Retiring Jerim Onyango leaves big gloves at Gor’s camp

The day 15-time Kenyan Premier League champions Gor Mahia decide to induct its legends and heroes to its hall of fame, goalkeeper Jerim Onyango will definitely be one of them.

Onyango is no doubt Gor Mahia’s living legend and one of the stand-out players in the Kenyan game. He is a player K’Ogalo fans will cherish for ages to come.

A respected figure in the club, Onyango’s football journey began in 2005 when he joined Kenya Revenue Authority under coach Ken Kenyatta after graduating from Rambula Secondary School in Siaya County in 2004.

He played for the tax collectors for three years before catching the eye of Sammy ‘Pamzo’ Omollo who was then coaching the glamour club, and since then, he’s never looked back. Onyango has stuck with the club through thick and thin.

The long-serving goalkeeper is like a father to the current crop of Gor Mahia players, a towering figure whose influence will remain with the players long after he’s gone. During tough times when cash-strapped Gor survived on donations from well wishers and players lacked even the most basic of things like fare to training, Onyango chose to remain at the club.

In his decorated career at the club spanning more than 12 years, he has seen coaches join the club and leave. Some of them like the legendary James Siang’a who coached him during his early years at K’Ogalo has since passed on, but Onyango says he will cherish the fond memories and the skills he acquired from his interaction with these tacticians.

Two weeks ago, Onyango announced that he is hanging up his gloves to pursue a career in politics. He has set his sights on becoming Member of County Assembly (MCA) in Ugunja Ward, Siaya County in this year’s General Elections.

“I have weathered the good and bad times at the club, but above all, I will remain close to the club as a good fan. I do not intend to quit the game completely; I will still be part of it and intend to pursue goalkeeping coaching in the near future,” Onyango, whose impressive medal haul includes three Kenyan Premier League titles, three domestic Cup titles, two Top 8 titles, and three Super Cup titles told Sunday Nation Sport in an wide-ranging interview.

Inheriting the arm-band from right back Julius ‘Awilo’ Owino in 2010, the father of two boys says that leadership at the club level is not a job for the faint-hearted.

“It was never easy being captain and a player at the same time. You know when you hold such a role, you are the link between the office and the players. At times things may never be right but when you attempt to quell the situation by prevailing on your colleagues, they may think that you’ve been compromised by the office,” he said in a subtle reference to the dark days when the players would stage go slows over unpaid salaries and bonuses.

But being the man of all seasons he is, Onyango says that perseverance and discipline has been the driving philosophy in his life.

“Life has been tough. There are days we could go for up to two weeks without fare. In those days the club had no money but somehow we managed to pull through,” he says with a tinge of sadness written on his face, adding that he would walk on foot from his residence in Nairobi’s Olympic Kibera to City Stadium for training sessions.

Known in the club’s quarters as “King Jerry” or simply “Jagoal”, which loosely translates to “goalkeeper”, Onyango is a respected figure in the club circles. His level-headedness and leadership skills will be missed in the dressing room.

Since 2008 when he made his debut for the club in a 1-0 loss to Ulinzi Stars in a league match at the Green Stadium in Nakuru, Onyango has made more than 240 appearances for Gor Mahia, making the Number One jersey, which he inherited from Jacktone Odhiambo, his own.

He played a phenomenal role in turning around the team’s fortunes in the Kenyan Premier League. Until 2015, he was the team’s first-choice custodian until the much younger Boniface Oluoch arrived from Tusker to elbow him out.

“To me, Jerim is a rare breed among the current generation of players. He offered guidance at the club for all that period without thinking of quitting when others would have chosen the easier option,” Gor Mahia’s long-serving deputy secretary general Ronald Ngala told Sunday Nation Sport in his tribute.

“He was signed up with no salary which later improved to a four-figure salary. He has seen it all, offered leadership, and mentored the young boys. If he does not succeed in the political path he has chosen, we will help him pursue a coaching career because it’s very difficult to find a player who serves a club for even two years nowadays.”

Onyango’s long service is only rivalled by fellow club legend Allan Thigo who served the club for 13 years as player and later as player-coach.

Ngala added: “Goalkeepers, like wine, mature with age, and he could have chosen to be here for two or three more years but we have to respect that he’s chosen to go into politics.”

Former Harambee Stars coach Zedekiah ‘Zico’ Otieno, who is among the many coaches that shaped Onyango’s career, coaching him between 2010 and 2011 before handing the budding goalkeeper his first call-up to the national football team Harambee Stars, said: “He’s a rare breed. Kenya’s game will miss him. He was committed, disciplined, and a true professional.”

“Gor will miss him because he was a leader of a determined group of players but all in all, I wish him well.”

Now aged 32, Onyango is a father of two boys, Cristian Ochieng, 8, and Fabian Otieno, 4. He is married to Josephine Lolime. But he also wears the hat of a student. Onyango is currently pursuing a Diploma in Public Relations at St Paul’s University and is hoping to graduate in October.

He says that his motivation to join politics is his desire to help change things and better the lives of people of Ugunja.

“I never had this idea of going into politics but somehow it came when I realised how politicians were taking advantage of the people here.

“I have been interacting with the masses a lot, especially through football,” he said, referring to the Jerim Onyango Football tournament, an annual tournament he started four years ago to help budding players in his home area nurture their talent.

Should he succeed in politics, Onyango says he will strive to ensure that at least one football team from his area competes at the provincial league. “There is a willingness from the people. They have been behind me and it is them who urged me to run” he said.

But politics being the expensive venture it is, Onyango is already feeling the financial heat.

“The campaign is a big challenge because it requires a lot of money. I have to fuel cars to use for the campaigns but also pay some little money to my staff,” he said, adding that his supporters have since come together to fundraise for the campaign kitty by channelling their donations to Playbill number 575909, while a major fundraiser is set for February 8, at the Nairobi Safari Club.

A total orphan who lost his father in 1999 while in primary school and his mother in 2002 while in secondary school, Onyango says that should he be elected he will focus on alleviating poverty by helping improve Agricultural production among farmers in his home area and to boost security.

“Our people live in poverty. There is no sufficient food yet we have lot of water from rivers in my home area which can be tapped for agricultural production. Apart from this I intend to sink several bore holes.”

He will be contesting the seat on an Orange Democratic Party ticket.