BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Aug. 22, 2019– The sports desk was thrilled this morning with a visit behind the Zinc Fence of our Charger teammate from the 1975-76 football season in Belize City. One of the great young talents that flashed across the Belize football scene, only to quickly join the northern exodus, Michael “Suffudge” Rushford was a sensational counter-attacking defender on that exciting Charger team that finished third, while Suffudge was chosen the MVP in that 1975-76 season, which was won by back-to-back champions, Berger 404. Growing up at the corner of Central American Boulevard and Vernon Street, we asked why he hadn’t joined the guys from the Lake. Suffudge said he used to sometimes participate in practice sessions with the Berger 404 squad, but “I didn’t want to join that team, because I felt I would spend a lot of time on the bench; and I wanted to play.”
Like Charger’s “big striker,” the great Harry Cadle, Suffudge was also not around for the following 1976-77 season, having migrated to the U.S. “I was just a postman at the Post Office Department, with only a high school diploma from Wesley College,” recalls ‘Fudge, “and I decided to try and seek an opportunity for advancement in the U.S.”
Now in his eighteenth year as a high school math teacher in New York, Suffudge has no regrets for making the move that he did, but is happy to be back home to spend a couple weeks’ vacation with friends and family and taking care of some family business.
Welcome home, brother, and do enjoy your stay in the Jewel.