footballer Shaun Goater this week.

Throughout what was anything but a meteoric rise to fame, the engaging Manchester City striker has retained a sense of humility and dignity all too rare among today's leading athletes.

As witnessed by those who gathered at City Hall on Wednesday -- officially declared by Government as Leonardo Shaun Goater Day -- the 30-year-old City star has never forgotten his humble beginnings nor those who paved the way for his career in England. And while both here and in Manchester he's hailed by footballer followers as a hero, he's never allowed that success to cloud his vision.

Of all people, he realises that elevation to the most competitive league in the world, the English Premiership, is just the beginning, just another stepping stone that he'll take in his long, languid and confident stride.

He's a perfect role model for aspiring young Bermudians, and those tributes he received this week were warranted.

Yet, too often in Bermuda such tributes are but a fleeting gesture.

Goater might be the best known of our current generation of sportsmen and women, but there have been many before who have done as much to put Bermuda on the map -- in recent years high jumper Clarance (Nicky) Saunders, gold medallist at the 1990 Commonwealth Games; triple jumper Brian Wellman, indoor world champion and runner-up at the world outdoor championships; equestrienne MJ Tumbridge, gold medallist at last year's Pan-Am Games, to name but a few.

A couple of decades earlier footballer Clyde Best was mesmerising defences in the same league that Goater will now grace; Randy Horton, Gary Darrell, Carlton (Peppy) Dill, Granville (Sam) Nusum and others were making a name for themselves (and Bermuda) in the now-defunct North American Soccer League.

And some years before that Alma (Champ) Hunt was making heads turn in the Caribbean as he pushed for a place in the West Indies Test team.

Over the years, Bermuda has provided its fair share of international greats in a wide variety of sports.

Occasionally, as occurred on Wednesday, the Government of the day tries to convince the public that it actually appreciates these efforts -- although given the allowance afforded sport in the annual budget and the long-running debacle over a national sports centre, we all know better.

It was an unfulfilled dream of the late BOA president Chummy Hayward that Bermuda do more to recognise its sporting heroes in the form of a sports museum or Hall of Fame.

Land was even purchased in Pembroke where such an edifice was to be built. But plans never came to fruition.

Indeed, it's a shame that Bermuda has no permanent place of recognition, where the achievements of past sporting giants can be documented, and their performances illustrated through film, memorabilia and the like.

Shaun Goater Day was a nice touch. As was Clyde Best's recognition in last week's Queen's Birthday Honours List.

But as an island which prides itself on sporting excellence, we can do better.

-- ADRIAN ROBSON