12 January,2015 08:33 AM IST | | Adolf de Souza
Former Bombay and Tata Sports Club hockey player Gerry Williams peacefully breathed his last on 7 January 2015 at his Mazagaon residence. He was 86 and a bachelor.
A front-runner in the glittering Tata hockey team in the fifties, he was also a reputed footballer. Strongly built, Gerry was an inside forward, who also played the role of a schemer. He was best known for his spectacular scoops.
Gerry, a Xavierite, first first played for the Bombay University hockey team after which he went onto wear the famous gold and blue colours of Tata Sports Club.
He was a member of the Tata side that won the prestigious Aga Khan tournament, a blue riband event of western India for three successive years. Tata SC also won the Beighton Cup, Calcutta's pride.
For quite a few years Gerry represented the erstwhile Bombay team in the national hockey tournament - Rangaswamy Cup. He also toured with the Tata side internationally, traveling to East Africa, where they did well too.
Gerry played alongside some top-notch hockey players like players like Leo Pinto, RS Gentle, G Perumal, Lawrie Fernandes, Joe D'Mello, etc and footballers like TM Verghese (Papen), Anthony Braganza and Neville de Souza. RIP, Gerry.
