Christian Emeka okoye, a Nigerian- American, born August 16, 1961, is a former American football running, played for the Kansas City Chiefs during the year 1987 to 1992. Although the name Okoye in the Igbo language means q peaceful reflection of a Sunday, he had a tranquil life growing in the city Enugu, Nigeria with a population of 8, 00,000. During the initial days of his liking to football playing, he thought that it was a boring game to play. He was not happy about the roughness of the football and when he thought of quitting the game, he was convinced by his friends to stay on with playing the game.
When his name did not appear in the Nigerian Government’s list for the probable players for the Olympics, he pursed track & field leaving American football. He possessed remarkable running skills than most players during that period and his capacity and ability to break tackles and his running styles earned him the nickname ’The Nigerian Nightmare”.
During his career, he played six seasons in the NFL (1989, 1991) and thereafter he ended his career as he sustained multiple injuries. The power play exhibited by him during the games wearing his number 35, was a treat to watch. His capacity to do a 40 yard dash in around 5 seconds and 100meters in about 11 seconds was a rarity when compared with his height of over 6’ and weight around 260 pounds.
As this was a rare combination with talent, the Kansas City Chiefs selected him in the second round of the 1987 NFL draft. His skill with speed made him barge to an NFL rushing title and became the Chief’s career leading rusher during his time and he became a U.S. citizen. Although he came to the U.S at the age of 21 he ever renounced the love for his native country which was exhibited though his anger when 276 school girls were abducted last month by the terrorist group Boko Haram. He recalled his nightmarish experiences he had in his younger days of people carrying machine guns in the streets of Nigeria and his hiding in the basement of their house. He presently lives in California.
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