3 weeks ago
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Double Olympic medallist and former government minister Wendell Mottley will receive Yale University’s highest honour, the George HW Bush ’48 Lifetime of Leadership Award.
Mottley will be one of five past Yale athletes recognised at the Blue Leadership Ball on November 21 at the Schwarzman Center. The other recipients are lacrosse player Keith Flaherty, lacrosse and field hockey athlete Lorraine Pratte Lewis, lacrosse and football player Margot Putukian, and footballer Victor Staffieri.
A standout middle-distance sprinter, Mottley captained the Yale men’s track and field team in his senior year, setting indoor world records in the 400-yard, 500-yard, and 600-yard events. He won the Ivy League title in the outdoor 440-yard/400-metre run three times and the indoor 600-yard/500-metre run twice. His personal best of 45.2 seconds remains the Ivy League record for the 440-yard/400-metre distance, and he still holds Yale’s record in the 600-yard/500-metre event.
Representing T&T at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, he won silver in the 400 metres and bronze in the 4×400-metre relay.
After earning an economics degree at Yale and a master’s at Cambridge, Mottley worked in London before returning home. He served as a Senator from 1981–86, later entering the House of Representatives (1992–95) and holding ministerial posts including Housing and Resettlement, Industry and Commerce, Finance, and Tourism. In 1993, he founded the Civilian Conservation Corps to support marginalised youth.
In 2018, he received the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for his outstanding contribution to national development and public service.
Reacting to Yale’s recognition, Mottley told the T&T Guardian: “This honour gives me a feeling of fulfilment as my professional careers end. I treasure and have always maintained my Yale connections. But Yale was built on my Trinidad QRC foundations, and I am glad I was able to put all this learning and experience into good use in the service of my beloved T&T.”
English (US) ·