Vinton O Powell was educated at Bryce Primary School and Holmwood Technical High School, where he represented the latter in 1959-60, before entering the Mico Teachers’ College in 1962 to receive training for his future profession. At Mico, he exhibited more than the willingness of a country boy who had come to the Capital in awe. He took Mico by storm, mainly because of his prowess in athletic sports, specializing in the middle to long distance races. While still at Mico he dominated the 1500m, the 3000m, the 5000m and the Steeplechase with occasional sorties into the 800m. He was, without a doubt, one of the dominant athletes of the era and extended his commanding position at the inter-collegiate level (Champion Athlete in 1964) into the National Competitions.
Interestingly, in 1967 there was a twin Meet held over two consecutive weekends at the National Stadium between Jamaica and the University of Miami, and this was the period he chose to give perhaps his best performance over any two week stretch of his life. On Friday of the first weekend he broke the 1,500 metres record, then followed up with the three mile record on the following
Saturday. The Steeplechase record was broken on Friday of the next week. Other victories followed that same year, some of them over other distances such as the marathon and the 5000 metres.
Throughout the rest of the seventies and into the eighties Vinton continued on his winning ways and actually represented his country at the 8th Commonwealth Games, the Central America and Caribbean Games in Puerto Rico and the CAC Games in Cuba where he was the Team Captain.
Changes had taken place in Vinton’s life in the late sixties. In addition to performing, Vinton started coaching and assisting in the continuing development of our rich legacy. He started his career as a school coach at Kingston High School, previously Kingston Senior, in 1967 and served there until 1980. He was part of the team that organized a competition amongst the reclassified group of schools. In 1974 when Kingston High introduced a double shift, he worked in the mornings then left for St. George’s in the afternoons to work alongside Dennis Johnson, and continued with this arrangement until 1976.
In 1980 Vinton took time off to prepare for the future by taking up a scholarship at Gutenberg University in West Germany where he secured an Advanced Coaching Diploma. In 1982, he returned to St. George’s and remained there until 1990. His third stint at St. George’s started in 2003 and is still in progress.
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Vinton has established himself as a talented practitioner in his field, who has committed himself to giving back of his expertise. He has served as an Official at Meets from as far back as 1974 and covered many areas namely: Time Keeping, Judging and Starting. In addition to that early group of organizers he served as President of the National Track and Field Coaches Association which was launched in 1975 with the following executive: Chairman – Herb McKenley, Secretary- Dennis Johnson, Treasurer- Al Phillips, Asst. Treasurer- Freddie Green, First V.P. – Glen Mills, Second V.P. – Howard Aris and Third V.P. – Lister Haughton James. The others who formed the foundation membership were no less distinguished and the guidelines spoke to passing on the expertise, primarily to the coaches and secondarily
to the athletes. This was before the establishment of the G.C. Foster Institution. If you are in search of another significant reason for the continuing legacy behind Usain, Asafa and Shelly-Ann etc, note this and bear in mind that our honouree this year is a silent but integral part of our odyssey.
It is little wonder then that in 1984 the St. George’s College Old Boys in their Newsletter, paid tribute to Sportsmaster Vinton Powell for the significant improvement of its athletic performance after 59 years.
It is too, little wonder that The Mico Teachers Training College, in commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the institution, selected Vinton Powell as the sole male awardee.
Thank you Vinton, we appreciate your service to us at ISSA, to coaching as a profession and to athletic sports as a means of entertainment and development. Vinton O Powell sadly passed away on December 14, 2025. The Gibson McCook Relays Organizing Committee extends our sincerest condolences to his family, friends and every athlete whose life Vinton has helped to shape