Hugh Henderson
About six years ago I was requested to write a series of articles on the cricket career of Larry Gomes, which to my surprise was quite well received and there were several suggestions that the series be turned into a book for record purposes. I was not keen on the idea and was relieved when Larry said “people will remember what they want and the rest won’t matter.” However, over the years the topic that continues to evoke heat and emotion is Larry’s decision not to accept a lucrative offer to play in South Africa (SA) during the apartheid regime. Why did he choose country over “blood money”? (as it was labeled). Here is my first hand version of what took place. Early in 1983 I was conducting a management seminar in Jamaica when news came through that six high profile West Indies cricketers had received lucrative offers to play in SA. Larry’s name was not among them but the 1983 World Cup was coming up in England, so I advised Larry to keep his ear to the ground as he might be approached, a key reason being that his fair complexion was referred to in SA as “coloured” as opposed to “black” or “white”, which made him a very attractive proposition.
As it turned out, Larry did receive a phone call in England from someone who would not give his name and told Larry they could not meet for security reasons but indicated he was wanted in SA. Larry then coolly advised the caller that there was a guy named Hugh Henderson living in Canada, and he would deal with Larry’s affairs. It might have been nice of Larry to let me in on the secret which I first heard about when I entered my office in Toronto, answered a ringing phone to discover I was speaking to Dr Ali Bacher, ex-Test player and Numero Uno in SA cricket at the time. Dr Bacher invited me to meet him in London, I invited him to meet me in Toronto and we agreed to meet one another in New York along with Larry. There were many serious problems to deal with starting with the consequences of having a SA stamp in Larry’s passport, the question of where the Gomes’ second child expected in March 1984 would be born and the political consequences of that decision. Of course, both Larry and I discussed the probability that if he went to SA I might never see him again given the global feeling against apartheid and SA. Read More