Late Michael Ojo: 4 things you didn’t know about Nigerian-American basketball player who died of heart attack in Serbia

…Michael Ojo was born in Lagos on January 5, 1993

Nigeria has many young talented sportsmen plying their trades abroad. And, one of them was a Serbia-based basketball player, Michael Ojo who died of cardiac arrest on Friday, 7th August, 2020 while having personal training.

Here are 5 things you need to know about him.

1. MICHAEL BROKE SEVERAL RECORDS AS BASKETBALL PLAYER

Michael was a skillful Nigerian-American professional basketball player with Adriatic Supercup (2018), Serbian League (2019), and Adriatic League (2019) awards. He a charismatic sportsman measuring 2.16m and 140kg in height and weight respectively.

His physique listed him among the tallest and heaviest players to have ever played in Serbia and entire Europe. He earned All-American Honors as a senior from the National Association of Christian Athletes at the National Association of Christian Athletes Tournament.

During his professional career as a senior basketball player, he had averagely garnered 15.0 points, 14.0 rebounds and 5.0 blocks per game. Nike invested in a $15,000 machine to make a shoe that properly fitted him because he wore a shoe size 21 by the United States sizing systems.

2. WE WAS PROPERLY EDUCATED

He attended Tennessee Temple Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee for High for secondary education. He went further to Florida State University for his tertiary education between 2012 and 2017.

While in college, he played four seasons for the Florida State Seminoles under Leonard Hamilton.

Despite his sterling performance, he missed the 2015/16 season but remain enrolled at the school as a medical redshirt. Right after college life, he began his football career as concentrated on center as playing position with jersey number 50.

3. HE HAS PLAYED ALL HIS PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN SERBIA

Michael Ojo signed a contract with a Serbian basketball club, FMP on 17th August 2017, and played his first game at ABA League on September 19, securing 8 points and 2 rebounds, in a 74-67 defeat to Cedevita though.

His club had an encounter with Zadar on October 20, where they won 91-76 and Michael recorded 11 points and 12 rebounds. In the following year 2018, Michael featured in another game on March 3, which was 86-81 loss to petrol Olimpija as Ojo scored 19 points and recorded 9 rebounds.

In all his appearances for FMP in the ABA League, he averaged 11.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.1blocks over 21 games. However, in the Serbian Super League season on May 3, 2018, he scored 21 points, recorded 17 rebounds in an 87-82 victory over Partizan NIS. His average performance in 14 games in the Super League was 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds.

Read also: Late Tolulope Arotile: 5 things you didn’t know about Nigeria’s first-ever female combat pilot

4. HE SLUMPED AND DIED DURING TRAINING

Michael Ojo died of a heart attack on 17th August 2017. He slumped and died while in a personal training session at the Partizan Stadium in Belgrade the capital city of Serbia. It was the last club he played for, Crvena Zvezda that announced his shocking death. “It is with greatness we hereby inform the public that our former center Michael Ojo passed away at the age of 27,” the club’s website read in part.

SOURCE: Wikipedia