Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

168 and Commonwealth Games in Canada, and in Wales, in 1954 and 1958 respectively. He took part in three Olympic Games (1948, 1952, 1956), winning the first ever medal for Trinidad and Tobago when he was second in London, England in 1948. Wilkes won a bronze medal at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 and placed fourth at the Melbourne Games, plagued by a slipped disc. He retired at the age of 35 in 1960. • 1972 Humming Bird Gold Medal DWIGHT E. YORKE (1971- ) F rom his early days as a forward or as a mid fielder, a hungry-for- goals teenager at Signal Hill Secondary School in Tobago to his last professional playing days at Sunderland in England, Yorke has had a star-studded career scoring many goals for the teams he played with: Aston Villa (England), 1989-1998; Manchester United (England), 1998-2002; Blackburn Rovers (England), 2002-2004 ; Birmingham City (England), 2004-2005; Sydney (Australia), 2005-2006; Sunderland (England), 2006-2009…and of course Trinidad and Tobago from 1989 to 2010. During his 9 years with the Villa, he made 231 appearances and scored 97 goals. He was the club’s top-scorer in the 1994-95, 1995-96, and 1996-97 seasons. He also won the Player of the Year award for the 1996-97 season.  He then switched to Manchester United in August 1998 and they won the Football Association (FA) Premier League for the 1998-99 and the next two consecutive seasons. He emerged as the top league goal scorer for the 1998-1999 season. The team also won the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League, the FA Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Super Cup runner-up title in 1999. His great performances earned him the English Premier League winner’s medal for the 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2000-01 seasons. He scored 64 goals for Manchester United in 188 appearances. He won the English Premier League Golden Boot Award for scoring 18 goals in the 1998-99 season. Then it was onto Blackburn Rovers, where he spent two years rejoining his old United strike partner, Andy