A dedicated softball coach who trained champions was known for his patience and easygoing way with young people, as well as devotion to his family and community.

Quinton “Tiny” Ming was “not judgmental on people — whoever you were, he would try to work with you”, his son Quinton Ming Jr recalled.

Congenial and well known across the island, Mr Ming was fond of bringing newspapers to people around the neighbourhood and teaching youngsters of the area to swim off the rocks at their home on North Shore.

As coach to the softball teams the Diamondettes, PCC Royals and the Eaglettes, Mr Ming was a mentor who produced top players, sometimes training young people who had never picked up a bat before.

Fellow coach Winston JR Jones said Mr Ming “trained a lot of people for overseas commitments — and by coaching the Diamondettes, a lot of players made the national team”.

A nimble softball player, Mr Ming was among trainers for the legendary women’s team dubbed the Big Blue Machine in the 1960s and 1970s.

His small stature and speed also made him a formidable striker in his footballing days.

Mr Jones added: “He was small in stature but very influential.

“Players loved him. He was friendly, kind and outgoing. Just an ordinary guy who you could approach without a thought.”

A sports lover, Mr Ming played football in his youth for the Dock Hill Rangers, Devonshire Lions and Key West, and was a follower of North Village and Devonshire Cougars, as well as a fan of the English Premiership team Chelsea.

His nickname “Tiny” came from his size at birth. According to family lore, he was small enough to fit in a shoebox.

He grew up attending Heard Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Pembroke, where he served in a string of roles.

Mr Ming taught Sunday school, and served on the church’s board of trustees and in Christian education as well as Sons of Allen, the Missionary Society, the Prison Ministry team — and a transportation ministry that would collect seniors and neighbourhood children for church.

He and his wife, Joan, marked 60 years of marriage in June.

The couple had five children: Debrina, Quinton, Earl, Shawn and Craig.

Quinton Jr gave special thanks to Cyril Steede, formerly coached in football by his father, who took him to see games on Saturdays before his illness.

He also thanked his father’s bible studies teacher, Glen Bascome, with whom he attended church services.

• Quinton John Augustus “Tiny” Ming, a popular softball coach and devotee of Heard Chapel AME, was born on September 26, 1936. He died on November 13, 2022, aged 86.