The late Francisco Monte Cruz will continue to live in the collective memory of every Goemkar.
The former sports minister of Goa -- who passed away recently at the age of seventy-nine -- has received a posthumous honour.
The incumbent regime has decided to name one of the stands at Goa's iconic Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Fatorda after Monte Cruz who had created a history by overseeing the construction of this stadium in the shortest possible time.
The folklore has it that to host the prestigious international Nehru Cup back in 1989, Goa needed a stadium of international standards. This challenging task fell on the shoulders of the then sports minister of Goa.
Fransisco Bab burnt the midnight oil. He put everything at stake. He moved into a make shift office at the construction site and kept a watchful eye on the construction activities round the clock.
He made it a mission of his life to get the stadium ready for the Nehru Cup in 1989.
This tribute to the legacy of Fransisco Bab is a testament to the adage, "Hard work always pays in the end".
