KINGSTON – One of Ja­maica’s great­est-ever ath­let­ic coach­es, Stephen "Fran­no" Fran­cis, was laid to rest on Sat­ur­day (Au­gust 15) in an emo­tion­al ser­vice at the Na­tion­al In­door Sports Cen­tre.

Fran­cis, founder of the renowned MVP Track Club, passed away on Ju­ly 4, one day af­ter cel­e­brat­ing his 64th birth­day.

Dur­ing the ser­vice that was at­tend­ed by fam­i­ly mem­bers, friends, col­leagues, ath­letes and po­lit­i­cal fig­ures, Fran­cis was re­mem­bered as a man who made an out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tion to ath­let­ics not on­ly in Ja­maica, but in­ter­na­tion­al­ly.

Min­is­ter of Cul­ture, Gen­der, En­ter­tain­ment and Sport, Olivia Grange de­scribed Fran­cis as “no or­di­nary man” and hailed him as a fig­ure who re­de­fined ex­cel­lence in track and field.

“We say farewell to a man whose mind pow­er gave him the abil­i­ty and fo­cus to shape ac­tions, feel­ings, and re­sults. He pos­sessed an ex­tra­or­di­nary vi­sion backed up by a fix­i­ty of pur­pose and com­plete con­fi­dence that what he was do­ing would bring the re­sults that he en­vi­sioned,” Grange said.

“He was no or­di­nary man. Fran­no was no or­di­nary man. In fact, he was among the most bril­liant Ja­maicans in any field.”

One of the most emo­tion­al trib­utes came from for­mer 100m world record hold­er Asafa Pow­ell, who broke down in tears dur­ing his ad­dress and need­ed the as­sis­tance of Brigitte Fos­ter-Hyl­ton to com­plete it.

Pow­ell said Fran­cis was a role mod­el through­out his years un­der his tute­lage.

“To­day, I’m not here as a for­mer world record hold­er or an Olympian. I’m stand­ing here as that lit­tle coun­try boy whose life was changed by one man.

“In 2001, at the Boys’ and Girls’ Cham­pi­onships, I false-start­ed in the fi­nals and was dis­qual­i­fied. I went back to my high school with no idea what the fu­ture would be. Then one day, Paul Fran­cis showed up at my school,” Pow­ell re­mem­bered.

“…Coach be­came more than just a coach; he was an­oth­er fa­ther. I re­mem­ber his old Pro­ton Saga leak­ing trans­mis­sion oil and I al­ways think I’m a me­chan­ic, so on a dai­ly ba­sis, I would take it to top up the trans­mis­sion oil for him.

“It seemed like a small thing back then but now, it feels price­less. He in­vest­ed in every part of us,” he added.

CMC