Matchday Memories: On This Day 1956 – ‘Kalamazoo’ Makes His Debut Mark v. Millwall!
On this day (October 13th) in 1956 a footballing and cultural trailblazer throughout his life, Steve ‘Kalamazoo’ Mokone became CCFC’s first ever black player (and the first black South African to play professionally in the UK). He made his debut on the right wing in the ‘Bantams’ Division Three South fixture at Highfield Road against Millwall. Sadly the City lost the match 2-1 in front of 20,227 with Ray Sambrook getting the City’s goal which gave them the lead before the Lions came back to win.
Though Steve only played four first team league games in season 1956-57 (scoring once) for the ‘Bantams’ (as the Sky Blues were known then) he, nevertheless, caused something of a sensation when he arrived in Britain for a trial with CCFC as a raw 24 year old, from his home in South Africa. Coming to post austerity Coventry was clearly something of a culture shock for Steve but he quickly became a crowd-pleaser at CCFC.
Steve stayed only one season during a somewhat ‘experimental’ period for the Club under coaches Jesse Carver and George Raynor and Highfield Road’s muddy pitch was certainly not conducive to Kala’s mercurial skills.
Instead Steve built an impressive and eventful life both playing football on the continent for a number of top European Clubs like Barcelona, Marseilles and Torino (eventually becoming known as the ‘Black Meteor’) and then later as an academic in the USA.
A Legend of South African football he received numerous awards from the both governments of his homeland and adopted home as well as the United Nations for his pioneering role in popularising football, especially for youngsters, in post-apartheid South Africa.
