Kim Swan

Hubert "Kim" E. Swan (born 4 October 1957) is a Bermudian professional golfer and politician, elected for the United Bermuda Party (UBP) and served as the UBP party leader and Leader of the Opposition of Bermuda from 21 January 2008 until 16 May 2011.

Early life

Swan is the eldest son of working class parents, Hubert E. E. Swan (a career police officer) and Barbara Swan of Southampton. He spent a great deal of his formative years in the presence of his maternal grandparents John and Ivy Anderson; John a stonemason and fisherman and Ivy a devout member of Mount Zion AME Church, the eldest daughter of Irishman Isaac McKinley "Ike" Hall and Emily Burrows Hall from Southampton. Through his paternal grandfather, Swan is also 6th generation descendant of Charles Roach Ratteray (1799–1872), a renowned ship builder, entrepreneur and pioneer of the AME Church in Bermuda. Swan's paternal grandmother Ismay Agatha Swan came to Bermuda from St. Kitts at 15 with her mother Emily Cardin Rose.

Swan attended Southampton Glebe, Berkeley Institute and Warwick Secondary Schools in Bermuda before receiving his tertiary education at Palm Beach Junior College (now Palm Beach State College) in Lake Worth, Florida and graduated with a bachelor of science degree from Troy State University in Troy, Alabama in 1980.

Golf career

Swan was taught the game of golf by his uncle, Herman Santucci Bascome, a former golf pro at Ocean View Golf Course in Bermuda, while growing up at the newly developed government-owned Port Royal Golf Course in the early 1970s. Swan was a member of the then Palm Beach Junior College golf team led by Ken Green, which finished 4th in the State Junior College Championship in 1978, before joining Troy State University golf team. Individually, he won medalist honours at the Northeast Louisiana University Invitational at Chenault Park Municipal Golf Course in Monroe, Louisiana. Swan played under legendary golf coach Mike Griffin at Troy. Swan lead the Troy team that placed 4th in 1979 NCAA Division II Golf Championship at El Macero Country Club in Davis, California and was named MVP for Troy University in 1979.

As an amateur golfer, Swan also participated in numerous major amateur events including the 1974 Orange Bowl Junior Championship in Miami, Florida and two World Amateur Team Championship (Eisenhower Trophy) competitions in 1978 in Fiji and 1980 in the United States.

Swan turned professional in 1980, and qualified for the European Tour in 1980 and competed for two years. He would partner with fellow Bermudian Keith Smith to win the Americas Zone qualifying of the World Cup of Golf in 1984 and three Bermuda Open Golf Championships.

Since 2012, Swan has been the teaching golf professional at Port Royal Golf Course. As the teaching golf professional, Swan is an independent contractor who developed the Port Royal Golf Developmental Program which concentrates on introducing new golfers to the game of golf. As a golf coach/teacher Swan is a strong advocate of the fundamentals and uses a myriad of drills to teach his students their skills.

Political career

Swan contested four general elections over 25 year before winning a seat in the House of Assembly of Bermuda in December 2007. Swan served in the Senate of Bermuda as a UBP nominee for 9 years (1998–2007) and became Opposition Senate Leader in 2001 and served as Senate Leader under four Opposition Leaders, until his election to the Bermuda House of Assembly at the 2007 election. Following his election to the House of Assembly in 2007, Swan became party leader and on 21 January 2008 became Leader of the Opposition, a position he held until 16 May 2011.

UBP was in merger negotiations with the Bermuda Democratic Alliance, and following a vote on 3 May 2011 by the Central Council of UBP to disband, several general members of UBP expressed concern that there was no special general meeting in any of the 36 branches, and Swan and others petitioned the party executive to hold a public meeting, but these pleas were ignored. When Swan and the others attempted to convene a disputes tribunal under section 13 of the UBP constitution, they were also ignored by the party executive. Swan together with Charles Swan MP, three other former party chairmen and others on 10 May 2011 successfully filed an injunction in the courts preventing UBP from disbanding.

On 15 May 2011, seven members of the nine UBP members resigned and joined the Bermuda Democratic Alliance. Swan on 16 May 2011 notified the Governor of his resignation as Leader of the Opposition. Swan and the others dropped the injunction to permit the UBP executive to settle its affairs. However, he continued to sit in the House of Assembly and said he planned to rebuild the party. When the House of Assembly was dissolved for the 17 December 2012 election, he ran as an independent but finished third, receiving 23% of the vote behind the 39% garnered by the new One Bermuda Alliance which only narrowly bested the 38% received by the Progressive Labour Party candidate, in the only constituency where the winner received less than 40% of the votes.

References

• O'Kelly-Lynch, Ruth (21 January 2008). "Swan elected new UBP leader". The Royal Gazette.
• Swan, Kim (25 November 2013). "Swan authors Elysium golf article". Bernews.
• Swan, Kim (21 November 2013). "Kim Swan saluting two British golfing greats". ElysiumMagazine.
• Trott, Lawrence (11 December 2013). "Swan heads Port Royal developmental drive". The Royal Gazette.
• "Swan sees off challenger". Bermuda Sun. 6 November 2009.
• Whittaker, James. "Swan launches Onebda website". Bermuda Sun. Archived from the original on 2011-08-24.
• Swan, Kim (8 February 2008). "Reply to the Throne Speech" (PDF). Caribbean elections.
• "Welcome to the Ratteray Home Page". Archived from the original on 5 March 2012.
• Philip, Ira (27 March 2010). "Rosina Love keeps Bermuda alive in Seattle". The Royal Gazette.
• "Swan's old team-mate in horror crash". The Royal Gazette. 10 June 2009.
• Editor, News (18 December 2010). "Troy honours Kim Swan". The Royal Gazette.
• Editor, Sport (13 January 1995). "On form Kim coast to win". The Royal Gazette.

External links

• Kim Swan at the European Tour official site