Dennis “Den Den” Hutchinson, a legendary schoolboy footballer in the mid to late 1970s, has died.
Hutchinson, who had been ailing with an undisclosed left leg issue for decades, died at the Kingston Public Hospital on Tuesday night. Coincidentally, he only recently had the leg amputated.
Hutchinson came to fame as a leading member of the Tivoli Gardens Comprehensive High School Manning Cup-winning team in 1976. Shortly after lifting the school’s first major title, Hutchinson almost lost his life after being shot in his Maxfield Avenue community.
He has explained that gunmen from his community accosted him and asked how he could come from a PNP (Peoples National Party) area and help a JLP (Jamaica Labour Party) school win the Manning Cup.
He further explained that the bullet entered just below his heart and exited through an arm and the doctor said he survived because of being in good physical condition.
With fear and trepidation, he transferred to Clarendon College the following year and helped the Winston Chung-Fah-coached team to lift the DaCosta Cup title, playing alongside follow schoolboy greats such as Lenworth “Teacher’ Hyde, Wayne Wonder, Donovan “Che” Wray and Oneil Russell.
In later years Den Den Hutchinson served the Tivoli Gardens community as a coach of the basketball team which won the national championships on three occasions in the early to mid-2000s.
The 63-year-old is survived by his common-law wife Sharon Reid and nine children.
