President George Weah Thursday, November 25, visit at his former high school, Well Hairston apparently brought back to him fresh memories of his early football career, when he affixed his signature on his boot used at the institution in the ’80s.
The former African, European, and World Best Player facial expression could explain exactly a remarkable memory of his days as one of the top scorers of the institution, which he said played a contributing role to his current status.
His appearance at Wells Hairston gave him a historic and reflective moment of his campus life, when he asked about a cook food seller, who once used to save the day for him and other emerging footballers, who had little or nothing to eat, before leaving for practices or games.
Though on a specific mission to dedicate refurbished structures, at the school the Chief Patron of Sports and President of Liberia, penned down his signature on one of his football boots that were long kept by the institution amidst several civil unrests in the country.
Weah himself alluded to it that the boot was exactly what he used to set the gradual stage for his remarkable footballing career which subsequently brought him to prominence and at the world stage.
The 1995 former World Player of the Year was one of the outstanding players at Wells Hairston, an institution known during his days for its exceptional footballing performance (Wells Hairston High School) in the competitive Inter-High School Sports Association league in Liberia.
“It is an emotional moment for me and I am shocked to see this, I am grateful,” President Weah told instructors at his former high school situated at Mechlin Street in Monrovia.
The Liberian Leader had gone to his Alma Mater to dedicate a project which he undertook as a way of giving back to his former school when he got reminded about his solid background or foundation and his passion, football by his former teacher.
Retrospecting on his school days at Wells Hairston High School, President Weah said the school was good to him, even though his days at the institution were mixed with good and bad memories.
“I was dropped from the school’s scholarship because I refused to go to the United States of America when I had the offer due to my excellence on the pitch but I later returned to pay my own school fees, thanks to Archie Bonard who helped me out and I again begin to play for the school and I played very well and won games for them even though I was not on their scholarship“, President Weah told the gathering.
Explaining how he got the opportunity to attend one of the best schools at the time, President Weah narrated, that it was due to his brilliant performance against Wells Hairston, while still at the Muslim Congress High School that later got him a scholarship to enroll at the school.
Using his story to encourage the students, President Weah told them that his refusal then to go to the United States of America was a difficult one to make, but he said his dream then was to go to Europe and be like King Pelle, something he later achieved with passion and determination, evidence of being one of the best players on the planet.
“It is always good to know what you want and be focused, determined, resilient, committed, and once you go for it, you will surely succeed “, the Liberian Leader motivated current students at Wells Hairston High School.
Narrating further to the gathering, the Principal of Wells Hairston High School Marcus Williams said President Weah played his last game for the school in 1987 against Haywood Mission School and they won the match which he (Weah) was exceptional and after the game, the celebrations amongst the students were so high that he (Weah) and two of his colleagues could not stand and they managed to leave the campus and it was in the process that he was fortunate to get his (Weah’s playing ) shoes.
“I kept it since that time and I knew one day that I will have the time and opportunity to remind him and today is the historic day”, he added.
He said: “The school only wants his signature on the boot and I will be kept in their gallery for future purposes.”
The black and white ADIDAS Boot with about fourteen teeth not fence like present footballing shoes, left an indelible print in the sector due to the exceptional performance of Weah, now President, as history continues to acknowledge to him as the only African to win the world.
