Olympian Byron LaBeach dies at 91

Byron LaBeach, the fifth member of that Jamaican record-setting team at the Helsinki Olympics, died on Monday at the age of 91.

LaBeach died nearly six months after the death of his wife of 57 years, Joyce.

He died at his daughter’s home in California, where he had gone to live following the death of his wife.

His daughter, Monique Poydras, who lives in Washington, DC and who announced the death of her father, paid tribute to LaBeach as a wonderful dad who was involved in the lives of his three children, two daughters and a son.

“My dad was my first track coach when I was a student athlete. He was very involved in the lives of all his children. He was a devoted husband and an involved member of his community. He was about all things Jamaica,” she said.

Poydras noted that he and his wife as well as the children were all involved in their church, the Riverside Church in Riverside, New York.

“He was more than just our dad. He was also dad to many of the students athletes at Harry S. Truman school in the Bronx, coaching many of them,” she said.

JAMAICA-BORN

LaBeach was the only one of his parents’ five sons to have been born in Jamaica. His four other siblings were all born in Panama.

In later years, LaBeach attempted to write a book about the athletic exploits of his siblings, a book which remained incomplete at the time of his death.

The portrait of LaBeach that emerges to all who knew him was one of dedication, involvement and engagement.

He was a fixture in the Bronx northeast community.

He was a member of the Jamaica Progressive League earlier in his life, and made his presence felt within the Jamaican community by participating and volunteering his time for any good cause.

In an extensive article written by Orville Brown and published in The Gleaner in July 2003, LaBeach wrote that in all the adulation bestowed on Wint, Laing, McKenley, and Rhoden, most people overlooked the baby of the team, Byron LaBeach.

LaBeach’s elder brothers George, Harold, Donald, Samuel and Lloyd set a strong family tradition for him to live up to when he started as a student at St George’s College in 1946. George had won the 440 yards and the hurdles events at Boys’ Championships, and had been an outstanding footballer for Kingston College. Harold had won the 100 yards event at the high school championships, and Donald and Samuel had participated, with some success.