‘Pee Wee’ was a medical giant – Roy Simpson

National senior men’s football team manager Roy Simpson says former team doctor Carlton ‘Pee Wee’ Fraser was more than just that.

Fraser, also once the personal physician of reggae icon, Bob Marley, passed away yesterday, and Simpson, who went on numerous national tours with the late doctor, remembers him as someone who did things differently, and genuinely cared about people.

“Pee Wee gave more and received less,” Simpson told The Gleaner. “Even in his own personal practice, I have seen many persons come to him for treatment and he did not charge them because he believed he was blessed with a talent, and to serve was his ultimate objective.

“With his involvement with the programme, his approach was different. When on tour, he would set up a mini hospital to look after players.

“And he made it known that it was not just the players, he was there to treat staff as well.

“He always said we should have all the players healthy, but if the staff are not healthy, things would not be balanced, so he always extended himself to the staff.

“I have seen him even treat hotel workers. It was nothing to him, so the players and everyone had that type of affection for him because he genuinely cared.”

Simpson says Fraser sharing stories of Bob Marley was always enjoyed by both players and staff.

“The memories he shared with everybody about his time with Bob Marley, and his time at Howard University were incredible, as well as his whole experience and beliefs on politics,” Simpson said.

“He was incredible because he was more than a team doctor, he was just a person who wanted to serve.”

Fraser was given a four-year ban by FIFA in 2013 for administering a banned substance, Dexamethasone, to midfielder Jermaine Hue, who returned a positive test for the drug after a World Cup qualifier in Honduras.

Simpson said that Fraser was always deeply hurt by the manner in which he left the programme.

“One thing I knew really hurt him was how he departed the national programme,” Simpson said. “Up to the last conversations we had, that bothered him. He genuinely said he would not have done anything to jeopardise anybody because he was not of that nature.”

Fraser, who was 74, passed away in a Miami hospital on Sunday morning. He served as national team doctor for more than a decade. He was also said to be the first Rastafarian medical doctor in the country.

livingston.scott@gleanerjm.com