For as long as footballers come and go at Presentation College, San Fernando, none will ever wear the number four jersey which will forever belong to the late T&T footballer Akeem Adams.
As tearful tributes poured in for Adams, a former captain of the school's football team and fallen cricketer Christian Ramkairsingh, school principal Dexter Mitchel announced the Adam's jersey would be retired like many past sports legends around the world. Although Adams' parents were busy preparing for his funeral on Friday, his aunt Cynthia Humphrey received a memorial team jersey and the principal's medal on their behalf.
Speaking at a memorial service held at the school's auditorium yesterday, Mitchell said, "I want to officially declare today that Akeem would have worn number four for our college and from this day forward, number four will retire as a number in the college.
"Our school won the Big Five Championship this year and we all went down to the stadium and said this one was for Akeem while he laid in a hospital bed in Hungary. For the first time in the school history, we presented to all members of the school's football team with what we call the principal's medal.
"They were the first recipients of what we called the principal's medal and today we also want to bestow that honour on Akeem for being an outstanding 'Pres-man' and for representing us on the national field and at the international level."
Tears flowed openly as commendations from both current and past students were read before Adams and Ramkairsingh's relatives. Adams' former team mate, now a teacher at the school, Andre Benjamin, still managed to bring laughter to the service when he revealed that Adams, the former defender at Hungarian club Ferencvaros, was affectionately called "Wrecker" while at school, because of his large feet.
Benjamin said, "Akeem was the most inspirational captain that I and most of his team members ever had. In the dressing room before a game, he would simple say, 'fellahs this game is ours.' Win, lose or draw he always kept that smile on his face.
"Every lunch time while his colleagues were running on the field, Akeem was in the gym because he knew what he wanted and he got it. To me there will be no individual most humble like Akeem Adams. In all his success, he was humble."
Benjamin told Ramkairsingh parents, Rawleston and Darlene, and his brother Luke, that although he was a cricketer, he was a strong supporter of the football team who was able to conjure that festive spirit that the team needed.
"He got something that he always wanted, the national big five competition. When we beat Carapichaima, he said 'I wanted to beat them long time.' I just want to let you know that your son will never ever be forgotten in Presentation College."
Ramkairsingh's parents were also presented with a bouquet of flower and a case holding a miniature bat and ball.
Officiating over the service, Monsignor Christian Pereira told students that although many of them would not turn out of be star sportsmen like their fallen school mates, they must work hard at finding their place in society.
He, however, reminded that of the chilling reality that death can come unexpectedly and that they should prepared for that time.
Ramkairsingh, a Sixth Form pupil, died at the Port of Spain General Hospital on January 9 following a brief illness.
Adams, also a former player of W Connection, T&TEC SC, United Petrotrin and Central, died at the Varosmajori Heart Clinic, Budapest, Hungary on December 30, 2013 after suffering a stroke and falling into a coma. It was a quick descent from a promising future for Adam, who only last year joined with Ferencvaros.
On September 25, he suffered a heart attack which later led to his left leg being amputated on October 8 in a life-saving surgery. So severe was the damage to his heart that his doctor deemed that his body was not ready for a transplant that would have been needed to keep him alive.