KEVIN MCCALLUM: Sports community mourns death of sports journalist Phil Nyamane

Phil Nyamane, the late sports journalist, was many things. Quiet and reserved was not any of them. 

My favourite story about Phil was from the Lennox Lewis-Hasim Rahman fight at Carnival City in Brakpan in 2001. Phil was the boxing guy at The Star. He had a swagger and a confidence about him. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and everyone in boxing knew him.

For international TV, the fight was put on at the daft time of 5am, shortly before dawn. Our build-up was intense and wall to wall. Phil and I had to write who would win the heavyweight crown. I was told to do Lewis, and Phil, Rahman.

Phil was not happy. He wanted to write why Lewis would win. But the sports editor won that argument and he had to. So he did. When Rahman floored Lewis, Phil was sitting beside me at ring side. He jumped up and started shouting “I told you! I told you!”

The men from The Times of London sitting in front of us ducked. I laughed hard and Phil gave me a sheepish grin.

“That right cross that caught Lewis flush on the jaw resulted in what Ring magazine called the knockout of the year and the ‘upset of the year’,” I wrote for The Star some years ago. “Lewis had been unbeaten for over six years. Rahman surrendered his titles back to Lewis later that year in his very next fight, making a guesstimated $17m for the fight.”

Lewis called it the “#8FigurePunch in SA!  #RevengeIsBestServedCold.

The “eight-figure punch” was called that, explained Rahman to The Tonight Show host Jay Leno in 2001, “because that punch enabled us to make eight figures for the next fight”.

“The two-week build-up to the Lewis-Rahman fight at Carnival City was chaotic and full of enough nonsense to keep it interesting. Lewis was the star and acted as such, coming in late to a fight after playing a part in the George Clooney movie Ocean’s Eleven. There was a worry he was leaving his acclimatisation late.

“Lewis arrived an hour late for his first press conference, with his business manager, Adrian Ogun, saying it was because of jetlag and the SA Boxing Commission of Control’s medical examination. Except that the SA Boxing men had been waiting for him since 11am and … would we be stupid enough to schedule a medical examination that clashed with a major press conference?”

Phil just shook his head and muttered something about “respect”. Phil wanted to see Mike Tyson fight in SA. “It would be a great thing if the Lewis-Tyson fight was staged here,” he said. “Just the name Tyson conjures up pictures of violence. If he came, mobs would greet him at the airport.”

“The story of black sports writers would not be complete without mention of the unforgettable scribers of the calibre of legendary sportswriters such as Phil Nyamane, that graced the newsrooms of The World, The Star, Post and the Sowetan. Nyamane died peacefully of natural courses on Tuesday,” read an obituary from the SA National Editors Forum.

“Oupa Ngwenya, the founding secretary-general of the Forum of Black Journalists (SA) and freelance journalist, described Nyamane as ‘irreplaceable, irrepressible and unforgettable’. He said Nyamane’s star will shine in the galaxy of other star writers comprising such as Joe Latakgomo, Harold Pongola, Victor Tsuai, Lesley Sehume, Sy Lerman, Louis Mazibuko, Elliot Makhanya, Don Manaka, Molefi Mika.

“He said Nyamane was a moving library in the sports field with abilities to recite facts and stats on things ranging from players’ different attributes, sports administrators and promoters, coaches, and experts’ predictions of various games of different teams. ‘Nyamane leaves behind footprints to be followed by those who appreciate his craftsmanship. He leaves cherished memories to the sports fraternity',” Ngwenya said.

“They were not just scribes but living legends who lived for the sport. I was fortunate to have worked with Pongola and Nyamane at the Sowetan and The Star newspapers, respectively. Bra Phil was a walking encyclopaedia of boxing. He knew the history of pugilists, remembered their fights and how they fared,” remarked journalist Themba Sepotokele.

RIP, Phil. You certainly told us all.