Forty years ago this summer, Christian Okoye left Nigeria to attend Azusa Pacific on a track and field scholarship.
Upon his arrival, Okoye had never so much as seen an American football, having known back home only the version of the game we call soccer. And had the Nigerian Olympic Committee in 1984 not inexplicably snubbed an amazing athlete who established NAIA records in four events (including the 100- and 200-meter dashes) and was then the Nigerian record-holder in the hammer throw and discus, he may never have even touched what he told Sports Illustrated in 1987 was the “abnormal” and “impractical” football.
“I wasn’t interested at all,” he recently said in a telephone interview with The Star. “My friend talked me into it; I’m glad I listened.”
Never mind that inauspicious preamble. Or that between the novelty of the game and his soccer history Okoye initially could “catch the ball better on his foot … than in his hands,” as Azusa Pacific coach Jim Milhon once told The Associated Press.
By the end of his record-setting rushing career at the California school, Okoye’s astonishing fusion of speed (he ran a 4.45-second time in the 40-yard dash) and frame (he stood 6-foot-3, 255 pounds) led to him becoming the 35th overall player selected in the 1987 NFL Draft.
As the Chiefs’ second-round pick, Okoye became the first Nigerian-born position player in NFL history. He retired in 1992 as the franchise’s career leading rusher with 4,897 yards and remains fourth on that list behind Jamaal Charles, Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson.
Between that journey, his Christian Okoye Foundation to help underprivileged children and his work as founder and president of the California Sports Hall of Fame, Okoye already has an indelible legacy.
But the “Nigerian Nightmare,” a nickname he has embraced ever since he was thus dubbed by teammate Irv Eatman, has long held another dream — one that follows from his history and that he believes is on its way to fruition.
For years, he said, he’s been trying to bring the NFL to Africa. The league recently held its first camp in Ghana with some persuasive work by London-born Osi Umenyiora, a two-time Super Bowl champion with the New York Giants who is of Nigerian descent.
“He kind of put his muscles behind it, and now it’s happening …” Okoye said, reflecting on his own efforts that he said went back a decade. “Man, I was trying, but the NFL wasn’t ready. Now they are ready, and it’s happening. I’m so happy.”
The NFL Africa initiative, NFL International chief operating officer Damani Leech told The Star, is being started “in part because of what we saw so quickly” from three Nigerians who recently were signed by NFL teams by way of the league’s International Player Pathway Program.
This latest group to arrive through the program launched in 2017 includes Chiefs defensive end Kehinde Oginni, by way of an improbable and anguishing odyssey.
The Chiefs also have on their roster Nigerian-born Prince Tega Wanogho, an offensive lineman who moved to Alabama to finish high school before attending Auburn and being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles.
“It always feels good to see a Nigerian name in the NFL, for sure,” said Okoye, one of 30 Nigerian-born players to have taken NFL snaps. It’s “not a cultural thing for us,” he added, “but it’s beginning to be.”
At the camp in Accra, Ghana, in late June, Umenyiora put it like this:
“We have over 100 players of African descent in the NFL right now, and if you look at the trends, you’ll probably see that maybe 10% of the NFL labor force will be coming from Africa pretty soon,” he said, according to Voice of America.
Okoye, whose foundation funds sports clinics at his Okoye Youth Sports Club in Nigeria — featuring flag football, not tackle — sees a baseball parallel.
“When I was trying to bring the NFL to Nigeria, and Africa, I was telling people that Africa is going to be like the Dominican Republic, where you have a bunch of baseball players come from,” he said.
Some 800 Dominican-born players have played in the major leagues, according to the 2022 book, “Dominicans In The Major Leagues.” And 99 were on opening day rosters this season, MLB reported.
“We just have a lot of athletes in Africa that can make it out here,” said Okoye, who figures more Africans playing means more televised NFL games in Africa, which will further the momentum. “You’re going to see more and more. Every year, there’s going to be an increased number of players coming in.”
All of whom will have meaningful tales of their own. But few, if any, will arrive not having seen an American football before.
And they might all be glad Okoye listened when the strange idea was put before him. After all, Okoye was preceded in the NFL only by kickers Obed Ariri (1984) and Donald Igwebuike (1985).
“Every time somebody (from Nigeria) makes it,” he said, “it makes me happy.”
