Jogging in New York’s Central Park on 20 September 1980, the reggae musician Bob Marley collapsed in the arms of Allan “Skill” Cole, his close friend and a Jamaican football star. The following day Marley was diagnosed with incurable cancer; Cole would remain with him for the next eight months until his death.
Up to that point Cole had held the role of Marley’s running partner, joining him on his early morning pipe-openers along the coastline of Jamaica and mustering assorted football teams to play at 56 Hope Road, Marley’s headquarters in the capital, Kingston. “He loved football and I loved music,” said Cole. “It was part of a divine plan. That’s how we came together.”
