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Charles Mabika Special Correspondent

FORMER Dynamos right back, Isaac “Musasa” Nhema, who passed away on Tuesday night at Sally Mugabe Hospital after a short illness, was one of the finest defenders ever produced in the country.

He was 75.

The stocky defender, who earned his nickname after the hard bark of an indigenous tree (musasa) because of his uncompromising and tough tackles, never dreamt that one day he would don the famous blue and white strip of the country’s most successful team.

Speaking at the late player’s Glen Norah “A” home in Harare where mourners are gathered (2359 Hwedza Road), his younger brother, Lovemore, said Isaac, who was born in Buhera, moved to the capital as a teenager at school in the 60s and starred for a lower division side called Nyashanu Brothers, where he was spotted by then DeMbare player-coach, Obediah “Wasu” Sarupinda (late), at Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield in 1970.

“Wasu was looking for a replacement for the team’s regular right back and founder-member, Danny “Bricks” Thomas, who had just suffered a career-ending ankle injury. And it was “love at first sight” for the Dynamos’ mentor after watching Isaac and he promptly signed him,” recalled Lovemore.

“My brother was so excited that in those early days after signing for Dynamos all he could talk about was rubbing shoulders with the great names at the club.

“And the Glamour Boys’ fans immediately fell in love with his hard but clean tackling and christened him “Musasa” because they reckoned it was hard to get past him . . . just as hard as it is trying to carve open the bark of the musasa tree. The family has lost a wise leader, great teacher and football great and passionate follower of his beloved club and we will miss him greatly,” lamented Lovemore.

“Musasa” went on to impress the then Rhodesian national team coach, Scotsman Danny MacLennan, who drafted him into the senior side for many matches against touring British and South African sides like Kilmarnock, Celtic, Stoke City, Aberdeen, John Charles X and Durban City.

Nhema, who operated along his favourite right flank position, also lavished playing alongside his team-mates George “Mastermind” Shaya, Ernest “Nyamuzihwa” Kamba, Simon “Tangwena” Sachiti and national skipper Stephen “Faka Simbi” Chimedza in that senior national side

And three years after arriving at Dynamos, “Musasa” was selected as one of the country’s top 11 players at the end of the 1973 season in the “Soccer Star of the Year” competition which was won by his team-mate, Kamba.

But “Musasa’s” proudest club achievement came in 1976 when he was one of the stars in arguably the finest Dynamos line-up ever assembled as evidenced by their storming successes at both club and regional tournaments.

That DeMbare or ‘’Hainangozi’’ side, which also included Shaya, Kamba, Sachiti, Shadreck “Margarine” Ngwenya, David “Broom Boy” George, Shepherd “Shepidho” Murape, Shaw “Kojak’ Handriade, Kuda “Kuda Boy” Muchemeyi, Matthew “Black Cat” Mwale, Oliver “Flying Saucer” Kateya, Daniel “Dhidhidhi” Ncube and Cremio “Shezeem” Mapfumo, captured the domestic League title, BAT Rosebowl, Nyore Nyore Shield, Southern African Champions of Champions Cup (over South Africa’s Orlando Pirates) and were losing semi-finalists to eventual Chibuku Trophy winners, Zimbabwe Saints. After a nagging knee injury, Nhema eventually hung up his boots in 1982 and had a brief stint as one of the two Glamour Boys’ head coaches with another ex-player, Mapfumo.

Nhema moved on as he coached several lower division sides like Chinhoyi and always followed the trials and tribulations at his beloved Dynamos with exquisite passion.

He was a football person right throughout his life and at one time as the school bus driver at Jameson High School in Kadoma, he would also offer advice to the team’s coaches on several occasions. Nhema might not have become as popular as his compatriots like Shaya, Kamba or Kateya but there are not many right-backs who have possessed the same durable, unyielding and flair of his roving right flank manoeuvres ever since. He is survived by six children — boys Isaac (Jnr), Tonderai and Ike; and girls Nasper, Enniah, Memory and several grandchildren — and will be laid to rest at his home village in Buhera South today.