The sporting fraternity in Ghana, notably sports writers and football administrators on Saturday paid a fitting farewell to arguably the nation’s leading sports photographer with long name of John Zechariah Xystus Xavis Xuans Kojo Ackom who died in a terrible motor accident on the Winneba –Accra road on March 18th, 2009 at the age of 68.

A cross section of both young and old sports journalists and the full hierarchy of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), League Clubs Association, Referees Association, and Sports Council attended the funeral rites that were heavily funded by the GFA.

Ackom was the official photographer of the Premier League Board and it can be said that he died in active service on his way from Sekondi after covering a premier league match between Sekondi Eleven Wise and Accra Hearts of Oak.

With more than 40 years experience in sports photography, Ackom had a rich collection of historic pictures. The good side of him was that he was readily prepared to release such pictures to any publisher who needed assistance provided he would be given the credit. His famous by line of “Pix by JXXXK Ackom” was however a constant topic of discussion in sporting circles. Many people were tickled by the number of Xs in his name and thought it was meant to create fun but anybody who dealt with Ackom found out that he never joked with his initials and he would never respond to any invitation letter without the full array of his initials no matter how high or low the source of the invitation. He was an extremely strict person and he at times jokingly admitted that he was “one plug” a euphemism for eccentricity. He was one time a class one football referee who handled top division matches in the mid-seventies.

Baptized John at the Catholic Church, Ackom kept the origin of his many other Christian names a secret until 2007 when he teamed up with me and two other friends to form a company by the name PHOTOSPORTS, when he explained that the names were given to him by four different Catholic priests he stayed with during his childhood . He said all the priests had special affection for him and so he vowed to jealously guard those names.

Sports historians like some of us would really miss the company of Ackom and it is hoped that a way would be found out to preserve his numerous historical pictures. The decision by the Ghana League Clubs Association to team up with the Premier League Board to collaborate with Ackom’s family to set up a library in his honour using some of the historical pictures is a step in the right direction.

May he rest in perfect peace.