It wasn’t until I watched a recent Netflix series that I realized what an achievement it is to be a multi-sport athlete. My older brother, Chris Seaga was one and I’m ashamed to say that I’m just realizing how amazing that is. Chris was one of Jamaica’s champion swimmers by the age of 9. At the time, daddy Edward Seaga had taken a 2 year sabbatical from politics and would coach Chris daily at our pool. Himself an avid sportsman, he encouraged Chris’ athleticism with his customary dedication and systematic approach. Wearing his iconic black ‘darkers’ I’d see him leaning over the edge of the pool with his stopwatch in his hand and a little black book in the other where he painstakingly recorded all of Chris’ swim times. If you know my dad, you’d know that he had several of these little black books where he recorded all things important.
On the weekends we’d go to swim practice and meets at the National Stadium where Chris swam for the indefatigable Neville Alexander's Flying Fish Ambassadors Swim Club Jamaica 1959-1978. The young swimmers would parade in their unmistakable canary yellow track suits while us younger ones shelled salty, roasted peanuts and licked colorful snow cones, frolicking under the stands. The meets ran late into the nights. Dinner was cups of yellow, steaming corn soup under the dark skies and glaring flood lights. As sleep came and the temperature dropped, I’d shroud myself in a towel and lie on a makeshift bed of even more towels padding the hard bench and rest my head in mommy’s lap. Whistles, horns and starter guns sounded in the background and cheers lulled me to sleep.
Chris enjoyed the rivalry from his competition on the Marlins and the YMCA teams. They were in his head and he was in theirs. His rivals’ names were part of family conversation as we noted their performance and psyched him up for his next. Nonetheless, he dominated his age group at home and abroad. His butterfly stroke was sheer beauty in motion!
Just before a race, swimmers would gather for pep talks while licking powdered glucose from their palms. The moms rationed the pure, white sugar from little plastic bags. I’d beg for a taste, savouring it on my tongue for the few seconds it lasted before it melted away. Daddy would caution Chris; “Remember, don’t look beside you!” as Chris would be tempted to do when he neared the finish. That sideways glance could shave fractions of a second off his time and cost him a win.
As he got older he tried other sports while at Campion College and then at St. Andrew’s College in Canada where he made the team in every sport: swimming, ice hockey, cricket, soccer, squash and American football and even captained the cricket team. There is a photograph of him hanging in the entrance… he was the first student in the school’s history to make every team! His housemaster, Mr. Harrison would tell stories of seeing Chris ice skating on the pond at below freezing weather, dressed only in a terry robe and shorts as he taught himself to ice skate. Recently, I was told a story about Chris bringing his Canadian school’s cricket team to play Campion’s cricket team where from the tip of his bat, he hit the winning 6 runs, way out of the park! He became a legend.
It’s only now that I realize what a big deal it was for Chris to then transition to American football in university. His American coach (Ford Ackerman) in Canada introduced him to the game and saw talent. He encouraged Chris to go to an American university rather than a Canadian one so he could play on a college team. Chris was enticed by the sport and Daddy encouraged him thinking it would be a good career for him. Once at University of Miami, he started training with the Hurricanes. He became so muscular and big that mommy would tell him his neck was beginning to look like Herschel Walker’s. I didn’t know who that was but the name became a familiar one every time she saw him come home for vacations. Two years later, Chris transferred to University of South Carolina and he ‘walked-on’ to their Gamecocks team. He started out as a line man but was running as fast as the wide receivers so his coach switched him to a running back position. American football is a sport where boys train in their high school junior varsity and varsity teams just to become noticed to be able to vie for a chance to be considered for this level of play. Here, a boy from Jamaica who never grew up playing American football, trained and played with 2 of the most prestigious college teams in the country at the time!
As I learn more about sports teams I realize just how impressive all his achievements are. It all came so naturally to him, he made it seem effortless. So, it’s hitting me even harder that Chris at 55 years-old is in stage 4 kidney failure. He undergoes dialysis 2 times a week for the past 2 years and it has weakened him. His muscles are atrophying and his spirit is waning. He needs a kidney, so, if any of you know of any way to help us find a kidney donor for Chris, please reach out to me. We are all worried about him, mommy especially. We have no idea where to turn. We Mitsy Seaga and Andrew Seaga need your help.
Note:Anabella Seaga-Mian and Christoper Seaga are The Most Hon. Edward Seaga (deceased) and Mitzy-Mian children. Their father gave his life for this nation. His son needs your support to find a kidney donor and with your love I know we can find someone. Mr. Seaga was a former Prime Minister of Jamaica and Mitzy Mian his former wife, was a Miss Jamaica Queen.
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This information was taken from Anabella Seaga-Mian's Facebook page.
