Findlay’s Okonji knows his purpose half a world away

By Rob Miech (contact)

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Rob Miech

Godwin Okonji, a junior forward for Findlay College Prep, stands outside the school's gym after Tuesday’s practice. Okonji landed at the Henderson program after meeting Findlay coaches Mike Peck and Todd Simon at a basketball camp in Lagos, Nigeria, in May 2007. "It was like God’s intervention," he said.

Findlay College Prep junior forward Godwin Okonji has some goals that have nothing to do with a basketball rim.

He wants to be a philanthropist. He wants to contribute to a noble cause. He wants to save the world.

“If I can save the world, I will,” Okonji said. “You can start by doing little things, increasing gradually. Many people need help, and there are a lot of ignorant people in the world. They think it starts and ends with them.

“You have to treat everyone the same, how you want to be treated.”

He is re-reading Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?”

“It’s inspirational,” Okonji said. “You’re not just existing as a person; you have a purpose in life. Why do I exist? What’s my purpose on Earth?”

It isn’t just to dunk a basketball or box out in the post or block a last-second shot to win a game.

Findlay coach Mike Peck read Warren’s book two years ago and said it’s refreshing that a 17-year-old, like Okonji, would digest it and embrace its message. “Spiritual common sense,” Peck called it.

“It’s what we preach to our guys,” he said. “Two things color this program: attitude and effort. That translates to doing the right thing and working hard. Everything else takes care of itself.

“It’s about being a good person, serving, instead of ‘I,’ ‘me’ or ‘mine.’ Thinking in terms of others. In that way, Godwin is a deep soul. An old soul.”

In May 2007, Peck and assistant coach Todd Simon went deep into Africa to work a basketball camp in Lagos, Nigeria. They came back with Okonji.

They hoped, at least, that Okonji and another prospect could get visas and other papers to travel to America and attend the prestigious Henderson International School, with which Findlay is affiliated.

The other guy didn’t.

Okonji did.

“I was surprised when they walked up to me,” he said of Peck and Simon. “I thought, who are these guys? That first mailing I received, I thought this is an opportunity for me. I should go with it.

“It was like God’s intervention. God sent them to Africa to discover me. I’m more than lucky.”

Okonji’s parents, Joy and Stephen, wondered if he’d be able to live on his own, half a world away. He'd have to do it some day, he told them.

Godwin has six siblings. Joy works, in education, for the Nigerian government. Stephen is part of a nonprofit organization that delivers eye care to the less fortunate.

He describes a middle-class upbringing. “We didn’t have too much,” he said. “We didn’t lack much.” Nobody in his family played basketball.

You’re leaving us, his niece and nephew cried at the airport in Lagos. I have to, he said.

Okonji’s flights to Johannesburg, New York and Las Vegas – 18 hours on airplanes and in airports – could not have been smoother.

“I wasn’t really nervous,” Okonji said. “There were no delays. I couldn’t sleep. I wanted to see everything. I wanted every moment to count.”

Okonji, who hasn’t returned home, lives with several other Pilots in a spacious home supervised by Simon and his wife, a short walk from the Henderson campus.

He always does dishes, gets the laundry done and tidies up around the house -- chores he did in Lagos -- in the Henderson hills before cracking open his schoolbooks.

“A lot of guys don’t do that,” Okonji said. “I take joy in doing chores. I credit my mother.”

Okonji’s first year away from home was challenging.

Peck had a sit-down with him to explain that the schoolroom demands of Henderson International ultimately will be invaluable to his transition to a Division I college.

His thoughtful writing and precise penmanship endeared him to English instructors at Henderson.

However, Okonji had some preconceived ideas about the U.S.

“I had heard little things, how the American system is tough, it discriminates and treats you differently,” he said. “It hasn’t been like that. We have the same goal … let’s accomplish our dreams.

“I tell friends back home, man, this is just the place. If someone tells you differently about America or Las Vegas, they’re just lying. You need to come here and see for yourself.”

Okonji has opened up in his second year at Findlay. As he walks to school, kids of all colors and shapes and sizes flock to him. They adore him.

They trust him. He trusts them.

“I was a little naïve last year,” Okonji said.

Findlay senior forward Carlos Lopez has been vital to Okonji.

“He did something that surprised me,” Okonji said. “He opened up to me. He’s from Puerto Rico. I’m from Africa. Different continents, entirely.

“But he doesn’t see me as someone from Africa. He sees me as a brother. He made me feel comfortable. He encourages me. I encourage him. That’s important.”

At practice last week, Okonji playfully flexed at Lopez after dunking on him. He howled. Minutes later, Lopez exchanged the dunk and the pleasantries. Okonji, laughing, slinked away.

“He always thinks of the team and what he can do to affect the team,” Lopez said. “He’ll be a beast this season. We work hard against each other, and he always says thank you.”

Okonji’s stock will no doubt rise this season as he starts for the Pilots and shows off his burgeoning skills. He dribbles well and is developing his mid-range touch and feel for his teammates.

He is 6-feet-9 and weighs 220 pounds, after putting about 30 pounds on his frame, thanks to a fast-food diet, since he arrived at Findlay.

He considers spaghetti and meatballs a delicacy. He can’t quite grasp teriyaki chicken. “In Nigeria,” Okonji said, “we don’t eat chickens like that.”

It took some pressing, but he admitted that UNLV is high on his wish list because Southern Nevada weather so closely matches Nigeria and because of Rebels coach Lon Kruger.

“They’ve shown great love,” Okonji said. “I can see myself going to UNLV. I want to play under a coach like him. I’ve been to their camps, and I see the way he treats everyone, not just me. It’s for me to reciprocate that love.”

The kid who kept to himself so much last season now is a focal point at Findlay, someone whom kids flock to because of his warm smile and engaging personality.

All he wants to do is save the world.

“Wow, what an interesting story,” Peck said. “He’s rejuvenated. He’s come such a long way.”