THE DUAL LIFE OF ‘KALAMAZOO’ MOKONE

TOM Egbers is a leading football commentator in the Netherlands, the front man for much of the Dutch-speaking world’s TV sports coverage. He is also, remarkably, the author of not one … but two books … on the life of Steve ‘Kalamazoo’ Mokone, who died at the age of 82 at the end of March. At last year’s World Cup in Brazil, Egbers explained the unusual connection: “I never saw Kalamazoo play, but he was a big hero to my father’s generation.” Egbers hails from Almelo, a dull industrial town, and, like his father, grew up supporting local club Heracles, where Mokone was the star attraction in the late 1950s. It was the goals of the South African star that took Heracles to the second division title and promotion to the first league in 1958. It was also the club where he made the biggest impact, having joined from Coventry City before going onto Cardiff City, Marseille and Barnsley. Egbers wrote a book about Mokone’s exploits called De Zwarte Meteoor (the black meteor), later turned into a film. It is a story of Mokone’s sudden arrival in the sleepy town, where he was like an exotic film star, and then his almost as abrupt departure into the unknown. But it was only after the book had been published that that the dark secret of Kalamazoo came to light to the shock of Egbers. Mokone had been jailed for 12 years in the United States for throwing acid at his wife, and her divorce lawyer and served his time at the notorious Attica prison in New York. Egbers wrote his book after Mokone’s release, and interviewed the player on several occasions, but in all his time with the South African star not once was it mentioned, nor did it come out that he had been in jail. “It was such a shock to me when I found out, that I went to investigate the whole affair and wrote another book about what happened,” Egbers says. It was called Twaalf Gestolen Jaaren (12 stolen years). Egbers remains convinced that Mokone was innocent, and was framed and jailed because of his role in lobbying against apartheid sport. According to Egbers; “Steve’s son Ronnie Sello didn’t have a US passport but was living there. They told him that if he didn’t testify, then he would be thrown out of the country and that’s what he had to do. It was terrible. He had to testify against his own father.” Mokone had another supporter in archbishop Desmond Tutu, who had been a schoolmate. But Mokone was convicted in 1980.

His release was followed not long after by his first visit back home since he left to play football overseas. Solomon ‘Stix’ Morewa, who led Safa’s entry into world football, was a big fan of Mokone and made a fuss over the his homecoming, introducing Kalamazoo to a new generation of South African football followers who had not previously heard of him. Morewa had a framed photograph in his office of Mokone scoring for Torino, and would tell visitors how Kalamazoo had taken Serie A by storm. Along with Darius Dhlomo, Mokone was the first black South African to break through internationally and his exploits overseas were reported with much pride back home at a time when heroes were either in jail or exiled. Over time the tales of Kalamazoo became considerably exaggerated, and Mokone did nothing to put the record straight. In fact, Mokone never played at Barcelona nor did he play an official match for Torino – his goal in the late Morewa’s picture was scored in a pre-season friendly. And Kalamazoo did not make it to the top league in England. He eventually moved to the United States in 1964 because his good friend Gerald Francis, another South African football pioneer abroad, helped find him work there. He suffered from ankle problems and, according to Egbers’ book was something of a ‘bon vivant’, who might have done a lot better had he not been such a lover of a the ‘good life’ But Mokone did famously score on his debut in the England’s then Second Division for Cardiff City in a 3-2 win over Liverpool and in the 1960s went on to coach in Australia where he also broke down many barriers.