Neighbor News
Pro Athlete Among Goombay Attendees
Grant Tinker is one of several pro athletes from relatively small Coconut Grove who made it to the pros.
Coconut Grove, Fla. -- Pro athlete Gerald Tinker sat unassumingly outside of the Coconut Grove Sports Hall of Fame Museum while hundreds of Goombay goers on Saturday unknowingly paraded past him.
The versatile Tinker won a meter relay team gold medal in the 1972 Olympics in Munich. He was next drafted by the Atlanta Falcons before signing on as a Green Bay Packers free agent.
Coconut Grove's 20,000 inhabitants represent a segment of Miami's 449,000. Tinker is nevertheless one of several natives of the waterfront enclave who graduated Coral Gables High School and went on to the Olympics and pro sports.
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The Sports Hall of Fame Museum, founded by college basketball player and coach Anthony Witherspoon, displays images and stories related to them as well as pro athletes produced by high schools elsewhere in Miami.
Grove natives in addition to Tinker include NFL players Frank Gore Sr. (San Francisco 49ers, Buffalo Bills, NY Jets), Frank Gore Jr, a free agent with the Buffalo Bills; Johnny Holton (NY Giants and Pittsburgh Steelers) and Neal Colzie (Oakland raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Miami Dolphins).
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Goombay, held Friday through Sunday, each year celebrates the Bahamian heritage of some of Coconut Grove's earliest residents.
The Sports Hall of Fame Museum is located at 3634 Grand Ave. in the Grove's Little Bahamas section. For information: awgrovehalloffame@gmail.com.