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Without question, Jeff ranks among Jamaica's most successful schoolboy athletes of all time.
Though he spent a good portion of his Primary and High School years in Falmouth, Jeff is better known in the St. James and Montego-Bay circles due mostly to the large fan base
of Cornwall College alumni and supporters.
His athletic accomplishments are virtually unknown in his home Parish, but not to those of us who were fortunate to be close enough to him as his legend unfolded
before our very eyes. I only wished that more of us in Trelawny and Falmouth were able to witness this accomplished and amazing athlete in action.
Jeff not only represented Cornwall in Football (Soccer), Cricket, Track & Field, Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis and Hockey, but he was
among the best in the country in many of those sports. He received 'school colours' (recognition of excellence) in each sport he played, the most ever by a Cornwallian.
Jeff lecturing the youngsters at Cornwall
His most significant accomplish- ments were in Cricket and Track & Field, but he was no journeyman in Table Tennis or any of the other sports either.
Jeff, a superb "pace bowler", was on Cornwall's Headley Cup championship cricket team that later went on to beat the Sunlight Cup
champions, St. Jago, for the national championship Spalding Cup. He was good enough to represent Jamaica
in schoolboy cricket with the likes of Michael Holding, Jeffrey Dujon, and Jeffrey Mordecai, to name a few. Remember, Holding and Dujon later
went on to play for the West Indies.
Jeff (left), 1982-83.
Pontiac Silverdome
This prolific athlete, an all-DaCosta Cup selection, also represented Jamaica in football when he was called in 1972 and '73 to the
Jamaica Juvenile squad, thereby making Cornwall the only high school in history to ever represent Jamaica at three different sports (cricket, football and track & field) .... compliments of Jeff McLeod.
In Track and Field, he was best at the 400meters and Long Jump, and he provided many thrilling performances at
"Western Champs" and "Boys Champs" in Kingston, culminating his high school career with a thrilling close second place finish to KC's Noel Gray
in the anchor leg of the mile (400meters) relay finals where he clocked a 46.9 seconds for that leg. That
year was Cornwall's best ever finish (ie. 3rd) at Champs. Jeff held school records in the 200m, 400m and 800m, the latter in a time of 153.4 seconds.
His Long Jump mark was 23.6 feet. He was fairly good in the distance races as well and placed in the top three or four in the cross-country events.
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Jeff (front) - Boys' Champs, 1973
Jeff was also a member of the Cornwall contingent that participated in the 1973 Penn Relays in Philadelphia.
He later went on to pursue his academic studies at the University of Michigan on a "Track Scholarship",
where he just missed the Olympic qualifing time in the 400m by 0.01 second, that's how close
he came to adding another notch on his list of accomplishments.
I'm proud to say that he was "my captain" on Cornwall's Table Tennis team in 1972, and "my team-mate" the following year when we were both
members of the first team in the schools history to hold the Henriques Shield championship in Field Hockey.
Jeff's worst athletic event ? ... definitely swimming ! In the water, Jeff was just a big chunk of lead. He was no "Johnny Weismueller" (ie. Tarzan & Olympic champion), and at no point was he
ever in danger of making the swim team at Cornwall.
I remember when the entire boarding house would go to Doctor's Cave beach on the weekends and Jeff would be either be playing in the sand or
go out to no deeper than knee-high water while the rest of us were splashing and jumping off the diving board and off the jetty.
Jeff - deep sea diving...NOT !
To this day Jeff contends "i was protecting the girls who were scared to go into the deep", but I know better...the only thing he was protecting was the sand for there were no girls at the beach that early in the morning.
But hey, he's not the only Falmouthian who can't swim. His parents would spank him if he ventured anywhere near "sea-tank" or "wharf-head", and there is no question in my mind that that is what kept him from
setting more records at Cornwall.
By the way, Jeff is no dummy either, he is the true embodiment of the term "student-athlete".
He participated in all these sports while others studied, yet he was successful in his GCE O & A-level examinations, and wore the title
of "Deputy Headboy" and "Mr. Cornwallian" before he left high school, and he is now a practising attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Jeff is a perfect example of someone who is not only talented, but has taken full advantage of his skills and all the opportunities that were available to him. How many of us can say that for ourselves?
I have come across a few people who are arguably just as talented as Jeff in some areas, and some even more so, but for whatever reason they have not accomplished nearly half as much as this larger than life, living legend and inspiration, Jeffrey R. Mcleod, Esq.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it, so sue me.
author: --
C. Paul Earle (eyewitness)
June 2003
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Jeffrey R. McLeod, is a third generation Cornwallian, his grandfather, Daniel L. Mcleod and his father, John R.
Mcleod as well as his two brothers Glenford and John all graduated from Cornwall.
While at Cornwall Jeff made quite a name for himself as a student, sportsman and leader. He continued that Cornwall
tradition of the scholar athlete. He was the deputy-head boy and Mr. Cornwallian in his final year. He received several awards for
being an outstanding sportsman as well as a fine student being successful at both O'levels and A'levels.
He was awarded school colours for outstanding performances in Cricket, football, track and field, field hockey, table tennis
and lawn tennis, most ever. He captained the table tennis and track teams and was a vice captain for football. He also led Cornwall to
two all island championships in cricket and hockey. But for the untimely suspension of the 1972 DaCosta cup, due to fan violence, he may
have had a third, at the time Cornwall was undefeated and ranked number one and he was the leading goal scorer in the island,
having scored 24 goals in 8 D-cup matches and 4 practice matches.
His 6 wickets for 11 runs against St. Jago in the national championship cricket
match in 1972 is still a record, until this year 2003. Then, he and team mate, now Dr. Carl Jones, bowling unchanged, routed the favored
St. Jago for then and still a record low, 32 runs. Thus bringing Cornwall their only national cricket title.
Jeff's most remarkable achievement while at Cornwall is no doubt the fact that to date, he is the only person to have
been selected to represented jamaica in three different sports while still in high school; cricket, football, and track and field.
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