INTRODUCTION
Legendary Kenyan athlete Hezekiah Kipchoge "Kip" Keino had in October 1968 under searing temperatures in the high-humidity and high-altitude Mexico City, and against medical advice because of his stomach ailments and weakness, won the Olympic gold medal in the 1500 meters (establishing a new Olympic record of 3min. 34.91sec.). Kip Keino even managed to bag the silver medal in the 5000 meters, finishing behind legendary Tunisian Mohamed Gammoudi, and ahead of the third Naftali Temu who had won the very first ever Olympic gold for Kenya by earlier winning in the 10000 meters. Keino had collapsed from weakness while competing in the 10000 meters, but would rise up and congratulate and hug his young team-mate at the finishing line.
A versatile, enthusiastic, patriotic, and determined middle- and long-distance runner, Kip Keino now in Munich in the summer of 1972 was now a 32 year-old veteran and an Olympian for a third consecutive time. But Keino, amidst the youthful competition, defied his age. In Mexico City, in 1968, only two of the 52 other competitors in the 1500m had been older than the then 28 year-old Keino. In Munich at age 32, Keino was very much the elderly statesman in the 1500m line-up. Furthermore, the astonishing Keino had only four months earlier started to embrace the 3000m steeplechase. And he did qualify in the steeplechase to compete for Kenya! Keino had taken the steeplechase seriously after he had found that the Olympic schedule would not allow him to compete in both the 1500m and the 5000m.
Compared to glorious Keino, a very unknown commodity in the person of Filbert Sanka Bayi was in Munich to represent another east African country--Tanzania. Keino was undoubtedly one of Bayi's foremost idols and inspirations. Keino remains the most immortal name among African track athletes!
Filbert Bayi, an athlete with an "afro-hairstyle" and boyish looks, had grown up near Arusha on a farm in Karutu within sight of Mount Kilimanjaro. Bayi left school at age 17 and migrated to the capital Dar-es-Salaam. Bayi's early running training was relatively crude. In the crowded, high-humidity capital, Bayi would pick out and sprint alongside a moving bus and rest when the bus was loading and unloading passengers---some form of interval training. In 1971 Bayi achieved a reasonably good personal best of 3min 52 seconds in the 1500m.
THE YEAR 1972
It was earlier in 1972, Bayi's personal bests and national wins in the 1500m (3:45) and steeplechase (8:55) qualified him to represent Tanzania at the Olympic Games in Munich.
In Munich, Filbert Bayi, a tall 19 year-old lightweight, a Tanzania airforce technician just so happened to be scheduled to compete in the same two events that Kip Keino was enrolled: the 1500m and the 3000m steeplechase. And while Keino was the elder, Filbert Bayi was one of two 19 year-olds that were youngest of the steeplechase competitors. There would only be four heats, and the top three finishers in each round would advance to the finals. The heats took place on September 1, 1972. Bayi was drawn in Heat One, the same heat that included Keino. Tapio Kantanen of Finland won (with an Olympic Record of 8:24.8), Keino was second, and the third finals' qualifier was Takaharu Koyama of Japan. Bayi was ninth with a time of 8:41.4 (a Tanzania national record) and therefore was out of the competition. Heat Two witnessed Kenya's legendary Benjamin Jipcho win; in Heat Three another Finn Pekka Paivarinta won. The Fourth Heat was won by another Kenyan legend Amos Biwott who had won the steeplechase Olympic gold four years earlier. Biwott's finish in 8:23.73 broke the Olympic record that had been established three heats ago! Notably, Biwott's steeplechase win in 1968 would be the beginning of the consecutive dominance of the steeplechase by Kenyans at the Olympics (apart from the 1976 and 1980 Games which Kenya boycotted) that has yet to be shattered!
The finals of the steeplechase were held on September 7th, 1972. Kip Keino would win in a new Olympic record of 8:23.64, followed by Benjamin "Ben" Wabura Jipcho (8:24.62), and the bronze was won by Tapio Kantanen (8:24.66). Amos Biwott came in sixth in a time of 8:33.48.
As for the 1500m, seven heats were established for Round One to take place on September 8th. The fastest four of each heat (plus two wild cards) would advance to the semi-finals. Filbert Bayi was eliminated when in Heat Two he finished sixth out of 8 competitors. But commendably, Bayi had again established another new national record--3:45.4. Keino won in Heat Four and was followed by Rod Dixon of New Zealand. Heat Six was won by Pekka Vasala of Finland; and Heat Seven was won by another Kenyan legend Mike Boit. The semi-finals were held on September 9th. Mike Boit, Keino, and Rod Dixon won in the three Heats. Ten that including big names in the competition such as Pekka Vasala and Brendan Foster (GBR) were set for the 1500m finals showdown. On September 10, Keino worked to psychologically wear down the competition, but in the final stretch of the 1500m he was outsprinted by 24 year-old Pekka Vasala (3:36.33) of Finland and settled for the silver (3:36.81). This was regarded by many as an upset. Rod Dixon of New Zealand claimed the bronze, Mike Boit was fourth, and Brendan Foster was fifth. What would become of Filbert Bayi?
The annual East and Central African Championships were next held in Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, comfortably Bayi's territory. Bayi was not disappointing. On December 3rd, 1972, only 3 months after the Olympics, Bayi became a regional champion in the 1500m. He won in an impressive time of 3:38.9, not only a national record but a shaving off of more than 5 seconds from the national record he had established less than three months earlier at the Olympics. Two Kenyans Wilson Waigwa and D. Mungai won the silver and bronze, respectively. Bayi was fast gaining the confidence to face even more formidable competition.
THE YEAR 1973
Bayi would compete again with Keino at the second All-Africa Games which were held in Lagos in Nigeria in January 1973. It would be interesting. On January 11th in a 1500m heat that included both runners, a slow and relaxed run witnessed Bayi take second place in 3:48.32, following Olympian Shibrou Regassa (Ethiopia), then Kip Keino jogging in third. Keino was quick to say that he had relaxed and simply wanted to make it to the finals. Keino assured the public that the finals would be very different from what had happened in the Heat. But perhaps all those years of running and victory had exacted a toll on the aging veteran. On January 13th, Filbert Bayi taking the lead from the start, beat Keino, winning in the finals in a commendable time of 3:37.18, yet another Tanzania national record. Shibrou Regassa was third. Notably, Bayi had suffered a bout of malaria just before the Games. Henceforth Africans and the rest of the world started to take a second serious look at this new Tanzanian phenomenon that had emerged from nowhere. Kipchoge Keino would retire from competitive sports in 1974 as an ITA (International Track Association) professional, but he was impressed by Bayi to whom he offered congratulations and encouraging words.
A string of wins in international competition, followed in 1973. In Paris, near the end of May, Bayi won in the 1000m and established an Africa record of 2:19.5. Then in Boras in Sweden in early June, Bayi won the 1500m in a relaxed 3:45.5. The next day in Strangnas also in Sweden, Bayi won in the 1500m in 3:44.6. Again in Sweden, this time in Stockholm, Bayi won in quite a fast 3:37.9 on June 12th.
Then on the June 14th, Bayi changed gears and went for the 800m in Potsdam in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Bayi was beaten by 2-time Olympian Dieter Fromm (GDR) into second place, but Bayi managed to establish a Tanzania record of 1:46.9.
A week later on June 21st, at the Kusocinski Memorial Meet held in Warsaw in Poland, Bayi won in the 1500m, finishing in 3:37.9. He then flew to Denmark to participate in the Aarhus Games. Here Bayi won the 1500m in 3:35.6, a new Tanzania record! Bayi was moving up fast and furiously! Danish Olympian Tom Hansen was second, and Olympian Rolf Gysin of Switzerland was third.
Only four days later, on June 28th at the World Games held in Helsinki in 1973, Bayi won the 1500m in what would be the world best time in the 1500m--3:34.6--yet another Tanzania record. This race was significant in that it included many notable international athletes that included Kenyans Mike Boit and Ben Jipcho, and Americans Steve Prefontaine and Dave Wottle, among others. Bayi would display to the world his signature way of running---take the lead with a fast pace right from the starting of the race!. Bayi had ran a blistering 53.6 in the first 400m, 1:51.6 at the 800m mark, and 2:52.2 at the 1200m mark! David Wottle (800m Olympic gold medallist) was second (3:36.2), and Ben Jipcho (Olympic silver medallist) was third (3:36.6).
The very next day, June 29th, this time in a track meet in Vasteras in Sweden, Bayi was again the victor in the 1500m, winning in 3:40.7.
Again in Sweden, this time at a meet in Stockholm, but this time running the slightly longer one mile, Bayi was challenged by an impressive field that included Jipcho and Emiel Puttemans. It was July 2nd, 1973. This time, Ben Jipcho won, beating Bayi into second place. But Bayi did establish a Tanzania mile record of 3:52.86. At hand to watch the much anticipated battle between 20 year-old Bayi and 30 year-old Jipcho for a possible world record in the mile, were 18120 spectators in Stockholm's Olympic Stadium. Near the end of the race, the leading Bayi started to tire and Jipcho (who had been 10 yards behind) passed Bayi about 75 yards before the finishing line. Jipcho, encouraged by a standing cheering audience, had established the fastest mile in Europe in 3:52.0, one of the three fastest times ever recorded in the world, and a new Kenya and African record. Bayi had set quite a trying pace: 400m--52.5, 800m--1:51.1, and 1200m-2:52.2.
Only three days later, July 5th at the Oslo International, Bayi true to form, beat an impressive field. He won in the 1500m in an impressive 3:37.6. On the 19th of July, Bayi was in Tunis to compete in the African Youth Festival Championships. Bayi won in the 1500m in 3:45.3. Second place was captured by Suleiman Nyambui, another Tanzanian who is only a couple of months older than Bayi. Nyambui would continue to be one of Bayi's track rivals and he would gradually become a national sports icon. On July 24th at the Bislett Games held in Oslo, this time in the 800m, Bayi was beaten into second place by 20 year-old John George Walker of New Zealand--another of Bayi's more enduring historical track rivals! Walker won in 1:46.3. Still, Bayi's time of 1:46.7 was a new Tanzania record.
The next day, July 25th, Bayi was at a track meet in Stockholm. He won in the 1500m, finishing in a good time of 3:38.46. Soon afterwards, on August 4th, Filbert Bayi was ready to run the 1500m at the Africa vs. USA Meet that was taking place in Dakar in Senegal. This time Bayi was beaten into second place by his older and more experienced rival Ben Jipcho. But Bayi's time of 3:37.85 was impressive. Twelve days later, at the Latin America vs. Africa Meet held in Guadalajara in Mexico on August 16th, Bayi achieved first place in the 1500m in a time of 3:40.6. There followed a relatively long interval, until Bayi competed in Nairobi. In the 1500m, Bayi started off very fast, 52.0 in the first 400m, 1:52.0 at the 800m mark. But the abysmally high pace likely cost Bayi the race. He was beaten into second place by another Kenyan legend John Kipkurgat. The then 29 year-old Kipkurgat is mostly renowned for having competed in the 800m.
THE YEAR 1974
Nearly exactly a year after Bayi, in beating Kip Keino, had won in the 1500m in Lagos at the All-Africa Games, the very busy athlete was ready to meet the impressive middle-distance line-up at the Commonwealth of Nations Games held in Christchurch in New Zealand. Bayi would compete in the 800m followed by the 1500m.
On January 19th of 1974, about a week prior to the Commonwealth Games, Filbert Bayi was beaten into second place in the 800m by Kenyan Olympic bronze medallist Mike Boit. Nevertheless, Bayi was impressive in his setting of a new Tanzania record--1:46.0.
In Heat One of the actual Commonwealth Games, Bayi won in the 800m in 1:47.09. This was on January 27th 1974. The winners of the other three heats, respectively, were familiar middle distance giants: John Kipkurgat, John Walker, and Mike Boit. The top four finishers of each heat would be placed among the two semi-final rounds to be held later in the day. Bayi was placed in the second semi-final. In Semi-Final One, the top four finishers were advanced to the finals and they were John Kipkurgat, Andy Carter (England), Daniel Omwanza (Kenya), and Phil Lewis (Wales). Semi-Final Two witnessed Bayi (1:46.56) advance to the finals although he was beaten into fourth place, perhaps him relaxing and simply contented with qualifying for the final round. Mike Boit won in this semi-final, followed by John Walker, then John Hooker (Australia).
In the finals, ran on January 29th, John Kipkurgat of Kenya won impressively in 1:43.91 (a new Africa Record), followed by Mike Boit (1:44.39), and then John Walker (1:44.92). Filbert Bayi was fourth in 1:45.32, nevertheless yet a new Tanzania record! At the 400m mark, Bayi had made a spirited effort to keep up with the tall lanky Kenyans, but they were too fast and too smooth, and Walker would eventually overtake Bayi. Apparently, Bayi was never a strong sprinter so, it benefited him to lead widely from the beginning given his stamina and consistency.
The heats of Bayi's main specialization, at the Commonwealth Games, the 1500m, would take place on January 31st. There were three heats, Bayi was placed in Heat 2, and the top four finishers of each heat would move on to the finals. Heat One involved Mike Boit (3:44.61) winning, followed by Australian Graham Crouch (3:44.64) , then New Zealander Rod Dixon (1:44.64), then fourth was Englishman Brendan Foster (3:44.89). The second heat would turn out to be by far the fastest of the heats. Here the top four were Filbert Bayi (3:38.18), John Kirkbride of England (3:39.79), David Fitzsimons of Australia (3:39.92), and Tony Polhill (NZL) in 3:40.30. The final tally of the first four finishers in Heat 3 was John Walker (3:42.52), Bayi's fellow-countryman Suleiman Nyambui (3:42.57), Australian Randal Markey (3:42.77). Ben Jipcho, probably relaxed and simply contented with advancing to the finals and saving his energy for the ultimate run, was fourth (3:43.55).
The 1974 finals of the 1500m, at the Commonwealth Games, will loom in the minds of many track enthusiasts for a very long time. On February 2nd Bayi would ran his most iconic race, taking the lead from the beginning. The timing at the 400m mark was 54.4, 1:51.8 at the 800m mark, and 2:50.4 at the 1200m mark. Bayi established a new world record of 3:32.16, only 15 months after he had competed and emerged as a mediocre unknown at the Olympics in Munich. But given Bayi's incredible progress over the course of a year, Bayi had been predicted by many to break the world record. The runners-up also achieved phenomenal and leading world times--John Walker (New Zealand national record)---3:32.52; Ben Jipcho (Kenya national record)---3:33.16; and Rodney Dixon (New Zealand)--3:33.89. Graham Crouch was fifth (3:34.22), Mike Boit was sixth (3:36.84), and Suleiman Nyambui (3:39.62) was eighth. Jipcho's signature spurt in the last three hundred meters did not manage to stave off the young energetic Walker who was chasing Bayi, and Walker did close up on Bayi in the fight for the gold. About taking the lead right from the start, Bayi would remark, "I got boxed in [at the Olympic Games of 1972 in Munich] and was never able to take the lead. ...So now I take the lead from the start" (in "Bayi Breaks Record in 1500 Meter Race," by AP in Rome News-Tribune, February 3,1974).
The employment of a fast rabbit in this race would likely have produced a faster world record. Also, in the race, the leading Bayi often looked behind at his competition--perhaps an indication that he had expected the other athletes to chase him faster than they had done, and for him to achieve a better time. Also, Bayi's fast previous semi-final may apparently mean that he had fewer energy reserves for the finals than did most of the other elite competitors. In the end Bayi was elated and jumped up and down as he jogged in front of the appreciating jubilant crowd after his world-record win. Bayi was used to winning, so it was the world record that was the more exciting. Filbert Bayi had erased the 1500m world record that had previously been held by legendary American James Ronald ("Jim") Ryun. Bayi had shattered the world record by nearly one second, and Walker had also finished below Ryun's previous record. Legendary Jipcho who finished slightly outside the previous record, had already won gold in both the steeplechase and the 5000m. His gallant endeavor to win an unprecedented Commonwealth Games triple gold became thwarted!
The previous 1500m world-record run on July 8th 1967, during the USA vs. British Commonwealth of Nations track meet in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, mostly involved a memorable duel between Kip Keino and Ryun. The two exchanged the lead a couple of times in the fast pace, Ryun ran away from Keino near the end of the race and established a new world record of 3:33.1. The world record (3:35.6) established by Australian Herb Elliot on September 5th 1960 was no more. This was undoubtedly one of Ryun’s greatest running performances. Track and Field News reported that “after 220 yards of dawdling, a record seemed out of the question.” However, after 440 yards, which Ryun, in third place, passed in 60.9 seconds, Kip Keino took the lead and ran the next lap in 56 seconds (the fastest second lap ever run in the 1500m at that time). Ryun, just behind, passed the 880-yard mark in 1:57.0. At 1320 yards the two were side by side in 2:55.0. Ryun pulled away to finish in 3:33.1, a record that stood for seven years. With a last 440 yards of 53.9 and a last 880 yards of 1:51.3, Cordner Nelson of Track and Field News called it “the mightiest finishing drive ever seen,” and said of Ryun’s performance, “This was most certainly his greatest race.”
On June 5th 1974, in the Tanzania capital Dar-es-Salaam, Filbert Bayi won in the 800m during the national championships after a relatively long layoff from primary competition. The finishing time was a modest 1:49.7. Later on, on June 27th in Helsinki, at the Top Games, Bayi was for the first time beaten in the 1500m by main rival John Walker. The winning time margin was quite significant: Walker finished in 3:33.89 and Bayi was second (3:37:20). On just the next day, at the International Meet in Vasteras in Sweden, Bayi changed gears to the 800m and was able to win in 1:47.1, beating legendary Kenyan Olympic 800m finalist and 4x400m relay gold medallist and also 1970 Commonwealth of Nations 800m and 4x400m relay gold medallist Robert Ouko. Soon after, in Stockholm at the Dagens Nyheter Galan meet, Bayi won in the one mile in quite an impressive 3:54.10 on July 1st. The next day, in the same event, Bayi won in the 1500m, finishing in 3:43.16. Soon afterwards, on July 4th, Bayi was at the Bislett Games in Oslo. But, he uncharacteristically, probably from injury, did not finish in the 1500m. The winner was Tom-Birger Hansen (Denmark) who was tenth in the 1500m at the Olympics held in Munich; Olympic silver medallist Mike Boit of Kenya was fifth in this meet in Oslo.
THE YEAR 1975
After quite a long layoff from international competition, Bayi emerged in 1975 at the New Zealand Games right in Christchurch where he had set the world record. This time, on January 20th, Bayi competed in and won in the infrequent 3000m and won in 7:53.9. Four days later at the New Zealand Games in the same city, Bayi won in the 800m (1:45.49), beating second-placed John Walker (1:45.9) and even 800m Commonwealth Games gold medallist John Kipkurgat who was third. The finals of the 800m, at an International meet in Auckland on January 28th witnessed Walker winning (1:46.7) in the 800m, Bayi racing in second (1:47.3), and John Kipkurgat beaten into a disappointing third place. At the end of January, Bayi competed in the Milrose Games in New York, winning in the mile in his first indoor performance in 3:59.3.
Soon afterwards, on February 7th, Bayi competed in Los Angeles (Inglewood) at the Los Angeles Times (160y indoor) track meet. Here, in the mile, Bayi won in 3:59.6, and beat off John Walker who was second in 3:59.9. On February 15th, in San Diego at the Jack in the Box Invitational (160y indoor track), Bayi significantly improved on his personal best through winning in 3:56.4, again beating nemesis John Walker (3:56.9) who was second. February 21st witnessed Bayi winning in the 1500m at the Olympic Invitational in new York. His finishing time was 3:41.2, ahead of second-placed Irish future legendary indoor world-record holder Eamonn Coghlan. At the AAU Indoor Championships in New York, on February 28th, Bayi won in the mile in a moderate 4:02.1. Then on the 6th day of March, in Cinque Mulini in San Vittore Olona in Italy, Bayi won in an unconventional 9.5 km cross-country race, ahead of New Zealanders Euan Robertson and then John Walker in third place.
After three months, Bayi was back again in international competition, again in an Italian city Formia. At the Citta di Formia, on May 8th 1975, Bayi won in the infrequently ran 1000m with a delivery of a national record of 2:18.1. On May 10th, again in another Italy city Caserta, Bayi won in the 800m at an international meet. The competition was not strong, and the finishing time was relatively modest: 1:48.3. But it was one of the tune-ups for Bayi's next legendary run.
On May 17th 1975, Sergeant Filbert Bayi had traveled all the way to the capital Kingston of Jamaica to compete in the mile at the Martin Luther King International Freedom Games. The competition was quite formidable and it included Eamonn Coghlan and American legend Martin "Marty" Liquori. Bayi confidently stood in the inner lane at the start line and immediately took the lead when the gun went off. During the first 600 meters, Bayi ran away from the other athletes and maintained a considerable length of lead just before Liquori and Coghlan began zeroing down on him and attempted to overtake him. But this simply encouraged Bayi to run faster and wear them out. The rest of the runners were considerably far behind. At the 440 yard mark, Bayi was timed at 56.9, 1: 56.9 at 880 yards, 2:55.3 at 1320 yards, and an amazing 3:35.0 at 1500m. In this "Dream Mile" (or "Miracle Mile"), Filbert Bayi broke Jim Ryun's world record by establishing a time of 3:51.0. Bayi had shaved a tenth of a second off Jim Ryun's record set in June 1967 in Bakersfield in California at the National Amateur Athletic Union meet. The previous 1500m record that Bayi broke had also been held by Ryun. In the "Dream Mile," Marty Liquori of Philadelphia was second (3:52.1), followed by Eamonn Coghlan (3:53.3) then at Philadelphia's Villanova University.
When interviewed, Bayi would remark, "I run hard at the start because that way I don't have to run in a bunch. They have to catch me. ...When I run from the front I know what kind of strength I have. ..I didn't know if I was running a world record. ...All I was doing was trying to win (In Bayi New King of Milers; Williams Outsprints McTear," by AP in St. Petersburg Times, May 19, 1975).
On August 12th 1975, nearly only three months after Bayi had slightly shattered the mile world record, his main nemesis the 6' 1" tall and sizeable (185 pounds, about 50 pounds heavier than Bayi) 23 year-old New Zealander John Walker further lowered the record by an astounding 1.6 seconds! The new record became 3:49.4, the first ever timing below the 3:50, established at the Goteborg Games in Germany. Bayi was not among the competitors in this world-record run, but the margin of more than 5 seconds ahead of second placed Kenneth Hall of Australia was also significant. Walker had, this year lost three times to Bayi, two times indoors.
THE LATER YEARS
In 1975, John Walker would become number one with the leading time of 3:32.4. Bayi would be ranked second with the time of 3:35.0 this year. !In 1976, Bayi again dropped down to third in ranking (3:34.8) behind John Walker (3:34:19) and Thomas Wessighage of Germany (3:34.80). In 1977, Bayi was not on top 10 list. Walker was still number one, followed by Steve Ovett of Great Britain. In 1978 Bayi was ranked world second behind Dave Moorcroft of Great Britain, and it would be the last year that Bayi would be among the leading 1500m ten runners of the world. This year he lost the Commonwealth 1500m crown to the same Dave Moorcroft, Bayi winning the silver medal.
Bayi's athletic performances reached their apex during 1973 to 1977. Thereafter, Bayi continued to perform relatively excellently and he also progressively participate in more of the longer distances such as the 3000m, 3000m steeplechase, and 5000m. Bayi was far better at the longer distances than the 800m. At the same time, competition intensified with more and more people all over the world were taking on athletic careers as the dividends from sports opportunities became more and more lucrative. Competition became progressively more challenging Over the four years toward the end of his indulgence in international competition in 1989, Bayi competed less and less, and concentrated on mainly marathons a couple of times per year. The marathon results were mixed, but notably at the Honolulu Marathon on December 12th 1986, Bayi was fourth placed behind Kenyan legend Ibrahim Hussein and fellow Tanzanians Suleiman Nyambui and Gidamis Shahanga. Bayi's time was good (2hr:16:16). Bayi's career in athletics had spanned quite a busy two decades. Bayi stands out as one of the most disciplined, flexible, well-conditioned and dedicated athletes; the greatest athlete that Tanzania has ever produced.
Among the other more notable of Bayi's achievements were the silver medal in the 1500m at the Commonwealth of Nations Games held in Edmonton in 1978; the silver medal in the 3000m steeplechase (in a new national record) at the Olympics held in Moscow in 1980 (Tanzania did not participate in the Olympics in 1976), several East and Central African gold medal wins, and several African Games wins. The medals that Bayi and Suleiman Nyambui won in Moscow are still the only Olympic medal wins by Tanzanians.
The beginning of the new century witnessed Retired Major Filbert Bayi and his wife commendably setting up a foundation (Filbert Bayi Foundation) and building schools in Tanzania that are intended to tap and develop athletic and educational talent in youngsters as part of discipline, health, economic, and overall empowerment. Bayi's complex lies in Mkuza which is 50 miles from the capital city Dar-es-Salaam. He is the Secretary-General of the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC). Bayi certainly stands out as much greater than his image of one greatest athletes in the world.
Jonathan Musere
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
John Akii-Bua: Africa's Olympic Hurdling Gold Medallist
Born on 3rd December 1949 in Abako sub-county village in Moroto County in Lango District in Uganda, John Charles Akii-Bua (occasionally misspelled as Aki-Bua, or Aki-Buwa, or Akii-Buwa) left school early, at age 15, with an elementary school education. His leaving school early partly had to do with the death of his father and his having to help with family labor whereby he herded cattle and also worked in a local family retail store. As a boy, Akii was not significantly competitive in athletics. His informal athletic build-up came from the rigors of herding and protecting cattle from wild animals. In an interview in "Sports Illustrated," soon after his Olympic gold medal win, Akii would proudly remark that the lions were particularly weary of his presence when he was there and would not go after the animals he was herding.
When Akii joined the police force in the capital city Kampala, still as a teenager, he again benefited athletically from the rigorous police drills. Akii's potential in formal athletics was soon noticed, he started training in both track and field events. A police officer Joram Ochana who conveniently was the Africa's 440 yards-hurdles champion intensified Akii's training regimen. Akii soon won in eight events at the national police track and field championships. Apart from the hurdles, Akii was quite good at the javelin, the sprints, the 800m, among others and he would even establish a national decathlon record. Concentrating on the hurdles intensified after he was placed under the tutelage of the new national coach from the United Malcolm Arnold. Arnold was Uganda national coach from 1968 to 1972.
Akii-Bua triumphed in the 110 meters-hurdles finals at the East and Central African Championships held in Kampala in 1969. The influence of Arnold, convinced Akii that he would reap more benefits as a 400 meters-hurdler. In the finals of the 400 meters-hurdles at the Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh in 1970) Akii-Bua struggled with a hernia and back strain injury, he was trailing last at the last 100 meters, but still raced in fast to become fourth in 51.14 seconds. Akii-Bua was notably an unconventional hurdler---he could easily jump over hurdles either with the left or right leading leg.
Akii-Bua's first significant introduction to the athletic world was his win short-hurdles win at the USA vs. Africa (USA-Pan African) meet on 17th July 1971 in Durham, North Carolina. Akii-Bua won in an astonishing 49 seconds, a new Africa record, and the fastest time of the year. The world record of 48.1 held by Dave Hemery of Britain was less than one second away! Akii had conquered his demons of the Commonwealth Games, neatly beating his doubting African competition including Kenyan hurdler William Koskei who had won the silver at the Commonwealth of Nations Games. The track meet was significantly historical and heavily highlighted by Ebony magazine. Other African track stars that performed exceptionally well included legends Kipchoge Keino (1500m) and Ben Jipcho (3000m steeplechase) of Kenya and Miruts Yifter (5000m and 10000m) of Ethiopia. A couple more African athletes exceeded their expectations at the meet. Akii-Bua would soon be listed in the Afro-American Encyclopedia. He would be offered athletic scholarships from several American colleges but he would turn them down on the grounds that his family needed his presence and financial support at home in Uganda.
At the Olympic Games of 1972 in Munich, Akii-Bua, (by now in Uganda nicknamed "the flying policeman") was the only one of the competitors, to win in all three of the heats in which he was placed, including the acclaimed finals win. In all the competitions, Akii-Bua would be placed in the strenuous and disadvantageous either of the inner lanes one or two.
The Semi-Final in which Akii-Bua was placed also included top medal prospects David Hemery (Olympic champion from Britain) and American and world leading Ralph Mann (United States). Here Akii-Bua beat his top competition, Ralph Mann was second, and Dave Hemery was third. The Finals witnessed the medal tally in exactly the same order.
At the Olympics of 1972, on 2nd September, Akii-Bua officially became the first man in history to run the 400 meters-hurdles below 48 seconds, finishing first in the acclaimed 47.82 world record.
Akii-Bua and his coach Malcolm Arnold had actually predicted a possible 47 seconds world record gold medal win at the Olympics. Akii had trained hard, doing repetitive short and long-distance hurdle drill runs with heavy weights attached to his body. During a practice run, Akii-Bua is said to have unofficially run under the 400 meters-hurdles world record at Wankulukuku Stadium near Kampala. But Akii-Bua and Arnold humbly did not make much light about it, and waited for the official moment to come. Many, including, Dave Hemery, believe that Akii-Bua would have posted a significantly faster world record if he had been in the convenient middle lanes other than the "tight" inner first lane in the hurdles Olympic final.
Compared to his renowned African peer athletes such as Ben Jipcho (Kenya), Mike Boit (Kenya), and Filbert Bayi (Tanzania), Akii-Bua was significantly much less active in international competition. Many attribute this to the Uganda regime of Idi Amin (1972-1979) as being detrimental to Akii's athletic potential. During the regime, Akii and many of his relatives became targets of political interest, he was occasionally under house arrest, and his being underfunded meant that he would not compete and train internationally as much as his peers. Even at the Olympic Games in Munich, Akii was wearing an old pair of puma running shoes and a spike on one of them was missing. Akii-Bua was of the ethnic group (Lango) of President Apollo Milton Obote who was overthrown by Idi Amin's loyal soldiers. There were persecutions during the Amin regime and many Langi fled into exile, many into Tanzania, and they would make attempts to overthrow Amin. Some of Akii-Bua's relatives were killed during Amin's regime.
After the 1972 Olympic gold medal win, after four decades, John Akii-Bua is still the only African short distance and also hurdles Olympic gold medallist. He would not participate in the 1976 Olympics that were held in Montreal because of the political boycott by Uganda and many other African countries. But notably, Akii-Bua, with a personal best of 48.69s in the 400 meters-hurdles, was ranked 6th in the world. Also, several weeks prior to the Olympics, he had won in the 400m flat at a meet in Dusseldorf in a personal best of 45.82s. Unfortunately, only three weeks prior to the Olympics, Akii's left hamstring muscle tore. That would have reduced his chances of winning a medal in Montreal. It turned out that American Edwin Corley Moses would win the gold, finishing in a world-record time of 47.63s.
Jonathan Musere
When Akii joined the police force in the capital city Kampala, still as a teenager, he again benefited athletically from the rigorous police drills. Akii's potential in formal athletics was soon noticed, he started training in both track and field events. A police officer Joram Ochana who conveniently was the Africa's 440 yards-hurdles champion intensified Akii's training regimen. Akii soon won in eight events at the national police track and field championships. Apart from the hurdles, Akii was quite good at the javelin, the sprints, the 800m, among others and he would even establish a national decathlon record. Concentrating on the hurdles intensified after he was placed under the tutelage of the new national coach from the United Malcolm Arnold. Arnold was Uganda national coach from 1968 to 1972.
Akii-Bua triumphed in the 110 meters-hurdles finals at the East and Central African Championships held in Kampala in 1969. The influence of Arnold, convinced Akii that he would reap more benefits as a 400 meters-hurdler. In the finals of the 400 meters-hurdles at the Commonwealth Games held in Edinburgh in 1970) Akii-Bua struggled with a hernia and back strain injury, he was trailing last at the last 100 meters, but still raced in fast to become fourth in 51.14 seconds. Akii-Bua was notably an unconventional hurdler---he could easily jump over hurdles either with the left or right leading leg.
Akii-Bua's first significant introduction to the athletic world was his win short-hurdles win at the USA vs. Africa (USA-Pan African) meet on 17th July 1971 in Durham, North Carolina. Akii-Bua won in an astonishing 49 seconds, a new Africa record, and the fastest time of the year. The world record of 48.1 held by Dave Hemery of Britain was less than one second away! Akii had conquered his demons of the Commonwealth Games, neatly beating his doubting African competition including Kenyan hurdler William Koskei who had won the silver at the Commonwealth of Nations Games. The track meet was significantly historical and heavily highlighted by Ebony magazine. Other African track stars that performed exceptionally well included legends Kipchoge Keino (1500m) and Ben Jipcho (3000m steeplechase) of Kenya and Miruts Yifter (5000m and 10000m) of Ethiopia. A couple more African athletes exceeded their expectations at the meet. Akii-Bua would soon be listed in the Afro-American Encyclopedia. He would be offered athletic scholarships from several American colleges but he would turn them down on the grounds that his family needed his presence and financial support at home in Uganda.
At the Olympic Games of 1972 in Munich, Akii-Bua, (by now in Uganda nicknamed "the flying policeman") was the only one of the competitors, to win in all three of the heats in which he was placed, including the acclaimed finals win. In all the competitions, Akii-Bua would be placed in the strenuous and disadvantageous either of the inner lanes one or two.
The Semi-Final in which Akii-Bua was placed also included top medal prospects David Hemery (Olympic champion from Britain) and American and world leading Ralph Mann (United States). Here Akii-Bua beat his top competition, Ralph Mann was second, and Dave Hemery was third. The Finals witnessed the medal tally in exactly the same order.
At the Olympics of 1972, on 2nd September, Akii-Bua officially became the first man in history to run the 400 meters-hurdles below 48 seconds, finishing first in the acclaimed 47.82 world record.
Akii-Bua and his coach Malcolm Arnold had actually predicted a possible 47 seconds world record gold medal win at the Olympics. Akii had trained hard, doing repetitive short and long-distance hurdle drill runs with heavy weights attached to his body. During a practice run, Akii-Bua is said to have unofficially run under the 400 meters-hurdles world record at Wankulukuku Stadium near Kampala. But Akii-Bua and Arnold humbly did not make much light about it, and waited for the official moment to come. Many, including, Dave Hemery, believe that Akii-Bua would have posted a significantly faster world record if he had been in the convenient middle lanes other than the "tight" inner first lane in the hurdles Olympic final.
Compared to his renowned African peer athletes such as Ben Jipcho (Kenya), Mike Boit (Kenya), and Filbert Bayi (Tanzania), Akii-Bua was significantly much less active in international competition. Many attribute this to the Uganda regime of Idi Amin (1972-1979) as being detrimental to Akii's athletic potential. During the regime, Akii and many of his relatives became targets of political interest, he was occasionally under house arrest, and his being underfunded meant that he would not compete and train internationally as much as his peers. Even at the Olympic Games in Munich, Akii was wearing an old pair of puma running shoes and a spike on one of them was missing. Akii-Bua was of the ethnic group (Lango) of President Apollo Milton Obote who was overthrown by Idi Amin's loyal soldiers. There were persecutions during the Amin regime and many Langi fled into exile, many into Tanzania, and they would make attempts to overthrow Amin. Some of Akii-Bua's relatives were killed during Amin's regime.
After the 1972 Olympic gold medal win, after four decades, John Akii-Bua is still the only African short distance and also hurdles Olympic gold medallist. He would not participate in the 1976 Olympics that were held in Montreal because of the political boycott by Uganda and many other African countries. But notably, Akii-Bua, with a personal best of 48.69s in the 400 meters-hurdles, was ranked 6th in the world. Also, several weeks prior to the Olympics, he had won in the 400m flat at a meet in Dusseldorf in a personal best of 45.82s. Unfortunately, only three weeks prior to the Olympics, Akii's left hamstring muscle tore. That would have reduced his chances of winning a medal in Montreal. It turned out that American Edwin Corley Moses would win the gold, finishing in a world-record time of 47.63s.
Jonathan Musere
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
The Pearl of Africa, Uganda, and Henry Morton Stanley
The original reference to Uganda as the "Pearl of Africa" seems to have began being strongly attributed to Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill during the past three to four decades in Uganda. In reality, the "Pearl" that the world most significantly associates Spencer-Churchill with, is Pearl Harbor. A handful of literature displays that Spencer-Churchill did refer to Uganda as "Africa's pearl." But he certainly was not the origin of the term "Pearl of Africa," one which may even have been uttered before Churchill was born. Churchill was born in 1874.
The late 19th Century and early 20th Century colonial literature overwhelmingly attributes Uganda 'the Pearl of Africa' to Henry Morton Stanley. Many consider Stanley the most significant early explorer of Africa. Stanley chronicled his extensive journeys and observations in remarkable detail. It would seem that Churchill, who did not traverse Africa as extensively as Churchill, actually borrowed a lot of what he wrote on Uganda from Henry Stanley.
A handful of quotations fuel the evidence on Henry Morton Stanley.
James Home Morrison (page 171) writes : "On November 15, 1875, a remarkable letter appeared in the Daily Telegraph. ...written by Stanley in Uganda. ...Stanley speaks of Uganda as 'the Pearl of Africa' (in The Missionary Heroes of Africa, Negro Universities Press, 1922).
In the article, "Uganda" in Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, Volume 25 Captain W. H. Williams states, "...their descriptions...led to...Uganda being looked upon as a...fairyland. ...is it any wonder that England came to think that the Pearl of Africa was a jewel of great price? (1894: 105).
George S. Mackenzie, on page 23, states: "'The Pearl of Africa,' as Uganda has been...named by Mr Stanley...first brought to notice in Europe by the celebrated travelers Speke and Grant" ("The Troubles of Uganda," in Fortnightly Review, Volume 52, 1892).
On the world stage, the name Winston Churchill is far more significant than that of Henry Stanley, perhaps a major publicity-laden fuel for the strong attributing of "Pearl of Africa" to Churchill. On the other hand Henry Stanley was aggressive and ambitious, but he also came to be notorious for cunning, deceit and for exaggerating himself and his stories. He could also be opportunistic and cruel. Stanley is most notorious for his later brutal exploitative campaign in the mineral-rich Congo for King Leopold of Belgium. Apparently, his audaciousness made Stanley an efficient tool for colonial aggression, conquest and exploitation.
When Henry Stanley died in 1904, Spencer-Churchill had not even written his acclaimed, "My African Journey," in which he describes "Africa's pearl."
Jonathan Musere
The late 19th Century and early 20th Century colonial literature overwhelmingly attributes Uganda 'the Pearl of Africa' to Henry Morton Stanley. Many consider Stanley the most significant early explorer of Africa. Stanley chronicled his extensive journeys and observations in remarkable detail. It would seem that Churchill, who did not traverse Africa as extensively as Churchill, actually borrowed a lot of what he wrote on Uganda from Henry Stanley.
A handful of quotations fuel the evidence on Henry Morton Stanley.
James Home Morrison (page 171) writes : "On November 15, 1875, a remarkable letter appeared in the Daily Telegraph. ...written by Stanley in Uganda. ...Stanley speaks of Uganda as 'the Pearl of Africa' (in The Missionary Heroes of Africa, Negro Universities Press, 1922).
In the article, "Uganda" in Proceedings of the Royal Colonial Institute, Volume 25 Captain W. H. Williams states, "...their descriptions...led to...Uganda being looked upon as a...fairyland. ...is it any wonder that England came to think that the Pearl of Africa was a jewel of great price? (1894: 105).
George S. Mackenzie, on page 23, states: "'The Pearl of Africa,' as Uganda has been...named by Mr Stanley...first brought to notice in Europe by the celebrated travelers Speke and Grant" ("The Troubles of Uganda," in Fortnightly Review, Volume 52, 1892).
On the world stage, the name Winston Churchill is far more significant than that of Henry Stanley, perhaps a major publicity-laden fuel for the strong attributing of "Pearl of Africa" to Churchill. On the other hand Henry Stanley was aggressive and ambitious, but he also came to be notorious for cunning, deceit and for exaggerating himself and his stories. He could also be opportunistic and cruel. Stanley is most notorious for his later brutal exploitative campaign in the mineral-rich Congo for King Leopold of Belgium. Apparently, his audaciousness made Stanley an efficient tool for colonial aggression, conquest and exploitation.
When Henry Stanley died in 1904, Spencer-Churchill had not even written his acclaimed, "My African Journey," in which he describes "Africa's pearl."
Jonathan Musere
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Abraham Kwadu Munabi: Uganda Champion Triple Jumper and Long Jumper
During the late 1960's and early 1970's an excellent student at the prestigious rigorous Medical School at renowned Makerere University in Kampala established himself as one of the top African and Commonwealth of Nations' triple jumpers. Abraham Kwadu Munabi, born on 19th December 1940, was like Uganda 1960's champion sprinter Amos Omolo apparently a late-age entrant to significant sports competition. Munabi was the biggest name and medal hope in Uganda field athletics during the time. The national record that Munabi established in the triple jump, still stands four decades later.
But no, it is not for his athletic achievements that the world has mostly come to recognize Munabi. Dr. Munabi moved to the USA in the late-1970's for advanced studies, where he was involved in specialized experimentation and research in reproduction. In the space of more than thirty years, Munabi's name has appeared on a stream of research papers. Munabi is renowned as a fertility expert, a reproductive endocrinologist. A board certified gynecologist, Munabi founded and is director the Reproductive Science Institute of Suburban Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
Munabi jumped to a personal best of 16.11m and national triple jump record in September 1969. Here Munabi won gold in the triple jump at the East and Central African regional Games. The annual Games were held the capital city Kampala in Munabi's native Uganda. Munabi's jump-length win of 16.11m far surpassed the competition. At the same tournament, Munabi won gold in the long jump with 7.24m. Munabi would again bag gold in the triple jump at these regional Games in 1972, held in the Tanzania capital Dar-es-Salaam. The winning length was 15.40m.
The next most significant international sports gathering for Munabi would be the Commonwealth of Nation's Games of 1970 that were held in Edinburgh in Scotland. On July 24th, twenty-eight international competitors would interchangeably hop, skip, and jump in the qualifying round for the finals that would happen the next day. Munabi, with a jump of 15.51 meters, was placed ninth out of the thirteen finalists. The top five finalists were Australian Mile McGrath (16.09m), Samuel Igun of Nigeria (16.08m), Mohinder Singh Gill of India (15.90m), Australian Phil May (15.87m), and Tony Wadhams of England (15.80m). Despite his ninth place ranking, Abe felt he would ably grab a medal for Uganda. The finals witnessed Phil Gray (Australia), with a length of 16.72m, take the gold; Mike McGrath (16.41m) also of Australia, bagged the silver; and Mohinder Singh (India) was third after a jump of 15.90m. Abraham Munabi of Uganda was placed, a not too disappointing, fourth (15.73m).
These Commonwealth of Nations Games of 1970 witnessed Uganda emerge, with an impressive collection of medals, becoming the Commonwealth boxing champions. Boxing gold medals were won by Mohamed Muruli (light-welterweight), James Odwori (light-flyweight) and Benson Masanda (heavyweight); and the silver medals were won by flyweight Leo Rwabwogo and lightweight Deogratias Musoke. In athletics, Uganda's William Koskei (silver medal in 400m-hurdles) and Judith Ayaa (bronze medal in the 400m) were the prize winners. John Akii-Bua (400m-hurdles), aged 20, was like Munabi, beaten into fourth place.
At the Olympics of 1972 that were held in Munich, 31 year-old Munabi (out of the competing 6 male and 2 female athletes) was Uganda's oldest participant. At 5'11 (180 cm), Munabi was a relatively light 154 pounds (70 kg). There were 36 internationals for the triple jump competition that took place from September 3rd to 4th. Munabi ended up with a rather mediocre best length of 15.82m, and was placed 22nd ranked overall. Munabi's foul in the Third Round halted his progress. For comfort, Munabi had beaten a third of the field. The Olympic medal winners were, respectively Viktor Saneyev of the Soviet Union, Jorg Drehmel of East Germany, and Nelson Prudencio of Brazil.
Munabi was determined to win gold at the next All-Africa Games that would be held in August of 1973. Munabi was beaten to second place by Mansour Mamadou Dia of Senegal. But of significance Munabi had triple jumped to 16.26 meters, a national record that stands to this day. Gold medallist Mansour Dia had jumped to 16.53 meters, while bronze medallist Moise Pomaney of Ghana had achieved 16.09 meters. Dia also won a bronze medal in the long jump at these All-Africa Games. Also, Mansour Dia had not only represented Senegal at the previous three Olympics, he had also achieved the personal best and national record at the previous 1972 Olympics (16.77m), a national record that would stand for more than 3.5 decades. At the Olympics, Dia who is only a week younger than Munabi was overall 13th in 1964, 8th in 1968, and 6th in 1972.
The overall Uganda performance at the All-Africa Games was excellent, with boxers and athletes winning an impressive number of medals that Uganda has never come close to winning in the Africa Games since the 1973 performance (8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze). Uganda was sixth overall. In the next year, Munabi would have competed for Uganda at the Commonwealth Games that were held in Christchurch in New Zealand. One of his impediments were the trying finals he had to attend to in his Medicine program at Makerere University.
Munabi finished 6th in the triple jump at the 1976 Montreal pre-Olympic meet. Joshua Owusu (also Commonwealth of Nations Games' champion) of Ghana here won the gold. In the journal "Africa" (1976: 142) Munabi, now aged 34, is described as having slim hopes of winning an Olympic medal for Africa, but as being a major inspiration for the future of field athletics in Uganda. Indeed, at that time, it was Munabi who was Uganda's field athletics' top hit. At the same pre-Olympic meet, Ugandan boxer, Mustapha Wasajja, later to turn professional and become a top-ranked world fighter, won Uganda's lone gold. Unfortunately, Uganda, as did many other countries, boycotted and withdrew from the Olympic Games that would soon take place in Montreal.
The tradition of sports and academic excellence prevails in the Munabi family. Son Tunji Adrian Munabi was a student and all round-athlete at prestigious Stanford University in Palo Alto in California. Tunji was a top goal-scorer for the Stanford Cardinals, also a triple jump and long jump champion. But the son has not smashed the family triple-jump and long-jump records that the father established. Naikhoba another excellent student and athlete, the sister of Tunji, recently joined Stanford and competes in the triple jump.
As for Uganda, recent accolades and hope in the triple jump competition come by way of Sarah Nambawa (a track and field athlete) who in the last couple of years has become triple jump Africa champion (Nairobi, August 2010), established a Uganda record (13.95m), and was placed fifth at the Commonwealth Games of 2010 that were held in New Delhi. Earlier the 2010 IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup held in Split in Croatia in early September 2010, against imposing international competition Uganda's Nambawa finished 6th with her 13.78m jump. Also, earlier, competing for Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, in June 2010, Nambawa's leap of 13.66m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that were held in Eugene in Oregon placed her as 2nd overall.
There is ample room for Nambawa to ably displace "Abe" as Uganda's greatest triple jumper. Nambawa is certainly the most appropriate athlete to rekindle our memories of the sports achievements of Abraham Munabi.
Jonathan Musere
But no, it is not for his athletic achievements that the world has mostly come to recognize Munabi. Dr. Munabi moved to the USA in the late-1970's for advanced studies, where he was involved in specialized experimentation and research in reproduction. In the space of more than thirty years, Munabi's name has appeared on a stream of research papers. Munabi is renowned as a fertility expert, a reproductive endocrinologist. A board certified gynecologist, Munabi founded and is director the Reproductive Science Institute of Suburban Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
Munabi jumped to a personal best of 16.11m and national triple jump record in September 1969. Here Munabi won gold in the triple jump at the East and Central African regional Games. The annual Games were held the capital city Kampala in Munabi's native Uganda. Munabi's jump-length win of 16.11m far surpassed the competition. At the same tournament, Munabi won gold in the long jump with 7.24m. Munabi would again bag gold in the triple jump at these regional Games in 1972, held in the Tanzania capital Dar-es-Salaam. The winning length was 15.40m.
The next most significant international sports gathering for Munabi would be the Commonwealth of Nation's Games of 1970 that were held in Edinburgh in Scotland. On July 24th, twenty-eight international competitors would interchangeably hop, skip, and jump in the qualifying round for the finals that would happen the next day. Munabi, with a jump of 15.51 meters, was placed ninth out of the thirteen finalists. The top five finalists were Australian Mile McGrath (16.09m), Samuel Igun of Nigeria (16.08m), Mohinder Singh Gill of India (15.90m), Australian Phil May (15.87m), and Tony Wadhams of England (15.80m). Despite his ninth place ranking, Abe felt he would ably grab a medal for Uganda. The finals witnessed Phil Gray (Australia), with a length of 16.72m, take the gold; Mike McGrath (16.41m) also of Australia, bagged the silver; and Mohinder Singh (India) was third after a jump of 15.90m. Abraham Munabi of Uganda was placed, a not too disappointing, fourth (15.73m).
These Commonwealth of Nations Games of 1970 witnessed Uganda emerge, with an impressive collection of medals, becoming the Commonwealth boxing champions. Boxing gold medals were won by Mohamed Muruli (light-welterweight), James Odwori (light-flyweight) and Benson Masanda (heavyweight); and the silver medals were won by flyweight Leo Rwabwogo and lightweight Deogratias Musoke. In athletics, Uganda's William Koskei (silver medal in 400m-hurdles) and Judith Ayaa (bronze medal in the 400m) were the prize winners. John Akii-Bua (400m-hurdles), aged 20, was like Munabi, beaten into fourth place.
At the Olympics of 1972 that were held in Munich, 31 year-old Munabi (out of the competing 6 male and 2 female athletes) was Uganda's oldest participant. At 5'11 (180 cm), Munabi was a relatively light 154 pounds (70 kg). There were 36 internationals for the triple jump competition that took place from September 3rd to 4th. Munabi ended up with a rather mediocre best length of 15.82m, and was placed 22nd ranked overall. Munabi's foul in the Third Round halted his progress. For comfort, Munabi had beaten a third of the field. The Olympic medal winners were, respectively Viktor Saneyev of the Soviet Union, Jorg Drehmel of East Germany, and Nelson Prudencio of Brazil.
Munabi was determined to win gold at the next All-Africa Games that would be held in August of 1973. Munabi was beaten to second place by Mansour Mamadou Dia of Senegal. But of significance Munabi had triple jumped to 16.26 meters, a national record that stands to this day. Gold medallist Mansour Dia had jumped to 16.53 meters, while bronze medallist Moise Pomaney of Ghana had achieved 16.09 meters. Dia also won a bronze medal in the long jump at these All-Africa Games. Also, Mansour Dia had not only represented Senegal at the previous three Olympics, he had also achieved the personal best and national record at the previous 1972 Olympics (16.77m), a national record that would stand for more than 3.5 decades. At the Olympics, Dia who is only a week younger than Munabi was overall 13th in 1964, 8th in 1968, and 6th in 1972.
The overall Uganda performance at the All-Africa Games was excellent, with boxers and athletes winning an impressive number of medals that Uganda has never come close to winning in the Africa Games since the 1973 performance (8 gold, 6 silver, 6 bronze). Uganda was sixth overall. In the next year, Munabi would have competed for Uganda at the Commonwealth Games that were held in Christchurch in New Zealand. One of his impediments were the trying finals he had to attend to in his Medicine program at Makerere University.
Munabi finished 6th in the triple jump at the 1976 Montreal pre-Olympic meet. Joshua Owusu (also Commonwealth of Nations Games' champion) of Ghana here won the gold. In the journal "Africa" (1976: 142) Munabi, now aged 34, is described as having slim hopes of winning an Olympic medal for Africa, but as being a major inspiration for the future of field athletics in Uganda. Indeed, at that time, it was Munabi who was Uganda's field athletics' top hit. At the same pre-Olympic meet, Ugandan boxer, Mustapha Wasajja, later to turn professional and become a top-ranked world fighter, won Uganda's lone gold. Unfortunately, Uganda, as did many other countries, boycotted and withdrew from the Olympic Games that would soon take place in Montreal.
The tradition of sports and academic excellence prevails in the Munabi family. Son Tunji Adrian Munabi was a student and all round-athlete at prestigious Stanford University in Palo Alto in California. Tunji was a top goal-scorer for the Stanford Cardinals, also a triple jump and long jump champion. But the son has not smashed the family triple-jump and long-jump records that the father established. Naikhoba another excellent student and athlete, the sister of Tunji, recently joined Stanford and competes in the triple jump.
As for Uganda, recent accolades and hope in the triple jump competition come by way of Sarah Nambawa (a track and field athlete) who in the last couple of years has become triple jump Africa champion (Nairobi, August 2010), established a Uganda record (13.95m), and was placed fifth at the Commonwealth Games of 2010 that were held in New Delhi. Earlier the 2010 IAAF/VTB Bank Continental Cup held in Split in Croatia in early September 2010, against imposing international competition Uganda's Nambawa finished 6th with her 13.78m jump. Also, earlier, competing for Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, in June 2010, Nambawa's leap of 13.66m at the NCAA Outdoor Championships that were held in Eugene in Oregon placed her as 2nd overall.
There is ample room for Nambawa to ably displace "Abe" as Uganda's greatest triple jumper. Nambawa is certainly the most appropriate athlete to rekindle our memories of the sports achievements of Abraham Munabi.
Jonathan Musere
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs. John "the Beast" Mugabi: the Background, Boxing Slugfest, and the Aftermath
Ugandan boxer John "the Beast" Mugabi's professional opponents prior to the encounter with legendary African-American world middle-weight boxing champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler (formerly Nathaniel Marvin Hagler until he legalized his boxing nickname, "Marvelous") were a mixture of weak, mediocre and commendable fighters. Mugabi was born on March 4, 1960 in the Uganda region of Buganda. Mugabi's strengths were speed, intimidation, audacity, strength, and punching power. Mugabi was mainly a fast-stalking head hunter more than a body puncher, and he was not much of a defensive fighter.
In his initial professional boxing career, Mugabi was progressively pitted against opponents of higher quality from the time he became a professional in Europe. Mugabi's first fight was in Germany in early December of 1980. Thereby he knocked out Oemer Karadenis of Turkey who had previously only won a fight out of three and had been knocked out in all the three that he lost. In February the next year, Mugabi was again in Germany in the ring with Italian-born Giampaolo Piras. Piras' record of 4 wins and 66 losses was remarkably unimpressive! By 1984, Mugabi was being matched with opponents with generally good boxing records. The penultimate opponent to the fight with Hagler was Earl Hargrove of the USA who a year ago lost in a bid for the vacant IBF light middleweight title. Hargrove had a record of 26 wins and that only loss to Mike Medal of the United States. The battle with Mugabi was in Tampa in Florida where Mugabi now resided and trained. Hargrove was knocked out in the first round, and by the time Mugabi was scheduled to fight Hagler, Mugabi had racked up a record of 26 wins, no losses, and all the opponents had been knocked out.
But Marvin Hagler's record was by no means a cake walk! With a mean record of 61 wins (51 by knockout), 2 losses, and 2 draws (one of the most excellent professional boxing records in history), Hagler had long been established as an imposing legend and American icon. And he had never, in his lengthy professional career, been knocked out! Hagler was the undisputed world middleweight champion given that he held the title in all the world professional boxing sanctioning bodies at that time: the WBA (World Boxing Association), the WBC (World Boxing Council), and the IBF (International Boxing Federation).
It was in Las Vegas in April 1985, that Hagler had knocked out the legendary Thomas "Hitman" Hearns (whose only loss in 41 fights had been to "Sugar" Ray Leonard by a late TKO while Hearns was ahead in the bout on points) in Las Vegas. The Hagler-Hearns fight is, given the rapidity of hard exchanges, regarded by many as the most significant brutal first three rounds (the extent to which the bout went) in professional boxing history.
In November 1983, Hagler had beaten iconic Panamanian Roberto Duran by a unanimous decision, also in Las Vegas. Hagler had, undoubtedly racked up an excellent and intimidating boxing resume. In September 1980, Hagler after wresting the world middleweight crown from Alan Minter in London by a TKO following horrendous cuts on a badly hammered Minter, a riot stimulated by Minter supporters ensued and Hagler swore he would never fight in London again. There had recently been racist exchanges between the two opponents. It was still a marvelous victory for Hagler, given that it was after several years of being denied a chance at the world title, though he had been ranked the premier contender for several years. The Englishman Minter fought only three more times, lost the last two and thereafter retired from professional boxing.
Given Marvin Hagler's boxing experience and excellent record that included the previous 10 out of the 11 successful defenses of his undisputed world middleweight title by knockout, John Mugabi statistically looked challenging but not one that would beat Hagler. But then, as is known in boxing, surprises happen. And it is common for great boxers to be matched up with inexperienced and mediocre boxers. But Mugabi had the strength, speed, and audacity to challenge any equally weighted boxer on the planet. The "Beast" had racked up the popularity (at least in Europe, USA, and Africa) as the invincible and devastating boxer! Hagler was feared by most, and there was a large chunk of money to be pocketed at the boxing opportunity to meet with Hagler.
On the other hand, Mugabi had not even challenged for any of the minor professional titles such as the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) title or the United States Boxing Association (USBA) title, not even for the considerably mediocre African Boxing Union (ABU) title. Also, Mugabi had mostly contested as a junior middleweight. Hagler was a world middleweight champion! Apparently, it may have been more logical and less grueling for Mugabi to be gradually prepared and matched up for a world junior middleweight title than to suddenly moved up to number one middleweight championship contender in all the sanctioning bodies: the WBC, WBA, and IBF! But apparently, as is implied, there was big money at stick in a Mugabi Hagler match-up, boxing fans were hungry for this battle! Hagler had felled too many, including many living legends and champions. The "Beast" sporting a 100% knockout record seemed to be just the right man at the moment to challenge Hagler for the money!
Also, notably, Mugabi had been the premier WBC junior middleweight contender for several months and had even been scheduled to fight the WBC champion Thomas Hearns in December 1984, and was later (following the Hagler-Hearns fight in April 1985) scheduled to fight Hearns for the title in November 1985. Apparently, the defeating of Hearns by Hagler and, the eagerness for another formidable challenger to meet Hagler was one of the factors that led to the Hagler-Mugabi fight. Hearns would thereafter be expected to fight the winner of the Hagler-Mugabi fight. Things, again, would not go as envisioned! A fight with the eventual winner never materialized! No Mugabi-Hearns fight or second Hagler-Hearns fight would ever happen!
Months prior to the encounter with Mugabi, Hagler responded regarding his level of readiness: "I realize Mugabi has a dream, but nobody is taking anything away from me because I've worked so hard, I've worked so long" (in "Mugabi Fight Should be Very Good," in Lakeland Ledger, March 10, 1986).
Thomas Hearns, looking toward a re-match with Hagler said: "I'd be very disappointed if Hagler lost [to Mugabi]. I wouldn't be disappointed for Hagler. I'd be disappointed for myself." ...[The Hagler vs. Mugabi fight] will be, "...a war. It is going to be a slugfest. They're both going to be in there brawling. It depends on who connects first" (in "Hearns Pulling For Hagler: Mugabi, Shuler stand in way of a rematch," in The Times-News, March 7, 1986)
For the fight, Hagler was guaranteed a gross sum of $2.5 million plus a percentage of other revenues, while John Mugabi was guaranteed $750,000. Hearns would earn between $200,000 and $600,000 for fighting undefeated African-American Olympian and knock-out specialist James Shuler for the NABF middleweight title. A Hagler-Hearns rematch, in light of the spectacular brawl of April 1985 in which Hearns was knocked out in the third round, was expected and planned to follow the Hagler-Mugabi fight.
Hagler, the solid favorite to beat Mugabi, referred to himself as, "A man on a mission," one inching closer to smashing Argentine Carlos Monzon's record of 14 consecutive world middleweight title defenses. The fight with Mugabi would be Hagler's 12th defense of the undisputed title since his London ousting by knockout of Alan Minter in September 1980.
The Mugabi-Hagler bout was scheduled to take place on November 14 in 1985, but because of a ruptured disc in Hagler's back and broken nose, was consequently set for March 10 1986.
The time in the ring came! Comparatively, 32 year-old Hagler looked like the aging seasoned and tough veteran in face of a solid and strong youthful Mugabi. The determination on the face was there, but Hagler did not look as firm and determined as he had been in the fight in April with Thomas Hearns. Maybe, after all, Hagler was at least slightly affected by his back injury that had caused the fight to be postponed. But, since his loss to Willie Monroe in March 1976, Hagler had not been defeated in the ring for 10 years!
Round One: The round involves Mugabi delivering guarded left jabs to the face, while Hagler maintains a safe distance away while occasionally throwing left-right combinations. In the last 30 seconds, Mugabi chases Hagler and briefly delivers a barrage of blows. When the bell rings, Mugabi gestures threateningly to Hagler intimidatingly so. As Mugabi walks to his corner, he raises his arms as if to declare that he is confident that he will win--more sooner than later.
Round Two: Hagler appears to be more confident than earlier on. The two trade punches, Mugabi even rocks Hagler, but Hagler maintains his gladiator stance and is not running. At the end of the fight, Mugabi gently taps Hagler's arm as if to concede, "Man, you are tough!"
Round Three: Mugabi is feeling the pressure. The two are slower and more relaxed, seemingly a evenly scored round. But the exchange of punches is still significant, Mugabi searching to deliver that killer punch. At the end of the round, as Hagler walks to his corner he stares at Mugabi as if to say, "I have got you, I am going to beat you!"
Round Four: Like Hagler has apparently noticed, Mugabi has slowed down. Hagler's blows are harder and more accurate. Though tough Mugabi does not fall, this is a turning point in the fight with the round apparently heavily favoring Hagler.
Round Five: Mugabi comes out charging to the middle of the ring in his signature intimidating way. The two cautiously trade punches. The round is relaxed but the solid blows are still there.
Round Six: The two are tired. But Hagler inches close to Mugabi's body, seemingly having sensed that Mugabi's punches are weaker and that Mugabi (a head hunter from a distance) is not much of a close-contact and body-puncher. Boxing while leaning against Mugabi also helps Hagler relax while delivering. Hagler's tactics and experience, and the fact that he is an ambidextrous boxer who can easily slide from being a southpaw to an orthodox boxer all confuse and reduce Mugabi's efforts. Mugabi ultimately gets a thorough beating from Hagler's combinations, though he bravely hangs on and delivers some at the end of the round. In the flurry Mugabi has tried to hold a warding-off Hagler, indication that he is worn and hurt and might fall. Mugabi was severely rocked. This is another significant turning point heavily in favor of Hagler. The experience of the older boxer has outscored the youthfulness, strength and speed of the younger boxer!
Round Seven: The two are comparatively relaxed, but Hagler confident from battering Mugabi in the previous round aggressively goes after Mugabi. Hagler is hitting Mugabi, but Mugabi is a hard nut to crack. Mugabi counter-punches in response to Hagler's delivery.
Round Eight: Mugabi looks tired but somewhat rejuvenated. He attempts to deliver a killer punch as Hagler keeps on inching towards him. Although Hagler is punching, his punches are not as solid as was in the previous two rounds--he seems to be taking it easy in this round.
Round Nine: The two come out boxing as if they are sparring partners. They are exchanging soft blows. There is not much action in this round apart from mostly Mugabi who delivers some solid shots in the last half-minute of the round. Mugabi seems to be back into the fight, although Hagler gets the better of him when the two are in closer proximity.
Round Ten: The two come out fighting hard. Then Hagler leans in closer to Mugabi's body, now that is well aware that Mugabi is not efficient when at close quarters but quite powerful when the fighters are arms' distance apart. Hagler manages to deliver a thorough beating. Mugabi even tries to hold Hagler as he wards him off, Mugabi is apparently hurt and fatigued. Hagler even taunts Mugabi at the end of the round. Mugabi stares menacingly at Hagler while responding with challenging gestures to communicate that he is undeterred by Hagler's blows.
Round Eleven. About halfway in the round, Hagler rocks Mugabi with a combination of punches. A sharp accurate hook causes Mugabi's head to shoot up, a sign that Mugabi is finished. Hagler follows with a combination that drops Mugabi. A shaken Mugabi sits on the floor as referee Mills Lane counts him out.
Indeed, after the Hagler fight young Mugabi still became more like a docile ferocious fighter of his former self. Notwithstanding, Hagler had also taken a thorough beating such that the fight with Mugabi would be his last victory. Hagler happened to angrily lose in his next (and last ever professional) fight with resurrected "Sugar" Ray Leonard, who eager for a comeback, introspectively watched at the ringside the Hagler-Mugabi fight. Remember, it is only Leonard and Hagler that had ever defeated Thomas Hearns. Leonard, though a couple of years ago medically advised not to fight again because of an injury in the eye area, felt confident enough to tackle Hagler. Many believe that Hagler was a shadow of his former self after the fight with Mugabi.
Hagler was to lose to a characteristically elusive Ray Leonard in a split decision on April 6, 1987. To date, the winner of the fight with Ray Leonard remains a moot question. A disgruntled Hagler who said he had been robbed migrated to Italy to pursue (one of his biggest dreams) a career of acting.
After the fight with Marvin Hagler, a beaten Mugabi would never again be the devastating terror he had previously been known to be. Many years later, Marvin Hagler would comment, "...another huge moment...was the fight with..Mugabi...he didn't give me any respect. He had that big poster in the press conference and he was walking around with that big cowboy hat on and then he punches a hole in my picture... I told him “punching a hole in the picture isn't me, that picture isn't going to be in the ring with you, I am. That really got me going about that fight and you know he was never the same after I was finished with him" (Aladdin Freeman in, "Up Close And Personal With The Legendary Marvin Hagler," July 17, 2004, Doghouse Boxing).
Ironically, though champion Marvin Hagler had racked up a superb boxing record over the many years, it is his last three fights (with Hearns, Mugabi, and Leonard) that really catapulted his name to immortal legend. It is fellow boxers that were scared of and avoided Hagler and for so long reduced his chances at the fame that he deserved. For Mugabi, his fight with Hagler would elevate him to world legendary status but it would in a way spell his demise. Mugabi would never be among the elite skillful and devastating force of world middleweights of the 1980's: Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Ray Leonard.
After the fight with Hagler, Mugabi would take more than half a year off in his native Uganda where he was welcomed as a national sports hero. In December of 1986, even without a single tune-up fighter after such a lengthy layoff, Mugabi was back in Las Vegas to fight African-American underdog Duane Thomas for the vacant WBC light middleweight title (vacated by Thomas Hearns). Duane Thomas, a 25 year-old unassuming native of Detroit and one of the Detroit Kronk Boxing Gym managed by coach Emmanuel Stuart (Thomas Hearns was also trained in the Kronk Gym) was relatively unknown but had an impressive record of 28 wins and only one loss. His only loss (in 1982) had been to future IBF light middleweight champion Buster Drayton by knockout. In the fight, Duane was intimidated by Mugabi, but he took his time while carefully studying Mugabi and looking for an opening. Mugabi was far from being the ferocious beast during and before the Hagler fight. Thomas managed to punch or thumb Mugabi in the eye, Mugabi turned in agony turned away as if in submission. Mugabi's eye socket had been dislocated; Mugabi was declared technically knocked out. Protests and pleas by Mugabi's manager Mickey Duff to declare the bout a "No Contest" were rejected. This time, Mugabi took time off for more than a year. His next bout would be in January 1988 against Bryan Grant. Grant was knocked out in the early rounds, and so were the next 7 opponents prior to Mugabi's next opportunity for a world title.
Again for the WBC light middleweight title, Mugabi would in July 1989 in France be pitted against Frenchman Rene Jacquot who had 5 months ago wrested the title from highly regarded Texan Donald Curry. The defeating of Curry was dubbed by Ring Magazine, "The Upset of the Year." Donald Curry had in July 1988 delivered a TKO over Italian Gianfranco Rossi who had previously knocked out Duane Thomas to claim the title.
Mugabi's championship fight with Rene Jacquot was eerie, short-lived, and controversial; and could easily have been declared a "No Contest." Mugabi was declared the winner by TKO in Round One after a retreating Jacquot slipped on the canvas and injured his ankle. Protests by the Jacquot camp did not help. Mugabi had unconventionally, at age 28, become world champion.
Mugabi would defend his title twice in Europe, and thereafter be gruesomely knocked out in Round One by legendary Terry Norris in Tampa in Florida. Two won bouts later, in November 1991, Mugabi would in London be knocked out in Round One by Gerald McClellan for the vacant WBO (World Boxing Organization) middleweight title. Mugabi thereafter went into semi-retirement, and re-emerged in Australia 5 years later in 1996. The sensational knockout power was gone and the bouts he won were mainly by decision. That included the vacant Australian super middleweight title whereby he defeated Jamie Wallace in Queensland.
The illustrious career of John "the Beast" Mugabi would end after his defeating at the hands of Anthony Bigeni in July 1998 in New Zealand for the PABA (Pan Asian Boxing Association) light heavyweight title; and in January 1999 when Mugabi was defeated by Glen Kelly in Sydney in the bid for the Australian light heavyweight title concurrent with the IBF Pan Pacific light heavyweight title.
John Mugabi's professional boxing record stands at an impressive 42 wins (with 39 knockouts), 7 losses, and one draw. The Australians have a fondness for Mugabi. Mugabi lives in Australia where he has been married and has children, and is a national.
Jonathan Musere
In his initial professional boxing career, Mugabi was progressively pitted against opponents of higher quality from the time he became a professional in Europe. Mugabi's first fight was in Germany in early December of 1980. Thereby he knocked out Oemer Karadenis of Turkey who had previously only won a fight out of three and had been knocked out in all the three that he lost. In February the next year, Mugabi was again in Germany in the ring with Italian-born Giampaolo Piras. Piras' record of 4 wins and 66 losses was remarkably unimpressive! By 1984, Mugabi was being matched with opponents with generally good boxing records. The penultimate opponent to the fight with Hagler was Earl Hargrove of the USA who a year ago lost in a bid for the vacant IBF light middleweight title. Hargrove had a record of 26 wins and that only loss to Mike Medal of the United States. The battle with Mugabi was in Tampa in Florida where Mugabi now resided and trained. Hargrove was knocked out in the first round, and by the time Mugabi was scheduled to fight Hagler, Mugabi had racked up a record of 26 wins, no losses, and all the opponents had been knocked out.
But Marvin Hagler's record was by no means a cake walk! With a mean record of 61 wins (51 by knockout), 2 losses, and 2 draws (one of the most excellent professional boxing records in history), Hagler had long been established as an imposing legend and American icon. And he had never, in his lengthy professional career, been knocked out! Hagler was the undisputed world middleweight champion given that he held the title in all the world professional boxing sanctioning bodies at that time: the WBA (World Boxing Association), the WBC (World Boxing Council), and the IBF (International Boxing Federation).
It was in Las Vegas in April 1985, that Hagler had knocked out the legendary Thomas "Hitman" Hearns (whose only loss in 41 fights had been to "Sugar" Ray Leonard by a late TKO while Hearns was ahead in the bout on points) in Las Vegas. The Hagler-Hearns fight is, given the rapidity of hard exchanges, regarded by many as the most significant brutal first three rounds (the extent to which the bout went) in professional boxing history.
In November 1983, Hagler had beaten iconic Panamanian Roberto Duran by a unanimous decision, also in Las Vegas. Hagler had, undoubtedly racked up an excellent and intimidating boxing resume. In September 1980, Hagler after wresting the world middleweight crown from Alan Minter in London by a TKO following horrendous cuts on a badly hammered Minter, a riot stimulated by Minter supporters ensued and Hagler swore he would never fight in London again. There had recently been racist exchanges between the two opponents. It was still a marvelous victory for Hagler, given that it was after several years of being denied a chance at the world title, though he had been ranked the premier contender for several years. The Englishman Minter fought only three more times, lost the last two and thereafter retired from professional boxing.
Given Marvin Hagler's boxing experience and excellent record that included the previous 10 out of the 11 successful defenses of his undisputed world middleweight title by knockout, John Mugabi statistically looked challenging but not one that would beat Hagler. But then, as is known in boxing, surprises happen. And it is common for great boxers to be matched up with inexperienced and mediocre boxers. But Mugabi had the strength, speed, and audacity to challenge any equally weighted boxer on the planet. The "Beast" had racked up the popularity (at least in Europe, USA, and Africa) as the invincible and devastating boxer! Hagler was feared by most, and there was a large chunk of money to be pocketed at the boxing opportunity to meet with Hagler.
On the other hand, Mugabi had not even challenged for any of the minor professional titles such as the North American Boxing Federation (NABF) title or the United States Boxing Association (USBA) title, not even for the considerably mediocre African Boxing Union (ABU) title. Also, Mugabi had mostly contested as a junior middleweight. Hagler was a world middleweight champion! Apparently, it may have been more logical and less grueling for Mugabi to be gradually prepared and matched up for a world junior middleweight title than to suddenly moved up to number one middleweight championship contender in all the sanctioning bodies: the WBC, WBA, and IBF! But apparently, as is implied, there was big money at stick in a Mugabi Hagler match-up, boxing fans were hungry for this battle! Hagler had felled too many, including many living legends and champions. The "Beast" sporting a 100% knockout record seemed to be just the right man at the moment to challenge Hagler for the money!
Also, notably, Mugabi had been the premier WBC junior middleweight contender for several months and had even been scheduled to fight the WBC champion Thomas Hearns in December 1984, and was later (following the Hagler-Hearns fight in April 1985) scheduled to fight Hearns for the title in November 1985. Apparently, the defeating of Hearns by Hagler and, the eagerness for another formidable challenger to meet Hagler was one of the factors that led to the Hagler-Mugabi fight. Hearns would thereafter be expected to fight the winner of the Hagler-Mugabi fight. Things, again, would not go as envisioned! A fight with the eventual winner never materialized! No Mugabi-Hearns fight or second Hagler-Hearns fight would ever happen!
Months prior to the encounter with Mugabi, Hagler responded regarding his level of readiness: "I realize Mugabi has a dream, but nobody is taking anything away from me because I've worked so hard, I've worked so long" (in "Mugabi Fight Should be Very Good," in Lakeland Ledger, March 10, 1986).
Thomas Hearns, looking toward a re-match with Hagler said: "I'd be very disappointed if Hagler lost [to Mugabi]. I wouldn't be disappointed for Hagler. I'd be disappointed for myself." ...[The Hagler vs. Mugabi fight] will be, "...a war. It is going to be a slugfest. They're both going to be in there brawling. It depends on who connects first" (in "Hearns Pulling For Hagler: Mugabi, Shuler stand in way of a rematch," in The Times-News, March 7, 1986)
For the fight, Hagler was guaranteed a gross sum of $2.5 million plus a percentage of other revenues, while John Mugabi was guaranteed $750,000. Hearns would earn between $200,000 and $600,000 for fighting undefeated African-American Olympian and knock-out specialist James Shuler for the NABF middleweight title. A Hagler-Hearns rematch, in light of the spectacular brawl of April 1985 in which Hearns was knocked out in the third round, was expected and planned to follow the Hagler-Mugabi fight.
Hagler, the solid favorite to beat Mugabi, referred to himself as, "A man on a mission," one inching closer to smashing Argentine Carlos Monzon's record of 14 consecutive world middleweight title defenses. The fight with Mugabi would be Hagler's 12th defense of the undisputed title since his London ousting by knockout of Alan Minter in September 1980.
The Mugabi-Hagler bout was scheduled to take place on November 14 in 1985, but because of a ruptured disc in Hagler's back and broken nose, was consequently set for March 10 1986.
The time in the ring came! Comparatively, 32 year-old Hagler looked like the aging seasoned and tough veteran in face of a solid and strong youthful Mugabi. The determination on the face was there, but Hagler did not look as firm and determined as he had been in the fight in April with Thomas Hearns. Maybe, after all, Hagler was at least slightly affected by his back injury that had caused the fight to be postponed. But, since his loss to Willie Monroe in March 1976, Hagler had not been defeated in the ring for 10 years!
Round One: The round involves Mugabi delivering guarded left jabs to the face, while Hagler maintains a safe distance away while occasionally throwing left-right combinations. In the last 30 seconds, Mugabi chases Hagler and briefly delivers a barrage of blows. When the bell rings, Mugabi gestures threateningly to Hagler intimidatingly so. As Mugabi walks to his corner, he raises his arms as if to declare that he is confident that he will win--more sooner than later.
Round Two: Hagler appears to be more confident than earlier on. The two trade punches, Mugabi even rocks Hagler, but Hagler maintains his gladiator stance and is not running. At the end of the fight, Mugabi gently taps Hagler's arm as if to concede, "Man, you are tough!"
Round Three: Mugabi is feeling the pressure. The two are slower and more relaxed, seemingly a evenly scored round. But the exchange of punches is still significant, Mugabi searching to deliver that killer punch. At the end of the round, as Hagler walks to his corner he stares at Mugabi as if to say, "I have got you, I am going to beat you!"
Round Four: Like Hagler has apparently noticed, Mugabi has slowed down. Hagler's blows are harder and more accurate. Though tough Mugabi does not fall, this is a turning point in the fight with the round apparently heavily favoring Hagler.
Round Five: Mugabi comes out charging to the middle of the ring in his signature intimidating way. The two cautiously trade punches. The round is relaxed but the solid blows are still there.
Round Six: The two are tired. But Hagler inches close to Mugabi's body, seemingly having sensed that Mugabi's punches are weaker and that Mugabi (a head hunter from a distance) is not much of a close-contact and body-puncher. Boxing while leaning against Mugabi also helps Hagler relax while delivering. Hagler's tactics and experience, and the fact that he is an ambidextrous boxer who can easily slide from being a southpaw to an orthodox boxer all confuse and reduce Mugabi's efforts. Mugabi ultimately gets a thorough beating from Hagler's combinations, though he bravely hangs on and delivers some at the end of the round. In the flurry Mugabi has tried to hold a warding-off Hagler, indication that he is worn and hurt and might fall. Mugabi was severely rocked. This is another significant turning point heavily in favor of Hagler. The experience of the older boxer has outscored the youthfulness, strength and speed of the younger boxer!
Round Seven: The two are comparatively relaxed, but Hagler confident from battering Mugabi in the previous round aggressively goes after Mugabi. Hagler is hitting Mugabi, but Mugabi is a hard nut to crack. Mugabi counter-punches in response to Hagler's delivery.
Round Eight: Mugabi looks tired but somewhat rejuvenated. He attempts to deliver a killer punch as Hagler keeps on inching towards him. Although Hagler is punching, his punches are not as solid as was in the previous two rounds--he seems to be taking it easy in this round.
Round Nine: The two come out boxing as if they are sparring partners. They are exchanging soft blows. There is not much action in this round apart from mostly Mugabi who delivers some solid shots in the last half-minute of the round. Mugabi seems to be back into the fight, although Hagler gets the better of him when the two are in closer proximity.
Round Ten: The two come out fighting hard. Then Hagler leans in closer to Mugabi's body, now that is well aware that Mugabi is not efficient when at close quarters but quite powerful when the fighters are arms' distance apart. Hagler manages to deliver a thorough beating. Mugabi even tries to hold Hagler as he wards him off, Mugabi is apparently hurt and fatigued. Hagler even taunts Mugabi at the end of the round. Mugabi stares menacingly at Hagler while responding with challenging gestures to communicate that he is undeterred by Hagler's blows.
Round Eleven. About halfway in the round, Hagler rocks Mugabi with a combination of punches. A sharp accurate hook causes Mugabi's head to shoot up, a sign that Mugabi is finished. Hagler follows with a combination that drops Mugabi. A shaken Mugabi sits on the floor as referee Mills Lane counts him out.
Indeed, after the Hagler fight young Mugabi still became more like a docile ferocious fighter of his former self. Notwithstanding, Hagler had also taken a thorough beating such that the fight with Mugabi would be his last victory. Hagler happened to angrily lose in his next (and last ever professional) fight with resurrected "Sugar" Ray Leonard, who eager for a comeback, introspectively watched at the ringside the Hagler-Mugabi fight. Remember, it is only Leonard and Hagler that had ever defeated Thomas Hearns. Leonard, though a couple of years ago medically advised not to fight again because of an injury in the eye area, felt confident enough to tackle Hagler. Many believe that Hagler was a shadow of his former self after the fight with Mugabi.
Hagler was to lose to a characteristically elusive Ray Leonard in a split decision on April 6, 1987. To date, the winner of the fight with Ray Leonard remains a moot question. A disgruntled Hagler who said he had been robbed migrated to Italy to pursue (one of his biggest dreams) a career of acting.
After the fight with Marvin Hagler, a beaten Mugabi would never again be the devastating terror he had previously been known to be. Many years later, Marvin Hagler would comment, "...another huge moment...was the fight with..Mugabi...he didn't give me any respect. He had that big poster in the press conference and he was walking around with that big cowboy hat on and then he punches a hole in my picture... I told him “punching a hole in the picture isn't me, that picture isn't going to be in the ring with you, I am. That really got me going about that fight and you know he was never the same after I was finished with him" (Aladdin Freeman in, "Up Close And Personal With The Legendary Marvin Hagler," July 17, 2004, Doghouse Boxing).
Ironically, though champion Marvin Hagler had racked up a superb boxing record over the many years, it is his last three fights (with Hearns, Mugabi, and Leonard) that really catapulted his name to immortal legend. It is fellow boxers that were scared of and avoided Hagler and for so long reduced his chances at the fame that he deserved. For Mugabi, his fight with Hagler would elevate him to world legendary status but it would in a way spell his demise. Mugabi would never be among the elite skillful and devastating force of world middleweights of the 1980's: Roberto Duran, Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns, and Ray Leonard.
After the fight with Hagler, Mugabi would take more than half a year off in his native Uganda where he was welcomed as a national sports hero. In December of 1986, even without a single tune-up fighter after such a lengthy layoff, Mugabi was back in Las Vegas to fight African-American underdog Duane Thomas for the vacant WBC light middleweight title (vacated by Thomas Hearns). Duane Thomas, a 25 year-old unassuming native of Detroit and one of the Detroit Kronk Boxing Gym managed by coach Emmanuel Stuart (Thomas Hearns was also trained in the Kronk Gym) was relatively unknown but had an impressive record of 28 wins and only one loss. His only loss (in 1982) had been to future IBF light middleweight champion Buster Drayton by knockout. In the fight, Duane was intimidated by Mugabi, but he took his time while carefully studying Mugabi and looking for an opening. Mugabi was far from being the ferocious beast during and before the Hagler fight. Thomas managed to punch or thumb Mugabi in the eye, Mugabi turned in agony turned away as if in submission. Mugabi's eye socket had been dislocated; Mugabi was declared technically knocked out. Protests and pleas by Mugabi's manager Mickey Duff to declare the bout a "No Contest" were rejected. This time, Mugabi took time off for more than a year. His next bout would be in January 1988 against Bryan Grant. Grant was knocked out in the early rounds, and so were the next 7 opponents prior to Mugabi's next opportunity for a world title.
Again for the WBC light middleweight title, Mugabi would in July 1989 in France be pitted against Frenchman Rene Jacquot who had 5 months ago wrested the title from highly regarded Texan Donald Curry. The defeating of Curry was dubbed by Ring Magazine, "The Upset of the Year." Donald Curry had in July 1988 delivered a TKO over Italian Gianfranco Rossi who had previously knocked out Duane Thomas to claim the title.
Mugabi's championship fight with Rene Jacquot was eerie, short-lived, and controversial; and could easily have been declared a "No Contest." Mugabi was declared the winner by TKO in Round One after a retreating Jacquot slipped on the canvas and injured his ankle. Protests by the Jacquot camp did not help. Mugabi had unconventionally, at age 28, become world champion.
Mugabi would defend his title twice in Europe, and thereafter be gruesomely knocked out in Round One by legendary Terry Norris in Tampa in Florida. Two won bouts later, in November 1991, Mugabi would in London be knocked out in Round One by Gerald McClellan for the vacant WBO (World Boxing Organization) middleweight title. Mugabi thereafter went into semi-retirement, and re-emerged in Australia 5 years later in 1996. The sensational knockout power was gone and the bouts he won were mainly by decision. That included the vacant Australian super middleweight title whereby he defeated Jamie Wallace in Queensland.
The illustrious career of John "the Beast" Mugabi would end after his defeating at the hands of Anthony Bigeni in July 1998 in New Zealand for the PABA (Pan Asian Boxing Association) light heavyweight title; and in January 1999 when Mugabi was defeated by Glen Kelly in Sydney in the bid for the Australian light heavyweight title concurrent with the IBF Pan Pacific light heavyweight title.
John Mugabi's professional boxing record stands at an impressive 42 wins (with 39 knockouts), 7 losses, and one draw. The Australians have a fondness for Mugabi. Mugabi lives in Australia where he has been married and has children, and is a national.
Jonathan Musere
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Winston Churchill, Henry Stanley, and Uganda as the "Pearl of Africa"
Ugandans have, for decades, been enamored with the designation "Pearl of Africa," which conferment on their country is commonly attributed by them to Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill. Only some appear to strongly associate the phrase with explorer Henry Morton Stanley. And the Ugandans have reason to be proud of Spencer-Churchill, the universally legendary British adventurer, warlord, writer, traveler,sportsman, orator, artist, literature Nobel prize winner, politician, statesman and prime-minister for generously and exceptionally describing the natural environmental beauty of the then British Protectorate Uganda and her peoples.
In his book "My African Journey" Spencer-Churchill describes Uganda as, "...from end to end a beautiful garden" (1908:88), "...the exuberance of vegetation...scarcely describable" (1908: 151). Spencer-Churchill describes the kingdom of Buganda as, "...a fairy tale..," one endowed with unique environmental attributes, with a remarkably and unexpectedly vibrant, structured and cordial social and political system nestled out of reach of the outside world (1908: 86-87). Compared to the prevalent literature of that time which tended to describe Africans as savagery, backward, disorganized and in need of guidance and civilizing, Spencer-Churchill's book that described Africans as very wonderful beings will always be exceptional. On page 197 of the book, Spencer-Churchill simply remarks, "Uganda is the pearl." I am hard pressed to come across evidence of Churchill writing specifically of Uganda as, "The Pearl of Africa."
So, was the quotation attributed to Churchill's slightly altered to help describe Uganda's uniqueness in Africa, was Churchill merely paraphrasing what others in the past had written and said about Uganda, or have people attributed "Pearl of Africa" to Spencer-Churchill simply because of his outstanding iconic world presence?
Some years ago Jeff Davis Bass a young Rhetoric professor in the Department of Communications Studies professor at Baylor University in Texas assured me that it was Henry Morton Stanley and not Winston Spencer-Churchill that had originally designated the future Uganda area as "the Pearl of Africa." I was surprised but I believed him. I was more familiar with Churchill's book than I was with Henry Stanley. Bass' doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, when he was 26 is, "The Ideological Uses of Myth: the British and Uganda, 1863-1895." Bass told me that he had wanted to, but it had not been ideal for him to research in Uganda at that time; but that he had greatly relied on archival records that he researched in London. Henry Stanley was born John Rowlands in Wales, then at age 18 migrated to the United States and became employed and befriended by a wealthy New Orleans trader named Stanley. American literature heavily attributes, "Pearl of Africa," to Henry Stanley.
To begin with, Spencer-Churchill, one of the Spencer aristocratic family was born two months prematurely on November 30th 1874. Morton Stanley was already in Africa. In 1871, Stanley had met with explorer Dr. David Livingstone, "I presume." Norman D. Harris implies that "Pearl of Africa" may have been coined by more than one person, or by one out of at three major European adventurers.
"Uganda had been visited as early as 1858 by Captain [John Hanning] Speke and [Richard] Burton and again in 1875 by Stanley, all of whom were enthusiastic over the fertility of its soil and the intelligence of its people. They referred to it as the "pearl of Africa... "(Harris 1914: 90).
Frederick John D. Lugard writes, "Stanley was even louder in his praises of Uganda than Speke had been, and described it as the "Pearl of Africa" (1893: 3). Lugard also suggests that the praises Stanley lavished on Uganda that included that quotation greatly influenced the prompt dispatching of Anglican missionaries that Stanley lauded for. The royal office of Queen Victoria authorized the dispatching of the missionaries to the Kabaka Mutesa Mukaabya's court in Buganda. Notably, the use of gemstone name-words like, "Pearl," reached their apex in the late Victorian era. The ship that carried missionary David Livingstone from Liverpool to the mouth of the Zambezi river, in 1858, was HMS Pearl.
In 1890, teenager Churchill joined the Harrow Rifle Corps (now known as the Combined Cadet Force) and excelled in English, History, and fencing. there are hints to the coining of, "Pearl of Africa." In the same year Henry William Little writes of the northern and western Uganda part of the Anglo-Egyptian colonial province Equatoria under the governance of the Pasha Dr. Mehmet Emin as referred to as, "...'the pearl of the Soudan,' one of the fairest and most fertile, and most populous, of the Central African States" (Little: 1890). Soudan/ Sudan was a generic designation for "Land of the blacks," or the areas south of Egypt that were prevalently occupied by Negroids. There were fleeting considerations, by the General Charles Gordon the governing overlord 'Pasha' of Egyptian-Sudan, to annex Uganda. A military contingent under Mehmet Emin was dispatched to Mutesa's capital in 1876. The proposed treaty with Mutesa did not achieve fruition, the political relationship with Gordon ended and Emin's contingent withdrew. The 'pearl of the Soudan," may have partially been a reference to Uganda.
In 1893, Churchill left Harrow Rifle Corps in the hopes of attending the prestigious Royal Military College at Sandhurst. After three attempts, Churchill passed the entrance exam and went into cavalry other than infantry which required of him a higher mathematical acumen. Spencer-Churchill was not fond of mathematics. In December 1894, Winston commendably graduated eighth out of a class of 150. He became commissioned as a Cornet (Second Lieutenant) in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in February 1895. He, later in the year, traveled to Cuba as a war correspondent. He would return home in the same year to bid farewell to his nanny, surrogate mother, and "favorite friend" Mrs. Elizabeth Everest who was close to death. She died a week after Churchill returned. Winston's birth mother, Lady Randolph Churchill (Jeanette Jerome), a daughter of an American millionaire, relied on nannies and limited her participation in her two sons' upbringing. And Winston's father, Randolph Spencer-Churchill died young at age 45.
In October 1896, Winston Spencer-Churchill was transferred to British India in Bombay (Mumbai); later in 1898 to Egypt. He resigned from the British Army in 1899, intending to get into British politics.
In 1898, Henry Morton Stanley writes.
"Uganda, the pearl of Africa, discovered by Mr. Stanley, snatched by Captain Lugard from the hands of the French, and now in the throes of a mutiny, is the cockpit of Central Africa. Heathens, Protestants, and Catholics are always struggling for mastery. It is the land of romance and of the unexpected. It commands the northern shores of the Victoria Nyanza and the head waters of the Nile" (Stanley 1898: 63-64).
It was in late 1899 or early 1900 that Churchill arrived in South Africa to act as a correspondent regarding the second Boer War between Britain and the Boer Republics. After capture and imprisonment in a POW camp in Pretoria, Churchill managed to escape 300 miles away to Lourenco Marques in Delgoa Bay. After another series of adventures, Churchill returned to England in 1900.
Meanwhile, published in 1899 is, "...British East Africa, stretching from the Indian Ocean to Lake Victoria, and having within its borders Uganda, 'the pearl of Africa,' discovered by Henry M. Stanley, and now fast developing into a prosperous and modern community, with merchant and war ships aiding its commerce on the lake and railroads connecting it with the ocean and the interior" (School Journal, Volume 59: 1899).
And here is a piece from Samuel Henry Jeyes.
"If Lord Rosebery had certain difficulties to surmount within the Cabinet in regard to Egypt, they were trifling in comparison with the resistance offered to his policy of strengthening British control over Uganda. In June 1892, the directors of the British East Africa Company announced that they had finally decided to withdraw from a region which the late Sir Henry Stanley described as the pearl of Central Africa, but which had shown no indication of paying, or becoming likely to pay, for the expenses of the administration" (1906: 147).
And Henry Stanley writes.
"There were two main motives for which the British nation voted the money for the construction of the Uganda Railway. The first was the suppression of the slave trade, and the second was to effect an uninterrupted and speedy communication between the sea and what was called the "Pearl of Africa," and to-day, as the reader of the paper had said, those two objects had been accomplished (1902: 171).
Also, "The Sleeping Sickness has become so serious in the British Protectorate of Uganda, called by Stanley 'the Pearl of Africa,"'that the English Government has sent a commission to determine the reasons for the spread of the disease and if possible to find a remedy" (Wheeler and Crane 1903: 426).
Here, Norman Harris refers to the late 19th century. "Uganda had been visited early by Captain Speke and Stanley, both of whom were enthusiastic over the fertility of its soil and the intelligence of its people. They referred to it as the "pearl of Africa" (Harris 1909: 207).
There is a section largely implying Buganda and the Baganda in Chambers's [sic] Encyclopaedia; Winston Churchill who had already visited Uganda and written on Africa is not mentioned in reference to the "Pearl."
"Uganda: a British protectorate in East Africa, extending along the north-west shore of the Victoria Nyanza, and lying on both sides of the equator. It was first visited (in 1862) by Speke and Grant, and by Stanley was called the 'Pearl of Africa.' The country is partly mountainous, partly undulating, partly a plain, very fertile on the whole, and well wooded. The climate is mild and singularly uniform throughout the year, the variation being from 50° to 90° F. The Waganda, who may number three millions, are a warlike and highly intelligent people speaking a language of the Bantu stock, with well-developed native industries" (1912: 359).
An interesting colonial view of the Buganda at that time is offered by the American Medical Association.
"The Waganda may be said to be the French of Central Africa. They are people with ideas, and they lead the fashions. A race which prides itself on descent from remote white progenitors, the Waganda stand out, by reason of their elaborate system of autocratic government, their laws and customs which control all the affairs of life, even the amount of bare leg permissible at court; their higher civilization, which is shown in their dress, houses and sanitary arrangements—as distinct and separate from the naked savages which surround Uganda, "the Pearl of Central Africa." The Emperor Mtesa, with his barbaric court on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, his arrogance and cruelty, his intelligence and eager desire to learn, his vast armies and his huge harem, has been described by Speke and Stanley with such minuteness and brilliancy that his name and character will never be forgotten. The Waganda are extremely intelligent, and the missionaries who followed in Stanley's steps and established a station at Uganda tell wonderful stories of individual converts who quickly learnt to read the Bible in their native tongue, and to write capital letters, and who even suffered cruel martyrdoms for their faith ; but all who have had anything to do with these people agree that, as a whole, they are crafty, lying, murderous thieves. Both men and women are draped in bark-cloth, and immodesty is a crime ; the dwellings are clean, and each householder is obliged to construct a privy away from the house ; the banana and plantains are the staple articles of food, the savory cooking of which is practiced. The Waganda are very skillful with their fingers, and in the making of shields, spears, and canoes they excel all other African tribes; they are extremely fond of music, and have a number of musical instruments; indeed, so fond are all the African races of music, that, in Sir Samuel Baker's opinion, a man who plays the cornet, or an organ grinder, could pass unharmed from one end of Africa to the other; and that a missionary to be successful ought to be able to dance a jig and play the bagpipes. Women in Uganda are mere baggage and all wives have their price" (1890).
The "Pearl," was apparently an interchanging reference to Buganda and British Protectorate Uganda. But yes, Buganda was the nucleus of the activity in the British Protectorate. According to Wyatt Tilby, "Uganda had moved the admiration of Stanley, who called it the pearl of Africa" (1912: 192).
And Burton J. Hendrick writes: "...Uganda, "the pearl of Africa," the land of romance and adventure, which was discovered by Stanley and saved for England by Captain Lugard, is now one of England's richest dependencies" (1900: 176).
This is a piece by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. "It is a striking illustration of native manners and customs, and it shows how close are the relations between the missionaries and the government of Uganda, which Mr. Stanley calls the 'Pearl of Africa'..." (1891: 28)
Certainly, Winston Spencer-Churchill was not the original source of the term, "Pearl of Africa." The most credible originator of the term seems to be Henry Morton Stanley. Stanley is apparently associated with the phrase, countless times that it is surprising that Spencer-Churchill gets a lot of the credit. Churchill seems to have learned and incorporated into his writing much of what was documented by Stanley about Uganda. Henry Stanley was a major driving force in the exploration and promotion of Uganda to the outside world. He was the bulldozing soldier and adventurer who endured the hostilities of the jungles.
Works Cited
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Missionary Herald, Volume 87. London: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1891.
American Medical Association. Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 15, (1890): 109.
Churchill, Winston S. L. My African Journey. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1908.
Harris, Norman D. Intervention and Colonization in Africa. London: Houghton Mifflin, 1914.
Harris, Norman D. "European Expansion and East Africa." The Forum, Volume 42, (1909).
Jeyes, Samuel Henry. The Earl of Rosebery. London: J. M. Dent, 1906.
Hendrick, Burton J. "Twenty Years of Empire Building in Africa." Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly,Volume 51 (1900): 172-176.
Lippincott Publishers. Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, Volume 10, London: Lippincott, 1912.
Little, Henry William. Henry M. Stanley, His Life, Travels and Explorations. London: Chapman and Hall, 1890.
Lugard, Frederick J. D. The Rise of Our East African Empire: Early Efforts in Nyasaland and Uganda (Volume 2), London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1893.
School Journal, Volume 59, London: E. L. Kellogg and Company. (1899): 709.
Stanley, Henry M. Africa: Its Partition and Its Future. London: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1898.
Stanley, Henry M. "A Great African Lake." National Geographic Magazine, Volume 13 (1902): 171.
Tilby, Wyatt A. Britain in the Tropics, 1527-1910. London: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.
Wheeler, Edward J. and Crane, Frank. "Sleeping Sickness." Current Opinion no. 34 (1903): 426.
Jonathan Musere
In his book "My African Journey" Spencer-Churchill describes Uganda as, "...from end to end a beautiful garden" (1908:88), "...the exuberance of vegetation...scarcely describable" (1908: 151). Spencer-Churchill describes the kingdom of Buganda as, "...a fairy tale..," one endowed with unique environmental attributes, with a remarkably and unexpectedly vibrant, structured and cordial social and political system nestled out of reach of the outside world (1908: 86-87). Compared to the prevalent literature of that time which tended to describe Africans as savagery, backward, disorganized and in need of guidance and civilizing, Spencer-Churchill's book that described Africans as very wonderful beings will always be exceptional. On page 197 of the book, Spencer-Churchill simply remarks, "Uganda is the pearl." I am hard pressed to come across evidence of Churchill writing specifically of Uganda as, "The Pearl of Africa."
So, was the quotation attributed to Churchill's slightly altered to help describe Uganda's uniqueness in Africa, was Churchill merely paraphrasing what others in the past had written and said about Uganda, or have people attributed "Pearl of Africa" to Spencer-Churchill simply because of his outstanding iconic world presence?
Some years ago Jeff Davis Bass a young Rhetoric professor in the Department of Communications Studies professor at Baylor University in Texas assured me that it was Henry Morton Stanley and not Winston Spencer-Churchill that had originally designated the future Uganda area as "the Pearl of Africa." I was surprised but I believed him. I was more familiar with Churchill's book than I was with Henry Stanley. Bass' doctoral thesis, completed at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, when he was 26 is, "The Ideological Uses of Myth: the British and Uganda, 1863-1895." Bass told me that he had wanted to, but it had not been ideal for him to research in Uganda at that time; but that he had greatly relied on archival records that he researched in London. Henry Stanley was born John Rowlands in Wales, then at age 18 migrated to the United States and became employed and befriended by a wealthy New Orleans trader named Stanley. American literature heavily attributes, "Pearl of Africa," to Henry Stanley.
To begin with, Spencer-Churchill, one of the Spencer aristocratic family was born two months prematurely on November 30th 1874. Morton Stanley was already in Africa. In 1871, Stanley had met with explorer Dr. David Livingstone, "I presume." Norman D. Harris implies that "Pearl of Africa" may have been coined by more than one person, or by one out of at three major European adventurers.
"Uganda had been visited as early as 1858 by Captain [John Hanning] Speke and [Richard] Burton and again in 1875 by Stanley, all of whom were enthusiastic over the fertility of its soil and the intelligence of its people. They referred to it as the "pearl of Africa... "(Harris 1914: 90).
Frederick John D. Lugard writes, "Stanley was even louder in his praises of Uganda than Speke had been, and described it as the "Pearl of Africa" (1893: 3). Lugard also suggests that the praises Stanley lavished on Uganda that included that quotation greatly influenced the prompt dispatching of Anglican missionaries that Stanley lauded for. The royal office of Queen Victoria authorized the dispatching of the missionaries to the Kabaka Mutesa Mukaabya's court in Buganda. Notably, the use of gemstone name-words like, "Pearl," reached their apex in the late Victorian era. The ship that carried missionary David Livingstone from Liverpool to the mouth of the Zambezi river, in 1858, was HMS Pearl.
In 1890, teenager Churchill joined the Harrow Rifle Corps (now known as the Combined Cadet Force) and excelled in English, History, and fencing. there are hints to the coining of, "Pearl of Africa." In the same year Henry William Little writes of the northern and western Uganda part of the Anglo-Egyptian colonial province Equatoria under the governance of the Pasha Dr. Mehmet Emin as referred to as, "...'the pearl of the Soudan,' one of the fairest and most fertile, and most populous, of the Central African States" (Little: 1890). Soudan/ Sudan was a generic designation for "Land of the blacks," or the areas south of Egypt that were prevalently occupied by Negroids. There were fleeting considerations, by the General Charles Gordon the governing overlord 'Pasha' of Egyptian-Sudan, to annex Uganda. A military contingent under Mehmet Emin was dispatched to Mutesa's capital in 1876. The proposed treaty with Mutesa did not achieve fruition, the political relationship with Gordon ended and Emin's contingent withdrew. The 'pearl of the Soudan," may have partially been a reference to Uganda.
In 1893, Churchill left Harrow Rifle Corps in the hopes of attending the prestigious Royal Military College at Sandhurst. After three attempts, Churchill passed the entrance exam and went into cavalry other than infantry which required of him a higher mathematical acumen. Spencer-Churchill was not fond of mathematics. In December 1894, Winston commendably graduated eighth out of a class of 150. He became commissioned as a Cornet (Second Lieutenant) in the 4th Queen's Own Hussars in February 1895. He, later in the year, traveled to Cuba as a war correspondent. He would return home in the same year to bid farewell to his nanny, surrogate mother, and "favorite friend" Mrs. Elizabeth Everest who was close to death. She died a week after Churchill returned. Winston's birth mother, Lady Randolph Churchill (Jeanette Jerome), a daughter of an American millionaire, relied on nannies and limited her participation in her two sons' upbringing. And Winston's father, Randolph Spencer-Churchill died young at age 45.
In October 1896, Winston Spencer-Churchill was transferred to British India in Bombay (Mumbai); later in 1898 to Egypt. He resigned from the British Army in 1899, intending to get into British politics.
In 1898, Henry Morton Stanley writes.
"Uganda, the pearl of Africa, discovered by Mr. Stanley, snatched by Captain Lugard from the hands of the French, and now in the throes of a mutiny, is the cockpit of Central Africa. Heathens, Protestants, and Catholics are always struggling for mastery. It is the land of romance and of the unexpected. It commands the northern shores of the Victoria Nyanza and the head waters of the Nile" (Stanley 1898: 63-64).
It was in late 1899 or early 1900 that Churchill arrived in South Africa to act as a correspondent regarding the second Boer War between Britain and the Boer Republics. After capture and imprisonment in a POW camp in Pretoria, Churchill managed to escape 300 miles away to Lourenco Marques in Delgoa Bay. After another series of adventures, Churchill returned to England in 1900.
Meanwhile, published in 1899 is, "...British East Africa, stretching from the Indian Ocean to Lake Victoria, and having within its borders Uganda, 'the pearl of Africa,' discovered by Henry M. Stanley, and now fast developing into a prosperous and modern community, with merchant and war ships aiding its commerce on the lake and railroads connecting it with the ocean and the interior" (School Journal, Volume 59: 1899).
And here is a piece from Samuel Henry Jeyes.
"If Lord Rosebery had certain difficulties to surmount within the Cabinet in regard to Egypt, they were trifling in comparison with the resistance offered to his policy of strengthening British control over Uganda. In June 1892, the directors of the British East Africa Company announced that they had finally decided to withdraw from a region which the late Sir Henry Stanley described as the pearl of Central Africa, but which had shown no indication of paying, or becoming likely to pay, for the expenses of the administration" (1906: 147).
And Henry Stanley writes.
"There were two main motives for which the British nation voted the money for the construction of the Uganda Railway. The first was the suppression of the slave trade, and the second was to effect an uninterrupted and speedy communication between the sea and what was called the "Pearl of Africa," and to-day, as the reader of the paper had said, those two objects had been accomplished (1902: 171).
Also, "The Sleeping Sickness has become so serious in the British Protectorate of Uganda, called by Stanley 'the Pearl of Africa,"'that the English Government has sent a commission to determine the reasons for the spread of the disease and if possible to find a remedy" (Wheeler and Crane 1903: 426).
Here, Norman Harris refers to the late 19th century. "Uganda had been visited early by Captain Speke and Stanley, both of whom were enthusiastic over the fertility of its soil and the intelligence of its people. They referred to it as the "pearl of Africa" (Harris 1909: 207).
There is a section largely implying Buganda and the Baganda in Chambers's [sic] Encyclopaedia; Winston Churchill who had already visited Uganda and written on Africa is not mentioned in reference to the "Pearl."
"Uganda: a British protectorate in East Africa, extending along the north-west shore of the Victoria Nyanza, and lying on both sides of the equator. It was first visited (in 1862) by Speke and Grant, and by Stanley was called the 'Pearl of Africa.' The country is partly mountainous, partly undulating, partly a plain, very fertile on the whole, and well wooded. The climate is mild and singularly uniform throughout the year, the variation being from 50° to 90° F. The Waganda, who may number three millions, are a warlike and highly intelligent people speaking a language of the Bantu stock, with well-developed native industries" (1912: 359).
An interesting colonial view of the Buganda at that time is offered by the American Medical Association.
"The Waganda may be said to be the French of Central Africa. They are people with ideas, and they lead the fashions. A race which prides itself on descent from remote white progenitors, the Waganda stand out, by reason of their elaborate system of autocratic government, their laws and customs which control all the affairs of life, even the amount of bare leg permissible at court; their higher civilization, which is shown in their dress, houses and sanitary arrangements—as distinct and separate from the naked savages which surround Uganda, "the Pearl of Central Africa." The Emperor Mtesa, with his barbaric court on the shores of the Victoria Nyanza, his arrogance and cruelty, his intelligence and eager desire to learn, his vast armies and his huge harem, has been described by Speke and Stanley with such minuteness and brilliancy that his name and character will never be forgotten. The Waganda are extremely intelligent, and the missionaries who followed in Stanley's steps and established a station at Uganda tell wonderful stories of individual converts who quickly learnt to read the Bible in their native tongue, and to write capital letters, and who even suffered cruel martyrdoms for their faith ; but all who have had anything to do with these people agree that, as a whole, they are crafty, lying, murderous thieves. Both men and women are draped in bark-cloth, and immodesty is a crime ; the dwellings are clean, and each householder is obliged to construct a privy away from the house ; the banana and plantains are the staple articles of food, the savory cooking of which is practiced. The Waganda are very skillful with their fingers, and in the making of shields, spears, and canoes they excel all other African tribes; they are extremely fond of music, and have a number of musical instruments; indeed, so fond are all the African races of music, that, in Sir Samuel Baker's opinion, a man who plays the cornet, or an organ grinder, could pass unharmed from one end of Africa to the other; and that a missionary to be successful ought to be able to dance a jig and play the bagpipes. Women in Uganda are mere baggage and all wives have their price" (1890).
The "Pearl," was apparently an interchanging reference to Buganda and British Protectorate Uganda. But yes, Buganda was the nucleus of the activity in the British Protectorate. According to Wyatt Tilby, "Uganda had moved the admiration of Stanley, who called it the pearl of Africa" (1912: 192).
And Burton J. Hendrick writes: "...Uganda, "the pearl of Africa," the land of romance and adventure, which was discovered by Stanley and saved for England by Captain Lugard, is now one of England's richest dependencies" (1900: 176).
This is a piece by American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. "It is a striking illustration of native manners and customs, and it shows how close are the relations between the missionaries and the government of Uganda, which Mr. Stanley calls the 'Pearl of Africa'..." (1891: 28)
Certainly, Winston Spencer-Churchill was not the original source of the term, "Pearl of Africa." The most credible originator of the term seems to be Henry Morton Stanley. Stanley is apparently associated with the phrase, countless times that it is surprising that Spencer-Churchill gets a lot of the credit. Churchill seems to have learned and incorporated into his writing much of what was documented by Stanley about Uganda. Henry Stanley was a major driving force in the exploration and promotion of Uganda to the outside world. He was the bulldozing soldier and adventurer who endured the hostilities of the jungles.
Works Cited
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The Missionary Herald, Volume 87. London: Samuel T. Armstrong, 1891.
American Medical Association. Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 15, (1890): 109.
Churchill, Winston S. L. My African Journey. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1908.
Harris, Norman D. Intervention and Colonization in Africa. London: Houghton Mifflin, 1914.
Harris, Norman D. "European Expansion and East Africa." The Forum, Volume 42, (1909).
Jeyes, Samuel Henry. The Earl of Rosebery. London: J. M. Dent, 1906.
Hendrick, Burton J. "Twenty Years of Empire Building in Africa." Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly,Volume 51 (1900): 172-176.
Lippincott Publishers. Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge, Volume 10, London: Lippincott, 1912.
Little, Henry William. Henry M. Stanley, His Life, Travels and Explorations. London: Chapman and Hall, 1890.
Lugard, Frederick J. D. The Rise of Our East African Empire: Early Efforts in Nyasaland and Uganda (Volume 2), London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1893.
School Journal, Volume 59, London: E. L. Kellogg and Company. (1899): 709.
Stanley, Henry M. Africa: Its Partition and Its Future. London: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1898.
Stanley, Henry M. "A Great African Lake." National Geographic Magazine, Volume 13 (1902): 171.
Tilby, Wyatt A. Britain in the Tropics, 1527-1910. London: Houghton Mifflin, 1912.
Wheeler, Edward J. and Crane, Frank. "Sleeping Sickness." Current Opinion no. 34 (1903): 426.
Jonathan Musere
Saturday, September 4, 2010
"Everyday Use" and Alice Walker: "Wa-su-zo-Tean-o, Wangero, Leewanika, Kemanjo"
The central character in Alice Walker's "Everyday Use," the beautiful Dee Johnson, breaks away from her Deep Southern American roots to become the heavily educated, urbanized, modernized young woman who despises her cultural setting. She later visits her bucolic dirty southern family of her mother Mama Johnson and unattractive scruffy and scarred sister Maggie. Dee signifies her transformation after stepping out of the car, by uttering to the two, "Wa-su-zo-Tean-o," and declaring that her new name is African: Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo. Debate and dissection continues about the inspiration and significance behind these African terms in Walker's famous short story.
"Wa-su-zo-Tean-o," is pre-noon daytime Luganda language greeting used by the Baganda of Uganda. It directly means, "How did you sleep?" but is a way of saying "Good morning" or "I hope you slept well." The correct wording is, "Wasuze otya nno?" But how would this greeting phrase that is so specific to a Ugandan ethnic group end up in one of Walker's most memorable works? It is worthy to note that Walker an excellent full-scholarship student at prestigious Spellman College in Atlanta (Georgia), transferred to distinguished Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville (New York) in 1963. Some of the reasons cited for her transferring are that Spellman was too conservative and puritanical for her liking.
Walker's roommate and dear friend at Spellman College, which she left in 1963 for Sarah Lawrence, happened to be a Ugandan named Constance. In 1964, after her junior year, Walker traveled to Uganda as a summer exchange student. Interviewed by Amy Goodman during the Organization of Women Writers of Africa conference at New York University in 2004, Alice Walker recounts about her Ugandan roommate as well as her painful journey to discovering her great-great-grandmother's grave:
"So, I went back to pay my respects and to take flowers, ...I was lucky enough to be able to get my Ugandan roommate--when I was at Spellman my roommate was this wonderful woman from Uganda who made me care deeply about Africans and African women. In fact I went to Uganda trying to understand how Constance had been created and produced by this country which before Idi Amin was very beautiful, very tranquil and green. So anyway Constance and I and my entire women’s council--I belonged to a women’s council--went to visit this grave. We sat there--my Constance from Uganda, my friend Belvee from--I mean, so many of us with so many histories that are so painful. Belvee’s mother had been actually beaten to death. So, we had a long time of crying there. We watered those graves with our tears. We were happy to do it."
Further, there is a small place in Uganda that happens to be uniquely named Wangero. The root word "ngero' means "stories" or "proverbs." Wangero can hence mean, "the place of stories" or "the person of stories." Local Ugandan friends may have given Walker the nickname "Wangero" or alluded to it, or Walker may have picked it out from the people of the first area he visited in Africa. Alice Walker, from early in her life, has certainly been a person of "many stories." Some, like Helga Hoel (a Norwegian scholar on Kenya literature), have speculated that "Wangero" is a mispronunciation and misspelling of the common Kenyan Kikuyu name Wanjiru. That theory does not hold water---the two have distinctly different spellings, the Kikuyu live hundreds of miles away east of Buganda, and the "Wa-" prefix is quite common in many personal names of east and central Africa.
The Leewanika is apparently a misspelling or an Alice Walker variant of the name Lewanika who was a powerful king in a region (Barotse Land) of present day Zambia. Under Lewanika, the region became a British Protectorate after colonial enforcement negotiations with Cecil Rhodes. In African terms, the "Le" in Lewanika is pronounced "leh" rather than "liih."
The name Kemanjo is apparently of African structure, but it is hard to prove that it is an African name. Helga Hoel speculates that it is a misspelling of the Kenyan Kikuyu name "Kamenjo" (White: 2001).
References
Goodman, Amy. "Alice Walker on the 'Toxic Culture" of Globalization," in Democracy Now!---The War and Peace Report. 2004.
Hoel, Helga. "Personal Names and Heritage: Alice Walker’s 'Everyday Use'." 2000. Trondheim Cathedral School, Trondheim, Norway. 30 Jan. 2000.
White, David. “'Everyday Use': Defining African-American Heritage," Portals--Purdue North Central Literary Journal, 2001.
Jonathan Musere
"Wa-su-zo-Tean-o," is pre-noon daytime Luganda language greeting used by the Baganda of Uganda. It directly means, "How did you sleep?" but is a way of saying "Good morning" or "I hope you slept well." The correct wording is, "Wasuze otya nno?" But how would this greeting phrase that is so specific to a Ugandan ethnic group end up in one of Walker's most memorable works? It is worthy to note that Walker an excellent full-scholarship student at prestigious Spellman College in Atlanta (Georgia), transferred to distinguished Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville (New York) in 1963. Some of the reasons cited for her transferring are that Spellman was too conservative and puritanical for her liking.
Walker's roommate and dear friend at Spellman College, which she left in 1963 for Sarah Lawrence, happened to be a Ugandan named Constance. In 1964, after her junior year, Walker traveled to Uganda as a summer exchange student. Interviewed by Amy Goodman during the Organization of Women Writers of Africa conference at New York University in 2004, Alice Walker recounts about her Ugandan roommate as well as her painful journey to discovering her great-great-grandmother's grave:
"So, I went back to pay my respects and to take flowers, ...I was lucky enough to be able to get my Ugandan roommate--when I was at Spellman my roommate was this wonderful woman from Uganda who made me care deeply about Africans and African women. In fact I went to Uganda trying to understand how Constance had been created and produced by this country which before Idi Amin was very beautiful, very tranquil and green. So anyway Constance and I and my entire women’s council--I belonged to a women’s council--went to visit this grave. We sat there--my Constance from Uganda, my friend Belvee from--I mean, so many of us with so many histories that are so painful. Belvee’s mother had been actually beaten to death. So, we had a long time of crying there. We watered those graves with our tears. We were happy to do it."
Further, there is a small place in Uganda that happens to be uniquely named Wangero. The root word "ngero' means "stories" or "proverbs." Wangero can hence mean, "the place of stories" or "the person of stories." Local Ugandan friends may have given Walker the nickname "Wangero" or alluded to it, or Walker may have picked it out from the people of the first area he visited in Africa. Alice Walker, from early in her life, has certainly been a person of "many stories." Some, like Helga Hoel (a Norwegian scholar on Kenya literature), have speculated that "Wangero" is a mispronunciation and misspelling of the common Kenyan Kikuyu name Wanjiru. That theory does not hold water---the two have distinctly different spellings, the Kikuyu live hundreds of miles away east of Buganda, and the "Wa-" prefix is quite common in many personal names of east and central Africa.
The Leewanika is apparently a misspelling or an Alice Walker variant of the name Lewanika who was a powerful king in a region (Barotse Land) of present day Zambia. Under Lewanika, the region became a British Protectorate after colonial enforcement negotiations with Cecil Rhodes. In African terms, the "Le" in Lewanika is pronounced "leh" rather than "liih."
The name Kemanjo is apparently of African structure, but it is hard to prove that it is an African name. Helga Hoel speculates that it is a misspelling of the Kenyan Kikuyu name "Kamenjo" (White: 2001).
References
Goodman, Amy. "Alice Walker on the 'Toxic Culture" of Globalization," in Democracy Now!---The War and Peace Report. 2004.
Hoel, Helga. "Personal Names and Heritage: Alice Walker’s 'Everyday Use'." 2000. Trondheim Cathedral School, Trondheim, Norway. 30 Jan. 2000.
White, David. “'Everyday Use': Defining African-American Heritage," Portals--Purdue North Central Literary Journal, 2001.
Jonathan Musere
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