James Williams (Jay Willie) and I used to make fun that among the active veteran journalists of the late 1960s and mid yo late 70s, sportswriters and members of the “SAM METZGER FRATERNITY, “the two of us were the last men standing.
I woke up at dawn as usual to start working and my heart was very heavy and I was wondering why. I came to Facebook only to learn that my LAST MAN STANDING twin buddy, James Williams (JAY WILLIE) is dead. What a shock!!!! What grief!!!!!
There were many of us. Three of us lived at 20 Bass Street, Brookfields while the others used to visit every day; we congregated to do our daily brain- storming about political events, the socialite lifestyle, news and sports, sharing of ideas and jokes . We were working for different media, but we all had something to do with the Father, the immortal icon and vivacious star of Journalism, Sam J. E. METZGER. I was free lance sports and op/ed contributor of WE YONE and DAILY MAIL early 70s and member of THE TABLET and SPORTS STAR late 1970s while the others were full time employees of WE YONE. I am the last man standing now.
THE OTHERS ARE GONE: Sportswriter John Kolossa Kargbo (JK), roving reporter, Kabbah Kargbo, JK’s understudy at WE YONE, Samuel Junior John, before he became full time Sports Editor; Conrad Roy of Rowland Martyn’s THE SIERRA LEONEAN magazine; SLBS Disc jockey and later , newspaper editor of THE CHRONICLE newspaper , Kwawigoko Roy Stevens ; Pios Foray , Frank Kposowa of THE TABLET , E.B Wallace Johnson , the publisher of SPORTS STAR etc. Abdul Aziz Dyfan was not a journalist but he was a friend of journalists. He too is gone. Donald During of the SLBS briefly lived there in 1977 but he was not involved in print journalism (He is alive). He left before the main events that bound me and the others together. So, he was actually not part of the “fraternity, “ a very brilliant broadcaster though he was.
The house at 20 Bass Street, Brookfields, was a Journalism House, a Parliament (where we shared, joked, debated, argued and fought over events and ideas everyday) , an interesting meeting point to engage in what journalists love best in those days, like eating and social drinking together . We quarrelled often, especially JK and I but we always reconciled.
- Willie and I hooked up again when we both worked for the President Ernest Koroma APC Government. I was Senior diplomat at the UN and he was a member of the Independent Media Commission (IMC).
He was a very nice, civil, unassuming, friendly, agreeable, humorous and interesting man. He was also very hardworking and took over from JK as sports editor of WE YONE, after JK got appointed Information Officer at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. He left to become DAILY MAIL sports editor after first, Khalil Kamara moved away and then Alhaji Saramady Kabba (All dead ).
We would always recall the jokes and funny events of those heady and memorable days at 20 Bass Street. We were the only ones alive, from the newspaper breed of those days and so we called ourselves LAST MEN STANDING, especially among sportswriters. He is gone. I am now alone . Nobody left to share with the good, old days of journalism and the eccentricities of Sam Metzger, who though an illustrious and diligent journalism icon, always generated fun in his personal dealings with people, about which we always joked.
By the way, Jay Willie and I got married to our loving “heartthrobs “ ( As JK called them) on the same day on December 30, 1978 . Their marriage did not last.
Jay Willie’s death is a big loss to journalism in Sierra Leone. As a veteran, he had a lot to pass on to the young and restless of the trade of these days. I will miss him.
May his soul rest in peace.
