Chilengi first featured for Buffaloes in 1976 where he was mainly a reserve defender to the club’s first choice central defensive pairing of Dick Chama and Robert Lutoba
When Chama retired at the end of the season, Chilengi established himself in the team as a central defender
The towering defender who stood over six feet tall could also play in midfield and he weighed in with a fair number of goals
He was quite accurate from the penalty spot, often pointing to one side before taking his kick, which served to confuse the goalkeeper
Back home, Chilengi faced undue criticism for the penalty miss and claimed he would have been forced into early retirement had Zambia failed to win the trophy. “Knowing my fellow countrymen, it would have been a sing-song and possibly a cause for ones’ suicide,” he said
Chilengi first cut his coaching teeth with Zambian Division I side Nitrogen Chemicals of Kafue in 1988 but left them after a season to join Ndola United, on the promise of a coaching course abroad
Chilengi was still coaching Hwange FC when he fell ill and died after a short illness on 9 April 1999, from haemorrhagic shock in Hwange
He was survived by a wife Anne and four children. One of Zambia’s greatest defenders was eulogised as a great trainer and a patriot