An icon of the bodybuilding world passed away this Sunday, leaving behind a community in mourning.
Bodybuilder Kingsley Poitier, who won the Mr. World title in 1965, passed away last Sunday in his home. Poitier was world-renowned bodybuilder who was also the first Bahamian to win the title of Mr. World. He was inducted into the Bahamas National Hall of Fame in 2003 in recognition of his efforts to promote fitness in The Bahamas and abroad.
“Poitier was…the ultimate purveyor of physical intelligence, exhibiting an amazing symmetry of body that stoked the meta- physical pleasure-centers of bodybuilding enthusiasts the world over,” reads a quick biography from the Bahamas Hall of Fame website. “Hie success was due as much to the ingenuity he utilized in his training as it was to his prolific work ethic.”
Those who knew Poitier remember him as a humble champion. Despite his incredible athletic talents, he never developed the god complex that many successful bodybuilders are afflicted with — his friends considered him a gentle and thoughtful spirit.
“Kingsley was a very quiet and soft spoken individual. Here again is another perfect example of the type of ‘sports power’ that we possess but really don’t have a true appreciation of our performances on the global or even the local stage for that matter. Imagine, a Mr. World (champion) in the 60’s and many of us don’t even know of his existence,” said Mike Sands, the president of the North American, Central American, and Caribbean (NACAC) bodybuilding association.
