There was Steve "Kalamazoo" Mokone. He played four games for City between 1955 and 1957 according to Wikipedia, scoring once. He was very skillful but the pitch and heavy leather ball probably didn't help him much in wet conditions. Our family thought he should have been played more often. I remember he scored a goal. I think he also sticks in my mind because our family moved to Cardiff in 1959 when I was 12 and shortly afterward Steve Mokone signed for Cardiff City. After two successful seasons in Holland his second spell in the UK was also a bit of a let down. Just as when he had been at City, there were those in the crowd who thought he wasn't physical enough and gave him the bird. But many fans enjoyed his skills. I think I saw him play three times for Coventry and once for Cardiff.
He was a history maker:
"
Stephen Madi MokoneOIG (23 March 1932 – 19 March 2015) was a South African
footballer who was the first black South African player to play in a professional European league." (from Wikipedia)
Interesting that Coventry were sometimes trailblazers even before Jimmy Hill arrived.
As for my first game, I think it was 1952 or 1953. Not sure who it was against. Leyton Orient, Millwall or Bristol City perhaps. My favourite player in those early days was Ray Sambrook, our left winger. I was over the moon when he played a blinder in a pre-season friendly in 1957. I couldn't remember the year, but just looked it up. He had been brilliant the previous season in the old Third Division (South) and I was looking forward to watching him in the 57-58 season. it turned out to be one of my early Coventry City disappointments. Many were still to come. But after my delight as he took First Division Manchester City to pieces in the pre-season friendly which we won 3-1 with two goals from Sambrook, I was shattered to find out that he had played too well. He was signed by Man City shortly afterwards, played 62 games for them in the next 5 years and scored 13 goals. And I didn't get to see him play again. Once we got Willie Humphries and Ronnie Rees I stopped minding.
We didn't have a car, so we may have caught a No 2 bus from Cheylesmore and walked from the city centre. But,more likely, the whole family may just have walked along London Road and down past Gulson Road Hospital, just the same as we always did once we got our first car - a 1938 Hillman Minx - when I was seven (so after June 1953). Always loved the whole Saturday routine from coming back from a match, listening to the football results and then going down to the shops on Daventry Road to wait for a pink 'un. If we were lucky we got some Fish and Chips at the same time. Happy days!
