{{short description|South African footballer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Steve Mokone | image = | fullname = Stephen Madi Mokone | height = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1932|3|23|df=y}} | birth_place = Doornfontein, South Africa | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|03|19|1932|3|23|df=y}} | death_place = Washington, D.C., USA | position = Striker | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = Pretoria Home Stars | years1 = 1955–1957 | clubs1 = Coventry City | caps1 = 4| goals1 = 1 | years2 = 1957–1959 | clubs2 = Heracles | caps2 = | goals2 = 15 | years3 = 1959 | clubs3 = Cardiff City | caps3 = 3| goals3 = 1 | years4 = 1959–1960 | clubs4 = Barcelona | caps4 = 0| goals4 = 0 | years5 = 1960 | clubs5 = → Marseille (loan) | caps5 = 0| goals5 = 0 | years6 = 1960–1961 | clubs6 = Torino | caps6 = 0| goals6 = 0 | years7 = 1961–1962 | clubs7 = Valencia | caps7 = 0| goals7 = 0 | years8 = 1963 | clubs8 = Hamilton Steelers | caps8 = | goals8 = | years9 = 1964 | clubs9 = Sunshine George Cross | caps9 = 15 | goals9 = 10 | nationalyears1 = 1948–1964 | nationalcaps1 = | nationalgoals1 = | nationalteam1 = South Africa Black XI | manageryears1 = 1963 | managerclubs1 = Hamilton Steelers | manageryears2 = 1964 | managerclubs2 = Sunshine George Cross | totalcaps = | totalgoals = }}
'''Stephen Madi Mokone''' OIG (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.
He was nicknamed ''The Black Meteor'' and ''Kalamazoo''.
==Early years== Mokone was born in Doornfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg, but his family moved to Sophiatown before settling in Kilnerton in Pretoria.
==Club career== Mokone attracted much attention in his native South Africa, making his debut for a South Africa Black XI at the age of just 16. The Durban Bush Bucks player was close to signing for English side Newcastle United but for the intervention of his father, who wished him to continue his studies. Mokone began his professional career in 1955 with English side Coventry City, where he made four league appearances, scoring one goal in the process.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/coventry/coventry.html|title=COVENTRY CITY : 1946/47 - 2007/08|access-date=2008-11-22|publisher=Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database}}</ref> Although his stay at Coventry was a short one, he was the first Black footballer to play for them in the Football League.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hern |first1=Bill |last2=Gleave |first2=David |title=Football's Black Pioneers |date=2020 |publisher=Conker Editions |location=Leicester |isbn=9781999900854 |pages=168–169}}</ref> He later played in the Netherlands with Heracles Almelo, for whom he scored twice at his debut and won the 1958 Tweede Divisie title to become a club legend.<ref>[http://www.tubantia.nl/sport/heracles/steve-mokone-de-zwarte-meteoor-overleden-1.4816937 Steve Mokone, de Zwarte Meteoor, overleden] - Tubantia {{in lang|nl}}</ref> He was the first foreign professional player in Dutch football.<ref>[http://www.vi.nl/nieuws/heracleslegende-steve-mokone-overleden.htm Heracles-legende Steve Mokone overleden] - Voetbal International {{in lang|nl}}</ref> A stand in Heracles' Polman Stadion is named after him.
He later joined Cardiff City, making a goalscoring debut on the opening day of the 1959–60 season on 22 August 1959 during a 3–2 victory over Liverpool.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/videos-and-pics/photos/sport-pictures/2008/06/24/derek-tapscott-91466-21140593/i2/ |title=Sport pictures - Derek Tapscott |publisher=WalesOnline |date=24 June 2004 |access-date=2009-11-27}}</ref> He made just two more league appearances for the side,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/cardiff/cardiff.html |title=Cardiff City: 1946/47 - 2008/09 |publisher=Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database |access-date=2009-11-27}}</ref> before being signed in 1959 by Spanish side FC Barcelona. However, because Barcelona had filled their quota of foreign players, he was loaned to French side Marseille. Mokone later played in Italy for Torino and in Spain for Valencia CF, before finishing his career in Canada in the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League with the Hamilton Steelers, where he served as a player-coach,<ref>{{Cite news|title=5 Players Get Gate and 2 Fans Nabbed|date=24 June 1963|work=Toronto Daily Star|page=11}}</ref> and in Australia with Sunshine George Cross.<ref name="ozfootball1">{{cite web|url=http://www.ozfootball.net/ark/Players/M/MO.html|title=Australian Player Database - M|publisher=ozfootball.net|access-date=15 December 2009}}</ref>
==After football== In 1964 Mokone moved to the United States. There he was convicted and imprisoned for separate felony assaults committed in 1977 against his then wife, Joyce Maaga Mokone, and the 34-year-old female attorney who was representing Joyce Mokone in divorce and custody proceedings at the time. On 31 October 1978, Mokone pleaded guilty in Superior Court of Middlesex County New Jersey to the crime of atrocious assault for having personally attacked his wife with lye on 20 November 1977. He was subsequently sentenced to serve between 8 and 12 years in New Jersey State Prison.<ref>[http://www.thedaisycutter.co.uk/2013/03/on-this-weekend-in-football-the-birth-of-the-black-meteor/ On This Weekend In Football: The Birth Of The Black Meteor] - The Daisy Cutter</ref> In 1980 Mokone stood trial in New York County, New York, accused of having orchestrated an attack on his wife's lawyer, Ann Boylan Rogers, in which sulfuric acid was thrown in her face outside her home in Manhattan on 8 October 1977.<ref>[http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/680/679/1526640/ Mokone v. Kelly, 680 F. Supp. 679 (S.D.N.Y 1988)] - Justia US Law</ref> Rogers was left seriously disfigured and blind in one eye. Mokone was found guilty of Assault in the First Degree in May 1980 and later sentenced to serve 5 to 15 years in New York State Prison after having completed his New Jersey sentence. He was released from custody in August 1990. Mokone consistently denied his guilt and claimed that he had been specifically targeted due to his links to the left-wing, anti-apartheid ANC, who were considered a terrorist group by the CIA. Tom Egbers, in investigating the case, noted the specific and suspicious interference of both the CIA and the FBI and the leading of witnesses by the police.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/apr/02/south-african-footballer-steve-mokone-coventry-cardiff|title=The sad secret kept by trailblazing South African Steve Mokone | Ed Aarons|date=2 April 2015|website=The Guardian}}</ref>
In 1996, he founded the Kalamazoo South African Foundation. Dutch sports journalist Tom Egbers wrote a novel based on Mokone,<ref>[http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4512/Cultuur/article/detail/2467667/1995/10/26/De-zwarte-meteoor-na-36-jaar-terug-in-Almelo.dhtml De zwarte meteoor na 36 jaar terug in Almelo] - Trouw {{in lang|nl}}</ref> which was made into a movie in 2000; both novel and movie are called ''The Black Meteor'' (''De Zwarte Meteoor'').
Mokone died in Washington on 19 March 2015, aged 82.<ref>[http://de.scribd.com/doc/260001039/Updated-Announcement-of-Passing-of-Steve-Mokone Updated Announcement of Passing of Steve Mokone], Press statement issued 20 March 2015</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/africa-travel/south-africa/cape-town/steve-mokone-53556sx7zkh|title=Steve Mokone|via=www.thetimes.co.uk}}</ref><ref>[http://www.heracles.nl/nieuws?newsId=9225 In memoriam: Steve Mokone - 20-03-2015] - Heracles Almelo {{in lang|nl}}</ref>
==References==
===In text citations=== {{reflist}}
===Court documents=== 1. ''Mokone v. Kelly,'' (habeas corpus proceeding in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York), reported at 680 F. Supp. 679 (S.D.N.Y. 1988) -- shows basic facts of case and, in discussion of "Evidence of Other Crimes and Bad Acts," the New Jersey Case.
2. ''Mokone v Fenton,'' (habeas corpus proceeding before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit), reported at 710 F. 2d 998 (3d Cir. 1983) -- shows the length of the New Jersey Sentence.
3. New York State Department of Corrections website; "Inmate Lookup" for DIN # 85A5876, Mokone, Steve—shows correct date of birth, crime of conviction, length of sentence, and release date.
===General=== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070523225029/http://www.southafrica.info/ess_info/sa_glance/sports/kalamazoo.htm SouthAfrica.info] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20071007184844/http://www.knet.co.za/orlandostadium/kalamazoo.htm Knowledge Network] *{{Cite book | title = The Who's Who of Cardiff City | first = Dean | last = Hayes | publisher = Breedon Books | year = 2006 | isbn= 1-85983-462-0 }} See also Phil Vasili 'Colouring Over the White Line. The History of Black Footballers in Britain' (Edinburgh: Mainstream 2000)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokone, Steve}} Category:1932 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Soccer players from Johannesburg Category:Men's association football forwards Category:South African men's soccer players Category:Durban Bush Bucks players Category:Coventry City F.C. players Category:Heracles Almelo players Category:Cardiff City F.C. players Category:FC Barcelona players Category:Olympique de Marseille players Category:Torino FC players Category:Valencia CF players Category:Hamilton Steelers (1958–1967) players Category:Rutgers University alumni Category:South African expatriate men's soccer players Category:Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League players Category:English Football League players Category:La Liga players Category:Ligue 2 players Category:Serie A players Category:Expatriate men's footballers in England Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Wales Category:Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Category:Expatriate men's footballers in France Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Category:South African expatriate sportspeople in England Category:South African expatriate sportspeople in Wales Category:South African expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Category:South African expatriate sportspeople in Spain Category:South African expatriate sportspeople in France Category:South African expatriate sportspeople in Italy Category:Recipients of the Order of Ikhamanga Category:South African sportspeople convicted of crimes Category:20th-century South African sportsmen