Three-times MVP. Premier Division champion. PHC captain. At just 29, Marco Warren had already built a football legacy that stood among the best Bermuda has produced.

He had been voted the island's best player for a third consecutive year just two weeks before he was killed in a collision on a May morning in Hamilton Parish in 2023, with the subsequent legal case taking three years to travel through the courts.

On October 2, after a five-week trial, former government senator Curtis Richardson was convicted of causing Warren's death by careless driving.

The verdict did not bring Warren back. Vega still grows up without his father. A mother still lives without her son. Sisters still live without their brother and best friend. But it did bring his name back to the centre of Bermuda's football conversation — not for how he died, but for how he lived.

In the days after the conviction, three men who knew him in three different ways reflected on his life and what the island has lost: Winston Trott Jr, his former coach at PHC; Mark Wade, former PHC president and now president of the Bermuda Football Association; Enrique Russell, his team-mate, cousin and “brother”.

When Trott thinks about Warren’s final season at PHC — the 2022-23 campaign when Warren captained the side to the Premier Division title and claimed a third straight BFA MVP — one word comes to mind: presence.

“When he spoke, everybody stopped to listen,” said Trott. “He was one of those types of guys.

“He wasn’t loud, and he wasn’t forceful with his words or anything like that, but he thought about what he was going to say and commanded his team-mates’ respect.

“When he talked, they listened; everybody listened to what he had to say."

Tactically, Warren was unplayable because he was always ahead of the game.

“I think it was his vision,” Trott said. “He was always thinking one or two steps ahead of both his opponents and sometimes even the coaches. He always gave his opinion and his ideas; what he was thinking was a plus.”

That vision was built on an almost obsessive preparation. Recalled was a story that has become part of Warren folklore — a week of rain before a crucial semi-final FA Cup match at Bernard Park, with Warren spotted alone at Shelly Bay Field practising free kicks in the downpour. His girlfriend — herself a footballer — standing in goal.

“I asked him about it and he said that he had been at Shelly Bay Field purposely in the rain taking kicks, probably with his girlfriend in goal,” Trott said. “He would go there and if he didn't have anybody to play with, he would have his girlfriend play in goal.

“She’s a footballer, too. He was always in training; usually he was at Shelly Bay, practising free kicks, corners, and stuff like that. I remember because he scored right off a corner.

“He was next to the corner flag and people were behind him. It was like how Messi scored a free kick the other day, where he was talking to the fans; Marco did the same thing for that corner.”

Asked about his reaction when the guilty verdict was delivered, Trott said the moment was difficult to process.

“As a coach or former coach, it’s hard to say,” he said. “It’s still very sensitive for me. I mean, it’s like the guy is guilty, but still it’s hard to accept."

On how to formally honour Warren's legacy for the next generation, Trott pointed to the BFA Legends Scholarship.

“They have the BFA Legends Scholarship, where they give some of these kids some money for scholarships,” Trott said. “Putting his name to that would definitely be something.”

For Mark Wade, the reaction to the conviction was cautious and deeply personal. Wade knew Warren as PHC president before becoming BFA president and the timing of Warren’s death — so soon after his greatest individual honour — still feels cruel.

“My reaction was cautious,” Wade said. “From my perspective, Marco is never coming back. I’m just taking time to reflect on my interactions with Marco and to be frank, I went back and listened to the last voice note he sent me, to help me process things.”

On Warren winning MVP two weeks before his death, Wade said: "It’s hard and honestly It's cruel, in my mind, to have that happen to him so close to receiving probably the top accolade as a player.“

The Warren family said outside the court after the verdict was delivered that they had fought hard for Marco. Wade said the BFA’s message to them is one of gratitude.

“From the BFA’s perspective the message to the Warren family is ‘Thank you for leading the charge for the country’,” Wade said. “Marco is well loved right from St George’s to Somerset. The family led the charge with the support, obviously, of all the authorities. So, thank you to them and I hope this gives them just a little bit more peace."

Asked whether the BFA is considering a formal tribute — a renamed MVP trophy, a scholarship or award in Warren's name — Wade said the honour is inevitable but the timing is not yet decided.

“In the future, you know, he’s guaranteed to be named a legend,” Wade said. “But that’s up to the executive as to when that will be.”

For Enrique Russell, the memories go back to Sunday mornings and a team called Equalisers. He was 10 or 12, playing Breakfast League and watching his older cousin, who already played like he was chasing something bigger.

Warren, a devout Seventh-day Adventist, played in the league as a youth because he could not compete on the Sabbath.

“I grew up with Marco and we used to play breakfast league on Sundays, which was with Equalisers,” Russell said. “I was really young at the time, maybe 10 or 12. So probably Breakfast League on a Sunday, playing with my family team, that was probably my youngest experience."

On the verdict, Russell said justice was served, but two years of court appearances had weighed heavily on everyone connected to Warren.

“It’s a hard one because I think it’s two sides to a coin,” Russell said. “It’s obviously tough on the person’s family, but I think it's justice.”

“It was the right thing to do and it's the right outcome. We just left it with the justice system and let them decide.

"I'm happy that it got resolved because it was weighing on all of us. It was tough to go through the court cases and everything continuously. It was hard, but I think justice is served and Marco would want us to get on with life.“

Asked whether Warren's absence had changed the brotherhood at PHC, Russell said the family remains tight, but his personality is irreplaceable.

“Obviously, he’s a big miss,” he said. “He was a small guy but he had a big personality and that will always be a miss. But we are a family. We have to hold each other up. We have down days, we have up days, and it has been very upsetting but it’s good to stay close.”

For younger players who never saw Warren play, Russell wants them to understand the commitment behind the brilliance.

“To know Marco was to understand his passion for the game and his love for it,” Russell said. “In Bermuda, it’s hard to stay fully committed when you play at a lower level than a professional league, especially as a young player. It’s hard to stay committed, but he was.

“To know Marco was to know his commitment, how he worked hard, how he put in the extra and basically coached a team while still playing.

“I think he was a genius at the game and honestly he was the worst person to be lost. He was a genius and had a big impact on lives. But for me, I'm going to do my best to carry his legacy forward.”

That genius was rooted in detail. Russell was reminded of the FA Cup semi-final story — a week of rain, Warren alone at Shelly Bay practising kicks in the wet, then stepping up in the mud at Bernard Park to score the winning free-kick in a scoreless match.

“I tell you, honestly, this guy, there is nobody like him,” Russell said. “I’m not just saying this because he passed. I told him while he was here. I used to idolise him. No one paid as close attention to detail as he did in Bermuda. I can say that with confidence.

“There's nobody quite like him, and he was my favourite player ever. While I was playing with him, I wanted to be good for him. I wanted to impress him whilst playing with him. It meant everything for him to tell me, ‘Hey, good job’ or ‘You're looking good today, well done’.”

Does the verdict offer closure?

“It’s hard because it’s not closure,” Russell said. “It’s still not because you can’t replace him. It's justice, but he’s still not here physically.

“I’m not the biggest advocate for closure, to say, ‘I’ve forgotten the past’. I hold up his name and what he was about. That’s why I try to put in the work he did.

“I try to be an example for young kids when we’re coaching because I want to have a positive impact. Marco had a big impact on kids’ lives. I used to see so many people who didn’t even really know him talk about how great a player he was.

“I love Marco. He had a big impact on my little cousins and others. He did after-school coaching and he had a big impact on everyone's life."