On Thursday, Jamaican footballer Miguel Blair who had fallen on hard times since his heyday in the 1970s, became  the beneficiary of a project initiated by Michael Tulloch, another former national representative and his Unsung Ones Foundation.

During the 1970s, Blair, who played for Santos, was considered to be among the leading players of that era like Allan ‘Skill’ Cole, Peter ‘Dove’ Marston, Derrick ‘Shastri’ Denniser and Herbert ‘Diego’ Gordon.

However, while others enjoyed better fortunes after their playing careers ended, Blair fell on hard times and was living in squalor in an open lot.

That open lot eventually became his permanent home following the completion of the three-year project on Thursday.

Tulloch, a feared striker in his time, had high praises for the efforts from the government through the Sports Development Foundation (SDF), Food for the Poor, Bert’s Auto and members of his organization including Allan “Skill” Cole, Charlie Chaplin, Neville Oxford and Bev Melbourne.

“Miguel is elated and that’s what’s important,” Tulloch pointed out.

“I just want to thank everyone involved. The Ministry of Sports through SDF and Mr Denzil Wilks provided the funds to get the trucks and the tractors to clean up the land. Bert’s and Food for the Poor all did a tremendous job.”

Wilks, General Manager of SDF, outlined that they have been providing care packages to Blair and collaborated with the Sports ministry, his family and the Vere Technical High School past students in making him as comfortable as possible.

“We also provided the Justice of the Peace to verify his living conditions then we sent off the information to the Food for the Poor.

“The Ministry also made contact with his sister, Pauline Blair, in regards to the house title and we are aware that the Vere Technical Past Students assisted in paying off the taxes so that the land would be available.”

Members of the Bert’s Auto team were on hand to help complete the project and Marketing Officer Waynette Strachan, said joining the cause was a no-brainer.

“It’s a one-day construction so we intend to hand over today (Thursday) and at the end of the day Mr. Blair would be in a new structure of a two-and-a-half bedroom,” said Strachan.

“With the new design that Food for the Poor has, there is a septic tank, a water tank, two solar panels that power the light bulbs. He also gets three double beds, kitchen and bathroom.

“He used to live in a shack before and his story was carried in 2018 so when Bert’s reached out to Food for the Poor saying that we wanted to donate a house to somebody and when they brought this to our attention it was a no brainer.”

Food for the Poor’s Development and Marketing Manager Marsha Burrell-Rose, was also on-site.

“We are here with the Bert’s team, they are the donors for this house and when it came to us, Bert’s wanted to assist somebody with the house and since they are close by we decided to align the two together,” said Burrell-Rose.

“If you see where Mr. Blair is coming from in terms of where he is currently living; and so we are very excited to just see the difference that this house is going to make.”