I experienced Kyegombe both as a student in St Mary's College Kisubi back in the 1990s. And then briefly when I visited family in Atlanta as an adult a few years ago ...where he coached me and others at Sunday soccer.
Indeed as many have stated, he led from the front (Coach P, was the first to arrive at the Atlanta Cranes training ground. He led the warm ups , the main training and the warm down.)... All the while cracking wise jokes on everyone and encouraging all. He made things look simple.
It's also stated that he was generous. After the training session, he gathered everyone around his portable camping chair and unveiled boxes of fried chicken. All adults and kids feasted.
We were just there fwaaa with one of the world's best architects.
Then he entered his simple car and drove to his mansion. For which, the perfectionist he was, he took a year off work to personally supervise.
He was such a perfectionist that not many people would live with him for extended periods I gather. So i learnt he lived mostly alone.
He designed things. He painted on canvas. He wrote a artsy coffee table book on the Obama's and hillarious Tshirts.
And thats how he lived his life. On his terms. From dominating exams and debates (at a party in Atlanta, he weaved from politics to soccer and everything in between, using hillarious analogies that left anyone debating against him both bemused and a little, well, dominated).
He set his own ways to the end. A self contained mind. I learn he never even shared his illness and cancer issues with people. He contained that to the end. Like he mounted his own paintings on his self designed house, his will dominated even after life. He asked to be cremated and not to bother people with a funeral.
I feel he gave more to the world than he took. Like this world class memory of him we are all struggling with.
RIP Coach P.
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| Bob Marley by Paul Kyegombe |
Robert Ssemakula,
Kampala, Uganda
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