Tunji Awajobi
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Professional Basketball Player
Tunji Awojobi is a truly unique athlete. Born and raised in Nigeria, he entered professional sports as a Boxer for the Nigerian Olympic team. At 199cm he decided to make an unusual switch and moved from Boxing to Basketball. Awojobi was a college hoops star for Boston University, but did not get drafted into the NBA due his lack of size as a Power Forward/Center. Following his college career Awojobi played in numerous leagues worldwide, and has been a permanent fixture for the Nigerian National Team throughout the 90's and at present. To date Awojobi's greatest Basketball achievement has been with Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. of Israel. Awojobi led Jerusalem to the 2004 ULEB Cup Chmpionship with a tremendous victory over Spanish Powerhouse Real Madrid. Despite being less than two metres tall Awojobi plays Center with tremendous success by outmuscling his opponents and making use of his athliticism on both ends of the court. Awojobi is renowned for his fighting spirit, and unselfish team Basketball. When asked how he manages to play so well against bigger opponents Awojobi replies with a heavy Nigerian accent "Boxing has tought me not to fear anyone. It doesn't matter how big you are, only the size of your heart." He should know! Ironically Awojobi's heart is indeed abnormally large (possibly a case of Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy); a fact that has concerned certain teams before signing him in the past.
