Jerome Campbell said his brother, a talented footballer in his youth, could have been as good as Shawn Goater, but threw it all away on alcohol and drugs.

Cleveland (Clevie) Campbell was found dead at a Hamilton construction site on Sunday, a sad end to a life which spiralled out of control as Campbell found comfort living on the streets while getting high or drinking booze.

Jerome saw his brother the day before he learned of his death and made one last plea for him to get his life straightened out.

“I said to him ‘our lives are getting short'. There has to come a time in your life when you have to shake this thing off and do something for yourself,” he said. “Those were the last words I said to him.”

A day earlier Jerome took his 11-year-old son, Tevin, to see his uncle. “I tried to tell him the different things that drugs can do. They can take hold of you. My son asked me where his uncle lived. I said ‘where you see him standing on the street' - that's where he lives.”

He said he often expected to get the call he finally got on Sunday morning.

“But not that soon, it's a shame,” he said.

Jerome said his brother “liked the street life all his life” but could have been one of the best midfielders in Bermuda history.

“He was one of those players that was strong with both feet ... some professional guys today can't do that,” he said.

He said he could have been as good as Shawn Goater but “wasted the talent he had”. Jerome said few people realised that his brother spent two years training to be a Minister in the early 1980s.

“He studied an Orthodox Ethiopian religion ... my brother knew the Bible back to front,” he said. He went abroad to study with Kevin Goater, who is going to speak at the funeral on Monday.

Cleveland was the youngest of two brothers and five sisters.

He attended West Pembroke Primary and Robert Crawford High School where he was always on the football team.

Cleveland played for Hotels International, Devonshire Colts, North Village and Devonshire Cougars in his youth.

Police said yesterday the investigation into Mr. Campbell's death was ongoing.