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LOME, April 10, 2024 – The people of Togo, the sports press family in particular, are grieving the death of renowned journalist Bénoît Messan Gnamey, which occured on Friday April 5, 2024. He was a “patriarch” of the Togolese and African sports press. He inspired and trained several generations of sports journalists. He was 86 years old.
Gnamey was known as “The Emperor”. This nickname was a testament to his meritorious service across generations. A great stature within a corporation that he saw take shape, grow and reach maturity. Despite his reputation in both sports and politics, Benoît Messan Gnamey remained a humble, simple and approachable figure in the world of the sports press. He was always ready with advice and reproaches for his young colleagues. “I first met him in 2016. When I told him I was a young sports journalist and would like his advice and blessing. He welcomed me with open arms and spent long hours instructing me and exhorting me to good professional practice. In essence, I remember his exhortation: ‘Never get tired of feeding your passion. Today, you may gain nothing. Sooner or later, you’ll reap the benefits’,” Jacob Komla Adjei recalled. Adjei is a radio journalist from Aklakou, a town located 60 km in the east of Lomé.
TRIBUTES POUR IN
All Togolese teenagers, at least in the 1980s, knew and loved this warm and passionate voice that brought football matches to life. A commentator for Radio Lomé, the national broadcasting network, for many years, Bénoït Messan Gnamey had the power to make people love football with his commentary. “We felt like we were on the pitch, but we were far away. He had an eye for detail and precision, bringing out the gestures and intentions necessary to perceive the interest of what was happening on the pitch,” commented a magistrate who hasn’t forgotten those happy moments of his youth.
Guy Kossi Akpovy, President of the Togolese Football Federation, paid tribute to this icon of the sporting press, underlining the immortal work he accomplished for the country. “It is with deep sadness that we learn of the death of Bénoît Messan Gnamey, the emblematic Togolese sports journalist. His invaluable contribution to broadcasting and the sports press will remain in our memories,” he posted on his X account. For Togo’s Minister of Sport and Leisure, the death of Bénoît Mesan Gnamey is a great loss. “I had the opportunity to pay him a courtesy call and discover the density of the man,” Lidi Bessi Kama wrote on her X account. Above all, she added: “The Togolese sporting world has lost one of its great memories.”
Bénoît Messan Gnamey’s death is particularly keenly felt within the Association of sport des journalists in Togo (AJST). A founding member and former president, Gnamey occupied a privileged place and role. For Sylvestre Gounoubou, current president of the AJST, it is a moment of ineffable sorrow. “Despite his illness and advanced age that weakened him day after day, “L’Empereur” was a role model for us. We consulted him regularly; he questioned us himself on a number of subjects, and was never slow to instruct or give an opinion likely to promote the smooth running of the association. For us, he is a father and an icon who has gone,” Gounoubou stated. Ekoué Satchivi, a Togolese journalist living in Europe, paid tribute to the man he called “the plenipotentiary of the African sports press”, highlighting his pioneering role in the coverage of major sporting events around the world.
A PASSIONATE MAN FOR MEDIA AND CULTURE
Benoît Messan Gnamey had experience across all forms of media of his time. First as a TV and then radio journalist with unrivalled and proven talent as a football match commentator. He also worked in the written press. He was the publishing director of “Sportif Togolais”, the first sports newspaper published in Togo. He recounted with emotion some of his special experiences in sports journalism, including the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, the 1974 Football World Cup and the 1979 World Boxing Championships in the USA.
He was an active member of several associations, including AJST, which he saw come into being and grow. On the continent, alongside all the sporting events he has covered, Benoît Messan Gnamey is a founding member of the Union of African Sports Journalists (UJSA), forerunner of AIPS Africa. He was also its Secretary General. It was with this in mind that the current President of AIPS Africa paid tribute to “one of the elders of the African sports press”.
Writing books was another of Bénoît Messan Gnamey’s passions. He published the memorable Lexique du soccer togolais, a work that traces the history of the major players and events in Togolese football from colonial times to the 1990s. He has also tried his hands on poetry with Poésie en vrac, a series of 7 notebooks.
Paul Agah, sports columnist, said: “He’s gone, and so are the memories. One of the witnesses, not to say the main witness, to the history of Togolese football has been consigned to the memory of time. Emperor, rest in peace.”