There was a real sprint culture in Toronto/Scarborough back in the day, and I must say that much of it was due to the Caribbeans.
It went back a long way. There were even competitions held among laborers in the universe of small factory units in Scarborough. One guy who used to work sanitation at a spice plant, who was in his 40's in the early 80's, was a former Caribbean great, I remember he was still fast in his late 40's.
The talent pool was really deep, but lots of guys got, shall we say, sidetracked. Later on a whole bunch started going to US schools, where it often didn't work out for them for one reason or another.
I remember running against so many fast guys who, once they saw someone faster, essentially quit--which was a stupid thing to do, when you're still developing. Of course sometimes those faster guys would end up WR-holders, etc., but still, lots of guys disappeared who were right on the cusp.
Take Bailey, for instance. He was great, GREAT--I remember running against him BEFORE he became serious, and thinking to myself "WTF is that?!" IIRC he was the only guy I couldn't catch on a relay anchor, and it left me greatly disturbed. To this day I remember the relay, and I'm pretty sure it was him on anchor I was running against. We had never lost a relay to that point. I got the baton behind him, and I didn't make up any ground. I was traumatized!
But even he had to come out of "just hanging around" and not taking things seriously. He was a basic 10.1x/10.2x, just driving around town like everybody else. There were, and still are, other guys like him around--well, maybe not exactly like him, but you get the picture. When we were kids, everybody ran, so the competition was really deep.
Those were the days. The Optimist thing...there were lots of kids who were plenty fast in the schools, but weren't in the club for one reason or another--maybe it cost too much, or maybe the parents didn't care, or maybe they had no good transportation, or maybe they were too busy rolling Dickie-Dee's in Malvern.
Ben was around the corner, so to speak. Even now, Warner is keeping the representation going. That place is a hotbed of talent. If someone seriously wanted to make a go of a sprint club in a more-or-less civilized environment, that place would be a good pick.
Yes, it is a hotbed of crime and drugs, too, and often violence. Not like the south side of Chicago or anything like that, but there is an undercurrent everywhere, including obviously back in the day, in the Optimist club.
If there are any kids from there reading this, I would tell them to keep at it. Everybody develops at different rates, you never know when your time will come. Enjoy the meets in school, if you still have them. Lots of you guys are great, you just don't know it yet, and nobody's sharp enough to spot it. If you go to a US school, just keep your head down and study and train, don't get caught up in the rampant Americana. Don't forget who you are, where you are from, and where your parents are from. Go home as often as you can.
And stay away from the ganja and the juice.