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THE Sunday News has been inundated with calls to include Yesteryear Greats from other sporting codes.
Beginning this Sunday we will spread our wings and reach out to men and women who illuminated stadia and courts around the country.
There are so many historic feats out there dating to the 1950s and 1960s when there were vibrant sporting and recreational programmes pursued by local authorities and mining companies.
Most of the Yesteryear Greats in a number of sporting disciplines came from council deliberate programmes and mining communities.
The first black athlete Cyprian Tseriwa to make it to the Olympics in 1960 went on to run for Hwange. Coincidentally the next lot which included Mathias Kanda and Rabson Murombe who ran the Marathon in Tokyo 1964 had a dance with the famous Hwange Colliery Athletics Club.
When one speaks of Yesteryear Greats in athletics, it would be incomplete not to mention the contribution of the mines.
Artwell Mandaza, the first man to run a sub 10 seconds 100m, ruled out though as a world record in 1969 was from the Mashonaland West copper mines. Given a platform to train with the best in the world, good nutrition and incentives, there is no doubt Mandaza could have conquered the world.
His 20,8 seconds in the 200m of 1977 still stands as the Chamber of Mines record. This is despite the fact that after his retirement a whole field of exciting mines athletes came and conquered even to the extent of making it to a number of teams for international events.
The mines list I am writing about here included Jeffrey Wilson, Jeffrey Masvanhise, mines legend Gabriel Chikomo, Themba Ncube and Phillip Mukomana, all of whom failed at their best to better his mark.
A formidable team assembled for the 1972 Munich Olympics which the country was barred from because of international isolation, had another sprint great Adon Treva of Hwange whose 46,2 seconds over 400m still stands as a record.
National selectors had a headache assembling a team because of the array of talent that was available at their disposal.
Former Matabeleland North Athletics Board chairman Charles Mafika was part of the team that would have run the 4x400m relay. Because of the abundant talent national selectors had a torrid time in arriving at the final shortlist as Dera Magodo, Boniface Magodo, Vuyani Fulunga, the Mutize twins Cliff and Clifton were all blowing hot at the time as did quite a number of white athletes from Bulawayo and Harare’s top clubs.
We intend catching up with real Yesteryear Greats whose achievements cannot be doubted.
In the list is certainly Juma Phiri a former ZRP Athletics Club and Hwange athlete whose 2,16m in high jump stands as the national record. Phiri is now manager of ambitious Bulawayo Zifa Southern Region Division One club Talen Vision.
The uniformed services too played a key role in providing talented athletes like Brian Sheep, Musaope Phiri, Godfrey Koti, Tapfumaneyi Jonga and Tendai Chimusasa become international stars.
Sadly some of the men who drove local sport like Jacob Thabane, Prize Ndlovu have since passed on and the likes of Riley Hawkins who was in charge of sport in Hwange.
Ours as Sunday News is a call for the reader to connect your favourite weekly paper with some of the Yesteryear Greats who left an indelible mark on the scene.
Mines were also behind one dead sporting discipline, track cycling. Greats like Samson Moyo, Mdala Dube of Shabanie Moyo and his protégés retired with the sport.
Who would not remember the all-conquering ZITF tug-of-war team led by Hwange’s John Nkonde which dominated the competition from the 1960s to mid 1980s.
Football of course with athletics, a close second dominated the entertainment charts in towns and mines and as a result of its wide appeal we have over the past 12 months tried to reach out to as many of your heroes in the region.
In disciplines like basketball names like Ernie Noble, Unita Dube, Rose Marshall, Basil West, Angela Chikomba, Rose Phiri, Justin Mpofu, John Buys, Tony Benson Derberton Williams represent a class that conquered Zimbabwe in the Kodak National Basketball Championships.
Themba Moyo, Dumisani Vundla, Itsanang Abu Basuthu, Sairota Banda and Nsikelelo Mlauzi could be the surviving members of the 1993 Unit Fairbridge side that won the Zone Six Volleyball Championships. Prior to that the hardhitting side had swept all that was at stake in local competitions.
Old Miltonians with the likes of Brendan Dawson were national champions of Zimbabwe rugby and Sunday News is keen to reach out to such heroes of the sport and profile them to inspire present and future generations of players.
All of your bowling where Denis Streak and Roy Garden rank among the legends, are personalities you are keen to know their whereabouts just like Marina Polenakis and her all conquering hockey team of the 1990s.
Collin Williams, Erasmus Hodza, Trevor Penney, Trevor Williams, Pat Mackillop a Golden Girl who won gold at the Moscow 1980 Olympics are stars that played with so much passion and made tournaments such as the Easter Jardav a must follow event.
In all the list of yet to be profiled stars is as long as one’s imagination.
Board sports like darts had the likes of Jackson Ndimande, Wendy Orange, Luke Mnkandla and Nivathi Songo among the top players in the 1980s and 1990s.
So beginning next Sunday, the paper will not stick to football as we seen to whet your reading appetite with some of the greatest names in sport Chronicle and Sunday News followed.
So if there is a neighbour who was a hit in sport and you believe his profile deserves a story, please do not hesitate to contact Sunday News Editor, Limukani Ncube on 09-888871-88 or myself on whatsapp 0774350168 or 0027731503595.
Next week we will feature Juma Phiri, a former sprinter, high jumper and basketball player who is well into his 30th year in competitive sport, now as manager of TalenVision.
Online Reporter