that time he would take.
He joined Club Med, first doing construction with Austin Knowles, and later worked in security at the resort for about ten years. He said that Richard Rolle as a sub-contractor constructed the far end of Club Med and Austin Knowles did the middle section, with Cavalier Construction in charge of everything.
After Club Med, Mr. Sands joined Eleuthera Supply for eight years, working with then owner, Mr. Jack Sweeting. He did the truck driving, picking up deliveries from the American and Nassau boats and was in the lumber yard. “After Jack Sweeting sold out, I remained at Eleuthera Supply with Philip Bethel for fifteen years. Then in 2001, I joined Local Government as a Handyman, and have been there for the past thirteen years”, he shared.
Sweet Game of Softball – “I Love It!’: Mr. Sands’ passion for the game of softball started young, while still in school, and the local team at that time were called the Harbour Hustler’s. “In the evening time – you know your grandparents didn’t like you to be out too late in the evening. I was still in school and I really wanted to learn how to play softball. In the evening time you had David Hepburn and Morris and Kermit Stubbs, playing ball. During that time I used to be standing up around the softball field just looking and watching. I never could put my hand on a grown ups glove, so I used to take a piece of cardboard, cut a hole in it, and whenever they miss the ball, I would pick it up and throw it back in. I got into like that and at that time Randy Petty and Richard Rolle were coach/manager. So I would linger round”, shared Mr. Sands. One evening, Mr. Petty approached him, saying, “Young man, do you want to learn this thing – and I said yeah. He said, I see that.”, smiled Sands. So he was instructed to come out and Mr. Petty promised to do what he could do for him. He learned under Mr. Petty’s instruction and was still in school.
He recalled Mr. Petty approaching his teacher, Mr. Pinder from Spanish Wells at one time, requesting permission for him to join the Harbour Hustlers team in New Providence for a weekend of games and Mr. Pinder gave the okay. That weekend game, said Mr. Sands, was the debut of his softball career. He recalled his impromptu uniform at that time, saying, “When we got into Nassau, they bought me a uniform from the Andre Rodgers Sports Store.”
Having left school shortly after that experience, with the passing of his mother, Mr. Sands, with uniform in hand, began his softball career with the Harbour Hustlers. He recalled the red and gray uniforms, that he had to furnish for himself each year after that, with the red caps emblazoned with HH. He went on to play and share successes with the Harbour Hustlers in the Eleuthera championships for a number of years.
Mr. Sands remembered one year, after going down to participate in the nationals as the Eleuthera championship team – his fourth championship he said, under the team leadership of Billy Micklewhite – they were approached by William Brewer to sponsor the team. They agreed, said Mr. Sands, and after that, took on the name of Beck’s Hustlers. The team, he said, went on to amass at least thirteen Eleuthera championships and nine Bahamas Softball championships. Known on the team as the ‘Canon Arm’, John was touted as an exceptional player in both batting and running, and although he didn’t play for the National teams in international competition, he was selected three times.
At one time he recalled truly breaking a leg during a game in Palmetto Point, where he hit the ball to the fence, and in trying to get an extra base, attempted to slide in. He described his spikes getting caught while he continued to move forward, resulting in a broken ankle. He continued to play for another seven to eight years, but over time, the wear and tear on his ankle, which had pins placed in them as part of the repair, forced his retirement. Some of the highlights of his time playing also included participating in two Fast Pitch tournaments in Canada. The team dominated both locally and nationally from about 1960 to 1977.
When asked what softball meant to him in all his years of playing, Mr. Sands answered without hesitation, saying, “Everything. When I first got into softball, I was into construction, and we used to go to work on Saturdays also… but would leave and go and play at three o’clock in the afternoon, until there was no more light. I used to love it. Love it, and I still love it. I wish I was in shape today to play. I still love it!”
Mr. Sands is also a faithful member of St. Patrick’s Anglican church in Governor’s Harbour, and gives of his time and service, driving members to church and related events throughout the island.
