Jeffrey Baxter Stollmeyer (11 March 1921 – 10 September 1989) was a
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...
cricketer
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
who played as an opening batsman. He played 32
Test matches for the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...
, captaining 13 of these. He was also a
senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the e ...
.
Cricket career
Stollmeyer was born in
Santa Cruz,
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...
. Described as "Tall and graceful with a good range of strokes marked especially by the drive" by ''
Wisden
''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "bible of cricket" was first used in the 1930s by Alec Waugh in a ...
'', he played in his first Test at the age of eighteen and made a 59 in his debut innings at
Lord's. He also had a famous opening partnership alongside Jamaican batsman
Allan Rae with the duo averaging a lofty 71 in their 13 tests as a pair. Stollmeyer gained the captaincy during the 1951/2 tour of
Australia after
John Goddard stood down in that series. He retained the captaincy during the West Indies' next three series, all of which were played at home.
Later life
After his playing career, Stollmeyer had a long and distinguished career in cricket administration. He served as President of the
West Indies Board of Control from 1974 until 1981, a tenure distinguished by his opposition to
Kerry Packer
Kerry Francis Bullmore Packer (17 December 1937 – 26 December 2005) was an Australian media tycoon, and was considered one of Australia's most powerful media proprietors of the twentieth century. The Packer family company owned a controlling ...
's
World Series Cricket. In 1979 he was awarded Trinidad and Tobago's
Chaconia Medal (Gold). Stollmeyer released his autobiography ''Everything Under the Sun'' in 1983.
In June 1988 Stollmeyer was celebrated on the $2.50 Trinidad and Tobago stamp alongside the
Barbados Cricket Buckle.
Stollmeyer died in a hospital in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...
,
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...
, after suffering wounds from home invaders in his home in Port-of-Spain.
Family
Stollmeyer's older brother
Vic
Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense): ...
also played Test cricket for the West Indies while another brother,
Hugh was one of Trinidad's great painters who influenced the Caribbean art movement. Stollmeyer's nephew
John is a former
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who played 31 games for the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
.
See also
*
List of cricketers who were murdered
This is a chronological list of cricketers who were murdered. These cricketers played in first-class cricket, List A, or at a similar level. This list does not include those who were killed in wars. They are listed separately at List of cricketer ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stollmeyer, Jeff
1921 births
1989 deaths
Trinidad and Tobago cricketers
Trinidad and Tobago people of American descent
West Indies Test cricketers
West Indies Test cricket captains
Recipients of the Chaconia Medal
Male murder victims
Trinidad and Tobago murder victims