Wolverines Depend On Simelane’s Solo Act

STUDIO CITY —  Lerato Simelane should change his last name to Solo.

Not only would it spare the embarrassment of every public-address announcer (hey, fellas: it’s pronounced “Sim-mah-LAH-knee”), but a swap of his surname would better fit his style of play on the football field.

Simelane, a junior free safety, is the last line of the Harvard-Westlake High defense, picking up loose change if it squirts through the grasp of would-be tacklers.

With 104 unassisted tackles this season, an average of eight per game, Simelane is a solo artist for the Wolverines, who play tonight at Charter Oak for the Southern Section Division VII championship.

“His job basically is to make that last tackle to help us stop teams, and he does,” defensive coordinator Chris Johnson said. “He’s a blessing.”

Simelane has felt blessed almost every day since he arrived in the United States.

A native of South Africa, Simelane moved to Los Angeles two years ago, leaving behind the racial tension that lingers in a nation formerly divided by apartheid.

In theory, apartheid is abolished. In practice, some of the attitudes and conditions still exist.

Los Angeles, the city of millions of people and personalities, seems normal compared to Johannesburg, Simelane said.

“People are nice here. I was surprised,” Simelane said. “I wasn’t used to different races being nice to me.

“Black people are still suffering [in South Africa]. People are living in tin shacks and cardboard boxes. Things have changed, but not enough. I feel very fortunate.”

The racial lines even entered the classroom in Johannesburg, to a degree.

“We had our own little conflicts,” Simelane said. “Every time we’d talk a little in class, we’d be told to keep quiet. But when white kids tell jokes, they let it slide. When you grow up around something like that, you get used to it.”

Simelane moved to Los Angeles to improve his education and have a realistic shot at college, he said. He also came to join his mother, Busi Simelane, and father, Tim Ngubeni, who have lived most of their lives in L.A.

Though he kept in constant contact with his parents, Lerato was raised for the most part by his aunt, Thadi Simelane, because his father was exiled from South Africa for being a member of the Black Consciousness Group.

“I belonged to an organization that the government did not recognize,” said Ngubeni, who is director of community programs at UCLA. “The South African government was very vicious at the time.”

Ngubeni found his way to UCLA, where he played three seasons as a striker, which explains Simelane’s passion for soccer.

Also a striker, Simelane, clad from head to toe in football gear, can’t help but steal a few glances of the soccer team, which practices on the other half of the Harvard-Westlake football field.

Because the Wolverines’ playoff drive has extended into soccer season--three weeks and counting--Simelane has felt torn between football and futbol.

“He tries to get out there and kick a few balls around before their practice,” Johnson said. “I know it’s tough for him, but he’s dedicated to football.”

This is the second year of football for Simelane. He played rugby in South Africa, but that didn’t prepare him for his first football practice last year.

Said Simelane: “They told me to run a 10-yard post pattern and I said, ‘What’s that?’

“There’s still a whole lot of things I don’t know, but that’s why I ask for repetitions in practice. I’m always asking for more.”

His athletic year will continue after football and soccer when he joins the track team. He was a member of the 1,600-meter relay team that clocked a school-record 3:36.37 in 1997.

“Basically, my life is based on sports and school,” Simelane said. “I don’t have time for anything else.”