George Sousa, one of Bermuda’s sporting greats and a trailblazer in the Portuguese community, died early yesterday at the age of 86.

Mr Sousa, who led the Bermuda Athletic Association to victory over Southampton Rangers in the inaugural Bermuda Football Association Challenge Cup in 1956, was the first Portuguese player to hold high the FA cup.

He was also the first Bermudian of Portuguese descent to captain Bermuda in football and be elected president of BAA, as well as the Belmont Golf Club.

Mr Sousa also served in the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps.

“Dad was so proud that he represented Bermuda internationally in four different sports,” his son, One Bermuda Alliance MP Jeff Sousa, told The Royal Gazette.

Fiercely competitive, Mr Sousa threw himself avidly into golf, table tennis and fast-pitch softball as well as football.

His son recalled his father’s stories about getting broken fingers from being a catcher in softball.

“I’ve lost my hero, my entire life,” Mr Sousa said.

“He liked football the best but he was just an all rounder, a jock — and he got the highest accolade any sportsman can achieve in his country, which is the Sports Hall of Fame.” Sousa was inducted in December 2014.

“Strikers always get the accolades — but here you have a guy who I believe was the first defender to go into the hall of fame.”

Although 5ft 5½in tall and weighing in at around 140 pounds, he was “one of the most ferocious athletes Bermuda has ever seen”, Mr Sousa said — remembering how Earl “Townsey” Russell had said that “nine times out of ten, when he came down the field up against my dad, he had to turn and go back”.

Sousa captained Bermuda from 1956 to 1959, at a time when local sports was sharply segregated.

In 2003 he told this newspaper: “I’m really proud to have witnessed the glass ceiling come down. In those days it was whites, coloured and Portuguese.

“A lot of guys helped me in those days and a lot of them were expatriates and they never stopped to see how you spelled your name. They were just interested in what your capabilities were in sports.

“And I’m very proud to have been the first person of Portuguese extraction to not only be captain of my team, but also become president of BAA in 1960.”

In 1962, as Belmont president, Mr Sousa helped desegregate the course.

“We must all forgive but never, never forget,” his son said, noting that Portuguese Bermudians like his grandfather had been banned from Riddell’s Bay golf course unless they were caddying or cutting the grass.

“He was a good man who would do anything for his family. He loved sports, and he loved Bermuda.”