Special to the Tribune-Star
TERRE HAUTE —
The Debs Foundation will honor Bobby Duval for his public service and humanitarianism at the annual Debs Award Banquet on Oct. 2. This year’s Debs Award recipient is being recognized for his human rights work in Haiti, although his political activism is also part of the picture.
As regards his political activism, he spent 17 months in prison for speaking out against the excesses of the Duvalier dictatorship. He was starved and tortured, and saw hundreds of fellow activists die there, some beaten to death in front of him.
Duval is the son of Haiti’s Creole elites, a prominent automotive family. He became a soccer star, leading Montreal’s Loyola University to a championship in the early 1970s. After graduation, he returned to Haiti and was a star on Haiti’s popular Violette soccer team. That playing role ended abruptly in 1976 when he was jailed for his political activism.
After release from prison, he returned to the Violette Club as club president. By this time, he had a son whom he wanted to have the opportunity to learn soccer. He saw that the majority of Haitian children were being left on their own to learn soccer.
This is when Duval took on the role of human rights activist by providing a training facility where children can learn soccer and basketball. The owners of an unused field were persuaded to allow Duval to clean up the 15-acre field and build two basketball courts and an outdoor lunchroom where the children can eat, this in addition to the soccer field. At Duval’s training camp, everything is free — soccer gear and the hot meal the players get after practice — and Duval also pays their school fees and medical bills.
The destructive earthquake which struck Port-au-Prince recently has thrust Duval into the international spotlight. Being near the airport and a piece of level ground not littered with debris, the training facility was converted to a tent city where thousands of the homeless could be fed and provided tent shelters. Duval used his multilingual skills to interpret for aid workers and for network news, especially CNN. Duval’s services facilitated the spread of news of the plight of the earthquake victims around the world and encouraged international relief efforts.
The schedule of events is as follows: 1 to 4:30 p.m., Debs Home Open; 6 p.m., social hour and reception (cash bar), Hulman Center (enter west doors); 7 p.m., banquet honoring Bobby Duval. The fall business meeting will be 9 a.m. Oct. 3 at the Debs Home, 451 N. Eighth St. The new parking garage across from Hulman Center is now open and accessible from Cherry Street. The parking fee is $1 per hour. A free lot is directly east of Hulman Center, and another is the large lot south of the Debs Home.
Dinner tickets are $35 each; a table of eight is $245; students half price. Tickets must be paid for in advance; make checks payable to the Debs Foundation, P.O. Box 9454, Terre Haute, IN 47808. Indicate the kind of ticket desired for the dinner.
Inquiries may be directed to Charles King at cking6@indstate.edu or (812) 237-3443.
