To this day, I still remember, clearly, my first day at Harare Polytechnic School of Journalism.

I recall that during the orientation, then Head of Department (HOD), the late Peter Banga, said something which not only took me by surprise but also inspired me, greatly.

Banga gave a list of iconic figures in journalism who had passed through the very same lecture room we were in.

“How many of you know Robson Sharuko?, asked Banga, to which I confidently responded: “Come on sir, who doesn’t know Robson Sharuko?

“Robson was a student here and he learnt in this lecture room that you are in. He was one of the top five students picked by Zim Papers after graduating in 1992,” revealed Banga.

To say I was inspired by that, is an understatement.

Sharuko is the person who inspired me to choose journalism and the fact that I would learn at the very same institution he was and in and the same lecturer room, augmented my enthusiasm.

I was privileged to have access to newspapers growing up, particularly The Herald, and I read the weekly column Sharuko On Saturday at every given chance.

I would be lying if I say I understood football that much growing up, but I was amazed at how good Sharuko’s writing was.

I simply read what he wrote, to improve my English and because at that time, I only cared about doing well academically.

I would even copy some of the words Sharuko used in his articles, in my English compositions, to the point that Mrs Rugoyi, my grade 3 teacher at Gombo Primary School, called me one day.

“You read newspapers don’t you?”, she asked me, to which I replied: “No madam”. I decided not to tell the truth because I thought reading newspapers was not allowed.

But the teacher assured me that it wasn’t and actually commended me for doing so.

“Continue reading,” she said with a glancing smile on her face.

Truth be told, hearing that Sharuko was at Harare Polytechnic School of Journalism contributed a lot to me choosing sport as the beat to focus on.

I contributed to The Herald features desk under Roselyn Sachiti during my first year at Journalism School and also did the same with Alpha Media Holdings’ The Standard and The Zimbabwe Independent under Kholwani Nyathi and Owen Gagare respectively.

But my heart yearned for the sport beat, due to the Sharuko effect.

Despite the true love story I had with feature writing, I still doubted myself in the sport, but I then remembered where my inspiration came from.

I remembered that the person who inspired me became the sports editor of The Herald at just 29 years of age.

I also remembered that the person who inspired me had declined an offer by the City Press in South Africa to take up a position on their sports desk some time in 2007, just to remain at The Herald to use his iconic pen to tell the Zimbabwean story.

That is why I made the choice that I would choose sport as the beat to focus on.

When I woke up to the news that Sharuko was taking over from my namesake Lawrence Moyo as the editor of lifestyle tabloid H-Metro in December last year, the first question I asked myself was: What about Sharuko on Saturday?

I was relieved to know the iconic column would continue in The Herald despite Sharuko moving to H-Metro.

I bumped into him at Alexander Sports Club a couple of weeks into his journey as H-Metro editor and asked him to confirm if Sharuko On Saturday would continue because I simply wanted to be sure.

It did continue but 10 months later, the unexpected happened.

The veteran scribe announced to his very loyal readers that the iconic column was coming to an end.

So it was. The last edition of Sharuko on Saturday was written on October 29 and yesterday,  for the first time in a very long time, readers did not read it.

To Sharuko On Saturday I say: R.I.P (Return if Possible).