"B M" Clark

Bernard Milbourne “B M” Clark was born in 1894, son of Dr E E Clark, the prominent Kingston dentist. He attended Jamaica College, and in 1910 won the high jump for his school in the first Inter-Secondary Schools Championship Sports. It was in those Championships that Norman Manley, also of Jamaica College, first made his mark as an athlete.

“B M “ soon got a job in the Civil Service, but made his reputation as a tennis player from the later years of World War I until he was replaced as champion by Donald Leahong in 1931. Jimmy Carnegie also records his success as a champion golfer.

“B M “ dominated men’s singles tennis all through the 1920s, while also excelling in the doubles game, both men’s and mixed. In 1927 when the then Duke of York (later George VI), who was a keen tennis player, visited Jamaica, it was arranged that on the first day of his visit he should play tennis at King’s House with some Jamaican Players; as the Jamaican champion “B M” was naturally among those invited. In 1930 both he and the rising star of Jamaican men’s tennis, Donald Leahong, played in and won tournaments in England.

Early in 1931 “B M” led a Kingston tennis team to play doubles matches at the St Thomas Country Club. In April of that year a championship match between Clark and Leahong was expected at the All Jamaica Tournament, but Clark was unexpectedly defeated in the semi-finals, thus giving up his long-held championship without taking on his younger rival. As some slight compensation he and his partner, Olive Wilson, beat Leahong and his sister in the mixed doubles!