By ELLIOTT DENMAN

 NASSAU, BAHAMAS - It's a long-standing Bahamas tradition - send your best trackmen off to American universities, there to hone their world-class skills while taking advantage of the educational opportunities they know will pay off in later life.

 First of the long-long line was Thomas A. "Tommy" Robinson, who flew off to the University of Michigan and would become a champion Wolverine sprinter as well as a now-beloved four-time (1956-60-64-68) Olympic sprinter for his island homeland.

 Next Bahamian man of great renown was Mike Sands, who got a head start by attending Sheepshead Bay High School in Brooklyn and then moving on to brilliance at Penn State University.

  A whole line of others would follow - but the one Bahamanian man who has most emulated the earlier achievements of Robinson and Sands is Christopher "Chris" Brown.

  At age 35, he's been around so long - every Olympics, every major championship meet, every time his nation called, since the turn into the 21st century - that he's often called "the Godfather of Bahamian track."

   But "Godfather III" would be more like it.  His still striding forward in the footsteps of Robinson and Sands.

   "The Fireman" is probably his better nickname.  He's been racing to the rescue of the Bahamian cause in international track for nearly a decade and a half.

   He hailed originally from the tiny settlement of Wemyss Bight, on Eleuthera - one of the 700-plus islands, cays and islets that comprise The Commonwealth of the Bahamas - but he sure has traveled the world since.

  Robinson (who passed away in 2012, and whose name is memorialized on the splendid stadium in Nassau that now is the center of Bahamian track action) was a Wolverine; Sands (who now serves as  President of the Bahamas AAA) was a Nittany Lion;  and Brown brought NCAA All-American glory to the Norfolk State University Spartans.

   He made his mark at every stop on the Spartans' schedule, from the Armory Track and Field Center, to the Penn Relays, to meets everywhere around the nation.

   He still owns three listings in the Norfolk State record book - in the individual outdoor 400 meters (45.08 in 2001), the indoor 4x400 relay (3:07.80 in 1999), and the outdoor sprint medley (3:19.71 in 2001.)

   If he was a military man, the bemedaled Brown would have no room left on the chest of his full dress uniform.

   His medal collection includes a full set from the Olympic Games, all in the 4x400 relay: 2012 London gold: 2008 Beijing silver, 2000 Sydney bronze.

   His World Outdoor Championships collection, again in the 4x400, is a complete set, too, with one gold (2001 Edmonton); two silvers (2005 Helsinki and 2007 Osaka) and one bronze (2003 Paris.)

 Equally complete are his World Indoor Championships honors, but these are all for the individual 400 meters: one gold (Doha 2010), one silver (Sopot 2014), and an amazing three bronze (Moscow 2006, Valencia 2008, Istanbul 2012.)

   What a masterful portfolio of honors is his, and what a magnificent standard of ongoing excellence he's established in an event where many rivals' careers turn out to be ephemeral, here one day, gone the next.

   He'll be 36 in mid-October but if anyone out there is discounting his chances of running the 2016 Rio De Janeiro Olympics - which would be his fifth - they'd be making a very bad mistake.

  These days, he lives and trains in the Atlanta area much of the time but any time he's summoned to his nation's cause he's more than ready.  He's mastered the long-term art of staying virtually injury free and has always found a way to be in peak form for the peak occasions.

  Major motivation:  "It's a real blessing to have such great support from my fellow Bahamians," he said the other day.

  With the men's 4x400 title on the line in the most anticipated final of the first edition of the IAAF World Relay Championships at Nassau's Thomas A. Stadium, he again put it all on the line for his nation and his teammates - now known as "The Golden Knights." 

   Thomas A. Robinson Stadium-goers’ ears were probably ringing for days, maybe weeks, after this one.

  The decibel level reached world-record proportions as the eight teams were introduced for the

4x400 final and it got even louder – is that possible? – as the electronic starting gun was sounded and the racers were sent off on their missions.

     What drama this was – host Bahamas, the proud land of some 315,000, vs. mighty USA, homeland of 318 million-plus.  To an outsider, it might seem an unfair fight.  Maybe as unfair as Trevor Berbick stepping into the ring against Muhammad Ali, right here in Nassau, too, back in 1981.

  But just as that fight wasn’t unfair at all – Berbick won it – this footrace wasn’t unfair, either.

  The  inspired Bahamian Golden Knights gave the their powerful neighbor nation the battle of their lives as the noise seemed to rise with every stride, every strategic move.

   David Verburg (44.7 leadoff) gave USA an immediate advantage, Tony McQuay followed (44.1) and Christian Taylor (44.7) maintained the hot pace.

  But LaToy Williams (stepping in for injured Golden Knights regular Ramon Miller), Demetrius Pinder and long-term super-vet stalwart  Brown kept Bahamas in contention (and for a while in the lead) as the anchormen took over.

   The Golden Knights - all past U.S. collegians (Pinder ran at Texas A&M, Mathieu at Texas Tech, Miller at Dickinson State of North Dakota) - had beaten USA at the 2012 London Olympic Games and an earlier Bahamas unit (Avard Moncur, Troy McIntosh and Tim Munnings running with Brown) also claimed golds at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton.

    No nation other than USA had earned more than two global 4x400 titles (Olympics or World Championships) since the end of World War II - but would this, could this, be time for a third?

  It almost was – until 2008 Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt, anchoring for USA, tuned on the afterburners coming around the final turn, pulled even with the Bahamas’ gallant and then-front-running  Mathieu, and finally broke it open in an unstoppable stretch run.

   His split was 43.8 and brought  USA home in 2:57.25 (not close to USA’s 1993 2:54.29 world record pace but still the fastest 4x400 of 2014.)

  “Of course, we felt pressure,” said Merritt. “It was a big business for us.  We  wanted to come out here, and in front of their fans, prove that we’re the best in the world.”

  Well, they did just that and silenced the crowd but there surely was glory in it for all.

    The Bahamians took   the silvers in 2:57.59 (just 0.69 off their national record) and third-place Trinidad and Tobago (which ran Olympic bronze medalist Lalonde Gordon on leadoff) was in the mix most of the way, too, and was rewarded with a national record of 2:58.34.

   LaToy Williams (another Texas Tech-ster ) split 45.0, Pinder 43.8, Brown 44.2 and Mathieu 44.5.

  Giving vain chase were Great Britain (3:00.32), Cuba (3:00.61), Venezuela (3:01.44) and Brazil (3:03.87), with Jamaica an out-of-it eighth with baton problems in 3:10.23. 

   The 4x400 would represent the only event Team USA's men would win in Nassau; America's women far outdid their male counterparts with wins in four of their five events.

   When Brown gave Team Bahamas a temporary lead, the electricity in the air soared even higher. But when Merritt inexorably pulled it out, there was no real sense of disappointment, either.

   The little guys from the islands came within 34/100ths of knocking off the mighty USA in a drama-packed race that will be remembered by anyone who was fortunate enough to be there as one for the ages.

  "You Did Us Proud," headlined the Monday morning Nassau Tribune.

   "With every stride, the Golden Knights lifted the spirit of the crowd," reporter Rashad Rolle wrote.

  "The quartet brought the crowd at the sold-out event to its feet....

  "It was a fitting climax  to an event that has received high honors from spectators and participants alike...

  "It has set the stage for next year's (World Relays) event, which will also be held in the Bahamas."

  Chris Brown and The Golden Knights promise they will return, too.

  You don't have to be a Bahamian to appreciate all that Chris Brown has achieved in his sport.

  He's come a long, long way from Wemyss Bight and, all smiles, he reminds you that he's got a long way yet to go.

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