UVI Sports and Fitness Center Named for VI Sports and Community Hero Elridge Blake

The Sports and Fitness Center on the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) Orville E. Kean Campus has been named in honor of Elridge Blake, the Virgin Islander whose extraordinary sports activities and athletics achievements span many years and continents.

The thirty fourth Legislature of the Virgin Islands acted in 2021 to acknowledge and commend Blake for his “excellent accomplishments in sports activities and contributions to the individuals of the Virgin Islands” by naming the power in his honor. Today, mates members of the family, former college students, and public officers gathered to honor Blake on the official ceremony and signal unveiling.

In addition to Blake’s spectacular profession in sports activities, the laws additionally acknowledged his service as “an distinctive civil servant and position mannequin to the youngsters of our neighborhood,” and praised him as an envoy of the territory by means of his sports activities achievements worldwide.

Born into humble beginnings on St. Thomas in 1947, Blake’s educational and athletic prowess was manifested at Charlotte Amalie High School, the place he earned a plethora of awards and recognitions, together with the Student Who Contributed Most to the Community Award.

Blake continued to excel academically and skilled super athletic success in basketball, observe and baseball throughout his faculty profession at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. Drafted by the Chicago Cubs in 1968, he was the primary Virgin Islander to be drafted whereas nonetheless in faculty however handed on attending coaching camp as a way to full his research. He graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Science in Health and Physical Education.

A person of integrity, Blake overcame the lure of taking part in main league baseball, selecting as an alternative to return to St. Thomas and fulfill the duty he felt to those that had supported and believed in him. “My first yr at Fisk was paid for from the cash I borrowed from the Virgin Islands Government. The stipulation on the mortgage was it’s essential to come again house and provides one yr,” he stated.

The excellent athlete and coach as soon as shared his perspective on sports activities in an interview: “Sports is for some time, however training is for a lifetime,” he stated.

From 1974 to 2005, Blake served as a lecturer, teacher and assistant professor of bodily training at UVI, the place he finally earned a Master of Arts in Administration and Supervision in Education in 1989.

“UVI understands and values the intricate synergies of bodily, emotional, religious and mental pursuit in creating well-rounded college students, athletes and residents. Coach Blake’s legacy of pouring into our student-athletes each on and off the courtroom speaks for itself, and this establishment is made richer by his lasting contributions,” stated UVI President Dr. David Hall.

While on the college, Blake was basic in creating UVI’s athletic program. He is credited with beginning the Buccaneers’ athletic program in 1976 with the formation of males’s and girls’s volleyball groups, for which he served as head coach and received native and worldwide tournaments over the course of twenty years. He was additionally an assistant girls’s basketball coach.

His UVI educating profession included educating myriad topics, together with swimming, softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton, racquetball, tennis, bowling, bodily health, observe and area, Calypsocise, stunts, tumbling, desk tennis and different desk video games.

At the naming ceremony, Sen. Dwayne DeGraff, the principle sponsor of Act 8510, stated, “I needed the younger era to know that this can be a historic occasion. Mr. Blake is second to none. I thank my colleagues and Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. for his or her assist of the laws.”

Speaking on behalf of the thirty fourth Legislature, Senate Vice President Novelle Francis,Jr. stated, “It is my hope that every one who see his identify graced on this constructing are impressed to study extra of his historical past and contributions.”

Inspector General of the Small Business Administration and UVI Alumnus Hanibal “Mike” Ware stated, “To sit right here now witnessing the attractive constructing we now have whereas wanting again and giving honor to the unique, is just not solely a testomony to you, chief, however to our beloved establishment. Our management has pushed us into the long run whereas honoring a real hero whereas he’s nonetheless round to obtain the glory.”

“Even although I used to be not one in all his athletes, he has made an impression on my life,” reminisced  Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach.” When you encounter him, you see this individual that believes in health and wellness as a lifestyle, encouraging you a couple of approach to be on this neighborhood and to proceed to contribute to it in each method which you can.” Roach continued, “I’m so honored to have the ability to stand right here and let you know simply how a lot you imply to us and to the neighborhood.”

During his tenure at UVI, Blake created a mentorship program for native excessive schoolers. His neighborhood service prolonged to the British Virgin Islands, the place he held basketball, volleyball and well being clinics in Tortola. In 2001, Blake was inducted into the University of the Virgin Islands Hall of Fame.

The 64,000-square-foot Elridge Wilburn Blake Sports and Fitness Center seats as much as 3,000 individuals and homes lecture rooms and a VIP sky field/public relations space. It is the premier athletic facility of its sort within the Caribbean. The middle has develop into house to UVI’s Paradise Jam, an annual NCAA Division I Basketball event held in November in the course of the Thanksgiving recess.

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