Dwight Yorke, The Smiling Assassin

If you grew up in the Caribbean and once had dreams of being a professional footballer, then he was surely one of your childhood idols. Dwight Yorke, affectionately known to many football fans as "The Smiling Assassin," is now nearing the end of his football career. Due to the recent poor performance of the Trinidad and Tobago national football team, the hopes of qualification for South Africa 2010 are almost dead. It also means the end of the road for Yorke, whose career has reached the better part of two decades. He can still hold his head high, however, as football fans around the world will not soon forget the illustrious journey of this small island boy from Tobago, who managed to climb to the pinnacle of the footballing world and become the star striker of Manchester United. For those of us who have forgotten, or never knew in the first place, here is a brief recap of his career.

Born Nov 3rd, 1971
Scouted in 1988 by Aston Villa (who luckily were vacationing in Tobago)
Top scorer for Aston Villa 94-95 season, 96-97 season,
Player of the Year 96-97
Joined Manchester United for 12.6 million pounds.
Top Scorer for Manchester United 98-99 season
Won the treble with Manchester United 98-99
Joined Blackburn Rovers in 2002
Joined Birmingham City in 2004
Joined Syndney FC in 2005
Joined Sunderland in 2006
Captained Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup in Germany 2006

As for myself, I have met Dwight twice in my life. And both times, I was filled with nothing but admiration. Scouted when he was only 17 years old. At 17 I was worried about homework assignments for my grade 12 English class. He was worried about facing the best players in the world.
When I was younger, my football team went to Tobago and had the pleasure of meeting his old high school coach, Bertile St. Clair. When asked of Dwight Yorke, he told us, "Dwight was the hardest worker I have ever seen. When he was a teenager, he used to practice corner kicks everyday for hours at a time. He would kick the ball, have to run it down himself and take it back to the corner flag. He did this hundreds of times everyday. Hundreds. That is how hard he worked to get where he is now."