"Nor am I surprised that Arthur is a Point Fortin feller, Point being something special as a Trini place, its migrant population (Grenada, St Vincent, Barbados, the whole West Indian wherever) making for something of a merry mix (Duke who wrote Nelson's "King Liar" and his own "Freakin' Streakin" from there), per capita, I often swear, the biggest football and kaiso catchment in the world - Warren Archibald, Steve David, Arnim David, Leroy de Leon, Delbert Charleau, Wilfred Cave, Monty Douglas, Winty Hackett and 'bout a hundred others, and more from there. And now with a Miami Heat ball court in the offing, complete with all the hoop-la, don't be surprised if, in a generation or two, "Point" belches out the best basketballers, the place"...AND NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS, Smith, June 15.

Well, who tell me to write that last sentence, "Point" people anxious to make, well, the point to me that, long before this Arthur Joseph/Miami Heat initiative, past "Point" generations had been belching out the best basketballers, one district historian whose name, gallingly, I have managed to forget reminding, well, let's be honest here, informing me that in the early 1960s "Point" produced Gun Hawks, "one of the leading basketball teams in the southern part of the country and at the national level". Gun Hawks, it turns out, had both an 'A' team and a 'B' Team playing in the first and second divisions of the Southern Amateur Basketball League, winning that league for the first time in 1969 and the last in 1979.

At the national level Gun Hawks won the National Citibank Invitational Tournament (1977, 1979), placed second in the Northern Amateur Basketball League in 1977 before taking the Sports and Games Invitational Tournament in 1979 and 1980.

The Gun Hawks Basketball Team went through some name changes from Gun Hawks to Black Hawks and Black Hawks to Dunlop Hawks and campaigned in the North Western Basketball League from 1981-1985, winning the League in 1984 and placing second in 1985.

Emerging from Point Fortin basketball are the following who went on to represent South Trinidad as well as Trinidad and Tobago:

- Victor "Voot" O'Garro  Larry "Engine" Belfon - George "Panther" Charles, who went on to become the national basketball coach, having had some training in Mexico.

- Ronald De Silva who went on to become a qualified FIFBA coach - Anslem "Slimmer" Henry - "Cornbread" Williams - Samuel Alexander

-The Lendor Brothers.

From an even earlier era some of the players who represented Gun Hawks and helped foster the game within the community were:

- Hollis "Chinks" St John - The Murray Brothers (Wayne, Glen and Lance) - "Big Laud" Constantine - Enos Elliot (deceased)

- Harry Singh - Mc Daniels - Neville Fredericks "Anatol" (deceased) -Kap Chong "Kau"

My informant went into somewhat greater detail about:

- John Antoine: An employee of Shell Trinidad Limited and a resident of Point Fortin at the time helped train people in the sport...

- Hollis "Chinks'' St John: Secured a place on the national team; organised a primary school basketball League in Point Fortin which saw the emergence of several young stars such as Victor "Voot" O'Garro, Larry "Engine'' Belfon, George "Panther'' Charles, just to name a few.

- Wayne Murray: Played for South as well the national team for several years. Also involved in training and development of young players in Point Fortin and environs.

- Victor "Voot' O'Garro: One of the young stars who emerged in the late sixties. Captained the famous Civic Centre Hawks, captained South Trinidad, captained the national team for several years, played semi-professional basketball in Santo Domingo, toured China and played against the Chinese, won a national award for basketball skills and was also inducted in the Hall of Fame in Trinidad and Tobago. Today he is still involved in the game presently coaching in the Cayman Islands.

And, as if I didn't know that Point Fortin was more than a one-sport place, along came the following list of footballers who at sometime resided in Point Fortin and played for Trinidad and Tobago:

Goalkeepers:

Rawlins "Cax" Baptiste; Jonathan Wills; Fitzgerald Dick

Defenders:

Atiba Charles; Sherwyn Julie; Francis Furlonge; Arnim David; Keith Bailey; Trevor Edwards; Jim Lowe.

Forwards:

Watty Douglas; Goslyn Worrell; Henry Quanvie; Monty Douglas; Dick Furlonge; Trevor Fredericks; Wilfred Cave; Warren Archibald; Steve David; Leo "Twinkle Toes'' Brewster; Adrian Fonrose; Neville Frederick; Roger Carrington.

Mid-Fielders:

Delbert Charleau; Doyle Griffith; Leroy de Leon; Anthony Douglas; Keith Douglas; Keith Renaud; Sydney Augustine; Milton Archibald; Bede Archibald; Reynold Carrington.

Well, didn't I say from early that "Point'' was a particularly special place - and I haven't even listed the calypsonians as yet, to say nothing of the cricketers and the pannists.