The Life of Mike Simmons: An Ordinary Bajan Boy

MIKE SIMMONS received his elementary education at St. John Baptist and Wesley Hall Boys’ Schools and his secondary education at Harrison College where he studied the Classics, was Deputy Head Boy and Head Prefect.

An outstanding all-round athlete at Harrison College Mike was Division One athletic champion and captain of the First Division Cricket and Soccer teams. He was the only schoolboy and youngest member of the National Soccer team to British Guiana in 1953.

In 1959 Mike was a founding member of Maple Club, the country’s first unisex sports club formed beyond the island’s city boundaries, which were Division Champions in Cricket, Soccer and Netball and was captain and coach of the Club’s soccer team which won the Northern Championship. Mike was also for many years a member of the national senior golf team at the Annual Caribbean Golf Championships.

Mike excelled as a sports administrator who served on several national and international sports organizations.

Mike graduated from Gibson and Weldon Law School, Guilford, Essex and after successfully completing his Final Solicitors Examinations with The Law Society of England, in 1959 he was admitted to practice in the Law Courts of Barbados and in 1960 became the first black partner of a white law firm in Barbados.

Beset with unending problems of a drug addicted son, he ran into serious financial difficulty causing him to abandon his legal profession following which he emigrated to the United States, graduated from Professional Golf School and in 2004 founded Mike Simmons Golf School, then the first black owned in Florida, which has attracted students from every region of the world.

Mike founded the Miami Disabled Veterans’ Golf Association, which won the 2019 Florida PGA Disabled Veterans Golf For Hope inaugural regional golf tournament, and the Miami Ladies Golf Association.

Mike is the recipient of numerous awards for his service and contribution to myriad Associations both national and international. Mike enjoys politics, reading, especially biographies, listening to jazz music, playing golf, watching sports events and maintaining contact with his contemporaries and mentees.

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Rafbók: 2 december 2024