Tributes flow in for fallen Butali coach

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Tributes continue to flow in following the demise of Butali Sugar Warriors hockey Coach Cliffe Okello on Tuesday afternoon at his brother’s house in Nairobi.

Okello had a successful career of close to 25 years with the club formerly known as Kisumu Simba.

After joining Kisumu-based side in 1992, the defensive midfielder played for the club as well as the national team before being promoted to coach in 2012. After two seasons at the radar of the Club which rebranded to Butali Sugar Warriors, he finally led the side to two back-to-back premier league titles in 2014 and 2015.

In what would be his last assignment with the club, he led Butali to second place in last season’s Kenya Hockey Union Men’s Premier League. Butali lost 3-0 to Strathmore University in the finals match decided in penalty shootouts.

National men’s team coach Meshack Senge, who stood in for Okello, during the continental championships said: “We played together with him at both club and national team and I can tell you he was passionate about the game.

A jovial guy, easy to chat with and also very humorous, he was always my roommate during national team residential trainings and I will miss him so much,” Senge said.