As one of the 14 individuals who will be inducted into the Grand Bahama Sports Hall of Fame, at a formal awards banquet at the Westin at Our Lucaya on May 17, Basil Neymour is being honored primarily for his contributions to track and field.

That's no doubt because he has been an outstanding contributor to this sport over the years and indeed has his own track club, Neymour Athletics. But the committee responsible for recommending him for this honor actually had multiple choices on which to base their decision, each of which qualified him for elevation to the GB Sports Hall of Fame.

Indeed, it is fair to say that Neymour, president of Neymour Construction Company, has poured more of his personal finances into the development of sports and young people than any other one person in this country. He has assisted swimmers, basketball players, softball players, tennis players; whatever the sport was and there was a young person in need of financial help, he has responded generously.

What's more, his generosity extends beyond helping individuals. He picked up the bulk of the tab for the hosting of the 2004 CARIFTA games in The Bahamas, and has sponsored track athletes to CARIFTA every year for the past several years. He also paid for a contingent of 20 to travel to the World Games in Osaka, Japan, in 2007, the year Donald Thomas made The Bahamas proud, winning his first gold medal in the high jump.

"I was happy to have been there to watch history in the making," Neymour said in his overview of the World Games when he returned home. "To see The Bahamas stand on the stage at an event like that gives you a good feeling. It's what makes it easy to give out your resources to see young athletes like Donald and others achieve something on such a high level."

The athletic accomplishment that Neymour is proudest of, however, came when Grand Bahamians Andre Williams and Michael Matthieu helped The Bahamas men's team win a silver medal in the World Games. It was a special moment for Neymour because both Williams and Matthieu got their track start at Neymour's track club. In fact, it was Neymour who convinced the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Association that the two youngsters would one day make The Bahamas proud.

"They made me proud because I was the only one who believed in them," Neymour said. "I knew what they were capable of, and I knew they were going to be special some day. No one believed me, but I knew."

Today, whenever Neymour gets a chance to speak to young people about having big dreams and believing in themselves, he mentions the success story of Williams and Matthieu.

Recently, Neymour has focused more on the younger athletes than the seniors. He says he wants to build a stronger foundation so that when the younger ones do become senior athletes, they would have already had a strong foundation of proper training, discipline and respect for others that would follow them through their senior years.

Because of his many contributions to sports, there are those who have been advocating for the GB Sports Complex to be named after him. Like his elevation to the GB Sports Hall of Fame, he is more than deserving of such an honor. Indeed, from a national perspective, he most certainly deserves consideration to be nominated for a knighthood. To be sure, he has made far greater contributions to this country than many of the politicians who have been knighted for "service to the people".