College Basketball Player Returns To Team After Devastating Car Crash

Jet, Feb 15, 1999

When Arizona State University Sun Devils center Okeme Oziwo realized that he had been in a car crash, he thought he was going to die.

His 6-foot-8 body was twisted "literally into a pretzel" inside of his car that had crashed into a bus bench and then a wall after he had fallen asleep behind the wheel on

his way back to campus after an outing with friends. He remembers the excruciating pain of the steering wheel pressed against his chest, his left knee bent across his chest and his arm, shredded from windshield glass, gushing with blood. As paramedics used the jaws of life to free him from the wreckage, he began to pray and ask God to forgive him of his sins.

"I thought it was over," he told JET. "I had two high school teammates who died behind the wheel, and it was always in the back of my mind that it would happen to me."

God obviously had other plans for Oziwo. A little over a year after that August 1997 accident, Oziwo, wearing No. 25, did what doctors told him he would never be able to do again. He played basketball. Oziwo returned to the Sun Devils lineup on Nov. 5, 1998, and since then he has worked his way back to a starting position on the team.

Although he plays his game with a few adjustments now-- he has a rod in his left leg that was broken in two places and a metal plate to replace his pelvis that was crushed in the accident--he feels good about what he has accomplished.

"I feel fine," the 21-year-old forward said. "I've been through a lot, so now I really want to live. Now I see things in a whole new light, and I don't take things for granted anymore."

The road to recovery was not easy. He hated not being able to play basketball. And because of his injuries, he was not able to walk for three months. But he was inspired by family support and was even more motivated to get back on his feet by watching people pass by his hospital window.

"The hardest part was having to sit out another year of basketball and not being able to walk," he said. "I would ask them to wheel me to the window to see people walk."

Oziwo has lost some quickness as a result of the accident, but he notes that he has found ways to make up for that. And he continuously works out in the weight room to work on his jumping ability.

After the basketball season, the 21-year-old senior is looking to graduate, but since he has two more years of eligibility left, he will continue to play basketball and work on his master's degree. And after that? Like most college players, Oziwo hopes to get a shot in the NBA. But if that doesn't work out, he says he will use his degree in social work to help young children.