(EDITOR’S NOTE: Living in Washington, D.C., I routinely keep up-to-date on news developments in The Bahamas by reading online editions of both The Tribune and the Nassau Guardian, the two major daily newspapers published in Nassau. Over the recent Christmas holiday season, renowned Bahamian golfer Jim “Jungle” Duncombe, a very good friend of mine from boyhood days, died. I only found out about Jim’s death this morning (January 16) while doing some research through the archives of The Tribune for information for a commentary I plan to write when I ran across this article on Jim’s death written by Brent Stubbs, The Tribune’s Senior Sports Reporter, and published on Tuesday, December 29, 2020. I thought I would share it with readers of BAHAMAS CHRONICLE who were not aware of the death of this Bahamian sports legend.)
SINCE the age of three in 1985, Jameica Duncombe said golf was all she knew, as her father, the late Jim “Jungle” Duncombe, introduced her to the sport and she went on to become the country’s top female player.
On Sunday, through her profession as a critical care nurse after officially retiring from the sport, the married mother of a son was able to help her National Sports Hall of Fame father to enjoy his final days before he passed away on Sunday at the Cleveland Clinic in Port St Lucia, Florida.
Duncombe, 77, died of prostrate cancer, but his 38-year-old daughter said the memories they shared will linger on forever.
“It was my after school activity,” said Duncombe of her introduction to the sport by her father. “Instead of having a baby sitter, the golf course was my baby sitter. I spent all of my time that I could remember as a child on the golf course. I don’t have any memories of doing anything else other than playing golf.”
As the only child born to Jim and Lolita Ritchie, Jameica was the only one of Duncombe’s 11 other children who participated in the sport, following in the footsteps of her famed father.
“Even though I am not into golf as I used to be, at least tournaments and stuff, I had a good career, especially during my time in high school (at Saddlebrook Academy in Tampa) and in college (at the University of South Florida),” Jameica said.
“Those were my best years. I travelled the most those times and I had better performances during those times, especially because my dad was always there. He was my gold coach and he travelled to a lot of the tournaments like the Hoerman Cup (Caribbean Amateur Golf Championship) because he was the team coach. So if anything happened with my swing, he was able to correct it.” See complete Tribune story at http://www.tribune242.com/news/2020/dec/29/jim-jungle-duncombe-passes-away-77/
