Reaching without Preaching | The Old Harbour pastor empowering youth through sport after turning his back on gangster life

Indeed Ricardo Nkruma Anthony Edwards has come a long way from his humble beginnings in West Kingston a violence plagued geography that many Jamaicans described as one of the most notorious garrisons in the island. “I was born into that lovely residential community known more popularly as Tivoli Gardens, building 43. I say residential community because that is what Edward Seaga (former Prime Minister) said was what he had intended. It was supposed to be his ideal community, one that would flourish and be a model one for others to emulate,” he tells me.

However, the environment in which he grew up in the 80s was anything but ideal as it was all about fast living, convenient morals, instant gratification and of course violence used as a means of control. Edwards’ father was right in the thick of things and though his mother was a hard-working civil servant who tried her best to keep him on the straight and narrow path, what he was exposed to daily shaped his mentality and way of thinking so much so he too wanted to be bad. Bad in the sense of he’s seen as one of the toughest gangsters who is feared and respected. “All around me the role models I saw rode big bikes and wore big chains. My father was all up in it but looking back at it now, I believe that he fathered me as best as he could,” Edwards said in an interview with Old Harbour News.

Like so many other teens weaned on a steady diet of ‘badmanship’ that they have ingested from birth, Ricardo started acting out and giving trouble. “Back then my frame of thinking was not on anything long term. I went to Dunoon, played basketball, made the under-17 team, but I got expelled from school when I had a confrontation with a teacher,” an unforgettable experience he recounted. “You know that Jamaican men will be seriously offended if you pass certain remarks about their mothers and back then I was not having it. You have to understand that I was heading down a dark path.”

He added: “I remember when I was 13 my father came for me on his bike and took me to a house and said that ‘a one bad man inna the family’ so he locked me in and said ‘defend youself.’ For him, it was a case of do what I say, not what I do.”

Fortunately for him, his mother realised that if she wanted her son to stay out of prison or reaching the cemetery, she had to totally remove him from all the negativity of his environment. So one day she made the difficult but necessary decision to take only her clothes and move out of the area. “Nobody knew she was moving but she wanted to give her children a better life so she did it. My mother is a maroon who originally came from St. Elizabeth and moved to Kingston at a time when people came to ‘town’ to seek job opportunities. But with how I was acting, she knew she had to take me out of it. I honestly did not want to leave as I was accustomed to the Tivoli lifestyle but my mother showed me tough love as she said ‘you either change or I’m prepared to bury you’,” he said.

So they left the hustle and the bright lights of Kingston and settled down in a quaint, rural environment in Red Ground in St. Catherine, which to him was akin to being in a wilderness. “At first it was difficult as I thought of it as country and did not want to be there,” he said of his new home, a nine-minute drive from the Old Harbour town centre. However, a series of events would soon transpire that led him to not only appreciate how sweet country life can be but also set his feet along a spiritual path toward Christ.

He was 16 and had a friend who he felt needed him to ‘protect’ him in the community and since he thought of himself as a bad man, he was down for the cause. “I was invited to a youth meeting one Friday night and me being a town man, I had ‘something’ on me concealed in my pocket. I went to church and hung around at the gate, trying to pick an argument and fight outside just to draw attention, but nobody nah pay me nuh mind. I thought if I got into a fight, this time they would definitely send me back to the ‘residential area’ that I longed for,” said Edwards. “But then I looked through the window and saw some lovely young girls inside so I drew closer and sat down in one of the back seats and for the first time I felt the presence of God speak to me. I fell down on the ground crying and a lady named Miss Amber was lifting me up and she hugged me but I remembered I had the thing concealed on me so I was resisting but she said ‘I’m not letting you go as God had a purpose over your life.’”

Well, when he left the church that evening, he had absolutely no plans to go back. “I told my friend that dem must a work obeah there as I was crying and bad man nuh cry,” he said, crediting Pastor Michael Grant who became his mentor and was an ever present father figure in his life, one who saw something in him and he himself could not see and never gave up on him.
This, he said, is what is needed today, men who can take troubled youth under their wings and walk them out of the dark path back into the light. “The way I see it is this: when potential is identified, it is incumbent on the person who sees it to either foster it and make it grow, or leave it to go astray,” he said. 

His potential was fostered and eventually he made the decision to be saved. Said Edwards: “Getting saved wasn’t easy at first but in the environment of like-minded persons, I began to thrive. When I told my family it became a big topic of discussion as they knew how I was previously but there was a pull on me to do more than just go to church as I just didn’t want to sit in church. I wanted others to experience the love of God that I was experiencing.”

As a young sportsman, basketball and football were important to Edwards who eventually decided to concentrate on the former. “I learned basketball in 1990 when I went to New York City and when I came back to Tivoli, I would take crates, made hoops and string up something like a basketball net on street lights and posts everywhere. I was good at it but I got two knee injuries so I ended up focusing more on coaching,” he disclosed how is aspiration of playing the game as a professional ended abruptly.  In 2002 he got his first coaching certification at G.C. Foster College after landing the position as the assistant coach for Old Harbour High but would have a falling out with the then head coach Robert Ramsay after the school suffered a major defeat. So he left and basically put basketball on hold for a while. “I just stopped doing everything associated with basketball. But the call back to the court was too powerful,” he said. In 2005 the vice principal at Old Harbour High offered him the head coach position and at first he didn’t want it but in the end, good sense prevailed. “I knew it was a good thing and later that day after I had left the principal, Selvin Green, told me that they had selected me for the position,” he recalled

Ironically he had not even applied for it but as old time people would say ‘what is fi you cannot be un-fi you’ and Edwards took over, showed up as head coach and thereafter proceeded to show his true mettle. He led the school to five national championships, 40 conference titles and had a plethora of students getting basketball scholarships which opened doors for many. “I am the only coach to win three different conference titles with the same school,” he quipped. Edwards quickly realised though that mentorship was lacking and embarked on a programme that did “more than just win titles but to empower youth and win souls”.

“So I started the mentorship coaching programme, so for many players I was not just a coach but a father or uncle. I was someone who cares about the whole person and not just what they can produce on a court,” he said. “I would say to them ‘there is life after basketball, what have you put in place?’ So when ISSA asks for a 45 % average for players to be eligible to compete, I required 60% and I don’t care how good a player you are. Plus 80% attendance at school. I think to date, Old Harbour High boasts a very high pass rate at both CSEC and CAPE.”

It was around this time that he met his wife who is a trained maths teacher Natalie Headley-Edwards and the two got married in 2006. She would go on to be the national youth director at Assemblies of God and while he coached students, she tutored those who needed that little extra push academically. “We moved from a basketball team to a basketball programme so it was more than just bouncing a ball on a court, as we took care of the whole person socially, physically and spiritually,” he said. By now the programme began to reap success. It has been the go-to for many teachers and parents at their wits end with undisciplined boys. Once they are placed in to the programme Edwards would take them under his wings and over time watch their transformation. “I believe if Jesus is so sweet and life-changing, then I want to share the gospel with them,” he said. “I have even baptised several of my players when they came to me. The highlight of my time as head coach is the lives I was able to touch with my mentorship and guidance. My former student athletes have grown into upstanding men and leaders in their communities. That is paying it forward.”

Edwards’ formula worked and worked well as he won Coach of the Year three years in a row, National Coach of the Year plus all of the major conference titles, making Old Harbour High the only school to have accomplished this through basketball. Indeed the school’s trophy case was bursting at the seams with all that they managed to accomplish through hard work and perseverance. However, for all of his numerous successes, he also shared what he termed as the biggest blunder of his career. He had registered a player with ISSA who at the time was 19, about to turn 20 in August of that particular year. “I was advised not to play him but then we were to play what was described and agreed by one and all to be a practice match and the referees were told this. In the end, the other players were good enough so I didn’t have to play him at all but unfortunately for me, his name was on the score sheet and that error was my undoing. At the prize-giving awards, I was accosted and asked ‘what kinda thing that me do?’”.

Though he tried to explain what had happened, no one wanted to hear it and virtually everyone who had heard or agreed that the game was a simple practice match, either disappeared or changed the narrative of what was originally agreed to, leaving him holding the bag with egg on his face and earning him a whopping two-year suspension from the game he loved and the students he had dedicated his life to. Though the suspension was eventually reduced to one year, it left him with such a bad taste in his mouth that he packed up his wife and moved to Mandeville where things were good as his family expanded with the birth of his daughter Grace Edwards.

But once again, the heart wants what it wants and his heart was with basketball and Old Harbour needed him to come back and do what he did best: work magic both on the court and in the hearts of his students. “When I returned I outlined to them a four-year programme to win a national title because I was looking at the progression to get them to where they wanted to go,” he said. “So I set things in motion from the grass-roots level and put the necessary factors in place to make that happen. Well...we won the national title in my first year back with a star-studded under-16 team and the following year we repeated that feat. Where else you ever heard of nine players from one team getting scholarships one time?” he proudly boasts. “We were unbeaten. Scholarships started to flow left, right and centre and I started to get coaches from overseas coming to Old Harbour High to see what our coaching programme was about because our programme was simply phenomenal.”

His players, he emphasized, were not simply players, they were well-rounded and able to hold their own. Some of players include UFC fighter Randy Brown, professional basketball player Wellesley Butler, dental hygienist Shawna-Gaye Sturridge, US Staff Sergeant Earle Mowatt, US Air Force Trainee Carol ‘Max’ Goode, Dr Demar Fearon, who is a minister of religion in the US; detective Kadeem Earle, and a host of others too many to mention.

“I love to see my former players go on to do great things. My greatest trophies are not in the cabinet or trophy case. My trophies have two legs and breathe oxygen. It’s my players,” said the renowned coach who has endeared himself to the game and youth in his care. “They are my pride and joy,”  added the 43-year-old man of the cloth. 

By 2008 he got a call from the Center Point Church in Cincinnati as they had heard he was the man to talk to about youth empowerment. The parties met and agreed to a few things that has been a win-win for all. “Together we established a basketball camp in July of that year with over 100 participants where they learnt basketball skill set, but also learnt about Jesus Christ,” said Edwards. “The next year we had over 300 participants and it just kept growing. We held sneakers drives for students to be able to have the proper footwear to play basketball. Over the last five years, 1,800 kids have attended the camp, 18 of which got baptized and two received scholarships.”

For Pastor Edwards, witnessing his players spread their wings and fly in pursuit of their dreams is the stuff that puts the brightest smile on his face, as their success is what enriches his life and spur him on to give more of his time, effort and resources. It was therefore hard for him when one of his most promising students was first sidelined and then succumbed to cancer which took his life at just 15 years old. “Kevon Godfrey is a former student/athlete of mine who after receiving a scholarship to Redemption Christian Academy in Massachusetts USA, found out that he had cancer and died a year after,” Edwards said.

Godfrey was a promising talent who possessed the necessary skills, zeal and attitude to make it to the top. But while settling down in the US he started complaining of pains in his body. Edwards said while at practice one day Godfrey collapsed on the court and was rushed to the hospital.

“Tests revealed a lump in his knee. It was cancerous and it was spreading. Doctors advised him and his family and a decision was made to amputate his leg. Some of those around him at the time were acting as if his life was over but I told him not to wallow in self-pity,” he said. “I want to ensure that our children are put in the best situation that will make them flourish. Soon he was dribbling a ball again on the hospital basketball court and shooting hoops to the point that people would come watch as he was still doing well. I had advised him that he could still do Paralympics and go on to do great things with his life. He was fitted with a prosthetic and seemed on the road to mend but sadly it was not meant to be as the cancer came back, this time even more aggressively.”

Godfrey’s passing he said hit everyone hard but Edwards is happy that the young man accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour before passing and had made peace with his personal situation to the point that he was consoling those around him who were distraught. After he passed, Edwards asked that the basketball court at Old Harbour High be re-named in his honour. Additionally, he and his wife started the Kevon Godfrey Basketball Foundation (KGBF) in 2014 which has grown exponentially.

Since its establishment, the KGBF has hosted a thriving basketball academy camp in  partnership with Michael William's of Books and Ball USA, Hasani Stewart from Born Ready team in USA, Herko Family Mission and Center Point Church in Cincinnati, OH, Zach Arington Sport Reach Inc.USA, Benson's Pharmacy, Dr. Orlando Thomas & Thomas Medical Centre, OJ Koolers, Wallace Imperial Wholesale plus the Pasadena Assembly of God in Maryland who have been instrumental in getting stuff done. These dedicated sponsors and supporters have funded the Kevon Godfrey Under-16 Memorial basketball tournament; provided scholarships for needy students and assisted with food package distributions that continued even during the heights of the pandemic with food bought from GraceKennedy. “We do food distribution and serve a hot meal every Monday; there is a back-to-school programme plus mentorship programme and we are presently working on a centre of excellence that will assist youth in the community to have a homework centre with access to the internet and it will also be as place to learn a skill,” he outlined.

Recently Pastor Edwards initiated the Kevon Godfrey Basketball Academy Youth Empowerment programme which consists of an evening virtual talk show held on Zoom geared towards bringing hope and encouragement to youths. “We invite former students to come on to talk about their journey, testimonies, experiences, the various challenges and how they overcame them,” he said. “They share with viewers which comprises of primary, high school and college students, their first-hand experience of what to expect because they’ve been through it. I have players who I have coached and came through the programme who have gone on to be army sergeants, stock brokers, teachers, naval intelligence personnel and even pastors, so the programme does work.”

In 2019 Edwards decided to close one chapter in his life and end his near 20-year career as head coach of Old Harbour High School basketball team. But it didn’t mean he’d stopped mentoring children, because in his eyes no child is bad or a waste of his time. “You do not know their personal struggles. I know how it is to have children who couldn’t read to teach them from scratch and now they are graduating from colleges overseas with bachelors in business,” he said. “I know what it is like to ask my wife to take my salary and provide for students but I do it in such a way that you don’t hand it to them as you never want a child to look down on his father. That is how we share in Christ.”

So the boy from Tivoli did self-actualise and recognise that God has much more for him to do. “The aim of the church is to reach people and I do believe in reaching without preaching. It’s not everybody you can reach from the pulpit. You have to go out there and meet people where you see them. It isn’t something popular but it’s necessary,” he tells Old Harbour News. “Recently I learnt about the impact of sports ministry having attended a seminar in Waco, Texas. It speaks to using sports as a tool to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and it makes a whole lot of sense.

“Many times we say we have ‘good water’ but what if you ketch that water and bring to give it to a man or woman, no strings attached; and out of that you can then offer to share the word?

“It is always easier to share your faith if you already have an established relationship, hence why we believe in and embody the philosophy of ‘reaching without preaching.’ That is what it’s all about.”