In their shoes

After six years away from his home in Nigeria, EOU senior Peter Eke boarded a flight in July that took him — and hundreds of pairs of shoes — back to the community where he grew up.

Eke left home at 16, pulled to the U.S. by a basketball scholarship.

“I was scared to leave my family, but it was a smooth transition,” he said. “America is a basketball country, Nigeria is all about soccer.”

He finished high school and received his associate’s degree in Atlanta, where he planned to stay until his scholarship fell through in August 2017 and he was without an educational home.

“I was devastated,” he said. “I didn’t know what to do.”

But he kept contacting college coaches across the country. Carlito Labarda Jr., had joined the Mountaineers as head coach of the men’s basketball team two months earlier. He saw video of Eke in action and offered him a spot with the Mountaineers.

“I learned the importance of keeping faith even when it seems like the doors are closed,” Eke said. “I’m really grateful for that.”

Less than a month later, Eke was enrolled on campus in La Grande. He’ll graduate this spring with a degree in exercise science. Labarda integrated him into the line-up as a forward, and by January he paced the team with 6.6 rebounds and 13 blocks.

“He’s an anomaly,” Labarda said. “He’s the most unselfish guy I’ve met in a long time. He’s a prime example of students trying to give back to their home country.”

During his pilgrimage home to Nigeria this summer, Eke ran a youth basketball camp at his old high school, providing food, lodging, activities and T-shirts for about 250 kids.

Last spring, he raised $2,600 and collected almost 200 pairs of shoes. The camp featured his former teammates as coaches, and will serve as a jumping-off point for his capstone project.

“I wanted to do this camp for young basketball players in Nigeria because I was there where they are,” he said. “There were times I didn’t have shoes, when I played in flip-flops or barefoot.”

Eke identifies himself as a dreamer. Graduating high school and college were dreams once, and he became the first person in his family to attain them.

“My whole family is looking up to me to bring change — to them, to the community and to Nigeria,” he said. “I’m excited to see the smiles on those kids’ faces when they see that dreams can come true anywhere, anytime.”

Eke got his first job working on campus, took part in the International Dinner and Show, and coordinates the Student Council for Multicultural Affairs. He hopes to be a physician’s assistant, but his big dreams have already made a difference.

“My goal is to have a foundation that empowers dreamers,” he said. “EOU opened my mind to how I can do that.”

No matter what path his career takes, Eke said he will continue to put others first.

“My passion is people, which makes it hard to choose a major,” he said. “I want to reach as many people as possible.”