Former Cranes manager Ssemugabi succumbs to cardiac arrest at 77

KAMPALA.
The football fraternity have been robbed of yet another icon in Jimmy Bakyayita Ssemugabi who passed on Saturday at Mulago Hospital due to cardiac arrest. Ssemugabi, 77, who replaced Jaberi Bidandi Ssali as the Cranes manager in 1979, sought attention from his personal doctor at the national hospital after enduring severe pain on Friday.

The medic diagnosed him with a serious heart problem—that later killed him on Saturday evening. His younger brother Livingstone Mulindwa, also the fans coordinator of Kampala City Council Football Club, was shocked by Ssemugabi’s demise because the latter was okay when the two last met on Thursday.

During his playing days in the ‘60’s, Ssemugabi featured as a midfielder for Express FC (two stints), Coffee FC, UEB and Bitimastic FC. He was also part of the Cranes team that played in the 1962 Afcon, Ethiopia. He hung his boots in 1966 and embarked on a long managerial career in football that saw him win the Uganda Cup with Coffee FC in 1971/72 and also named in several positions.

There will be a funeral mass at Namirembe Cathederal at 10:00am today and burial will follow tomorrow at his ancestral home in Kibubula, Busunju along Mityana Road. Ssemugabi is survived by 14 children and a widow Dorothy Bakyayita.

ABOUT SSEMUGABI
Born: 1937, Kibubula,Busunju
Attended: Aggrey Memorial School 1958
PLAYED FOR
Express FC (1960/61 and 65)
UEB FC (1962)
Bitimastic FC (1963)
Appointed Buganda Sports Officer (1966)
Won a Fifa Refrees licence
Replaced Ssali as Cranes manager (1979)
Got three coaching licence after training from Britain;Brazil; Mauritius and Ethiopia (1986)
Appointed Secretary General,National Football League Committee
Appointed Bika Fotball Council 1987-2002
Appointed Masaza Football Committee head and Buganda Sports minister 2011