University of Georgia Athletics
A Quick Chat With ... Derek Ogbeide
January 30, 2017 | Men's Basketball
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
You probably know by now that Derek Ogbeide has experienced more of the world in less than 20 years than most of us will in our lives. To say the Georgia men's basketball sophomore moved around growing up would be an extreme understatement.
Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Ogbeide's family moved to London when he was young. Then came a move to Sweden, then Maryland, followed by a trip back to Nigeria, then back to Maryland. After that, a move to Toronto for a few years before he spent the last two years of high school in Atlanta.
That's getting around to say to least. Ogbeide recently sat down for a quick chat to talk about calling so many places home and much more. Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: Given how you've lived all over the world, when I say the word "home" what comes to mind?
Ogbeide: I think of several places. First I think of London, I guess because I grew up there. And then Nigeria, of course, and my native town [of Lagos]. After which I would say Canada, Toronto, where I spent a lot of time. Then Sweden for a little bit, and then, of course, America.
Frierson: Does America feel like home now?
Ogbeide: Oh yes, definitely. It feels exactly like home. I wouldn't be able to tell the difference, really.
Frierson: In what way do you feel the most, for lack of a better term, "Americanized"?
Ogbeide: In all kinds of ways, the way I'm influenced in music, people, the friends I have here and the way I speak. There's always a certain vernacular in every country, like when my British friends call I might get an accent out of nowhere. When I'm talking to my American friends, I sound a little bit like them. I definitely feel like I've gotten accustomed to the culture.
Frierson: What can you tell me about the start of your basketball career? How old were you and where were you living at the time?
Ogbeide: I was relatively old for an up-and-coming basketball player. It started in Nigeria for a little bit, I got a small taste of it, but I really started playing in Canada, in eighth grade. That's when I realized I had some kind of potential in basketball and where my love for it really started to develop.
Frierson: Who was the first player you really looked up to?
Ogbeide: Hakeem Olajuwon, off the bat, and to this day he's the I really look up to. The way he played the game and his skill set — I just grew up watching him and wanting to be him. He's the one I've always admired.
Frierson: He's one of the players I'm worried about being underrated as time goes by, because he was incredible and you don't hear enough about him these days.
Ogbeide: I think he was kind of underrated throughout his entire career. I hope people nowadays realize just how great he really was.
Frierson: What's the most creative thing you do? Or what's something creative you wish you could do?
Ogbeide: I did play the saxophone, but I don't anymore. I used to when I was younger, but I don't think I remember how to now since I have touched a saxophone in years. I could play the national anthem for every country I lived in; growing up I always wanted to learn that. I would learn it for school and then when I'd move again I'd learn the national anthem for the next country.
Frierson: What's the best new thing that entered your life in 2016?
Ogbeide: I feel like that was around the point where my eyes really started to open, not necessarily to the world, that also, but just to the way life's supposed to be lived. I feel like that was my turning point and stopped, so to speak, being childish — I was mature for my age but still childish. It was a turning point for me as I realized that growing up is a big part of life.
Frierson: Who is the most interesting person on the team, however you want to define that? And frankly you may be the most interesting person, given your background.
Ogbeide: I would have to say Turtle Jackson. I clicked with him when I first got here and we were freshmen together and we were always two peas in a pod and always together. We laugh about funny things that are not funny and just always had a really strong connection. I find him really interesting, the way his life was set up and grew up and literally adopted the name Turtle, and even some of his family members don't know his real name. They just know him as Turtle.
Frierson: If you could play any other sport for Georgia what would it be?
Ogbeide: There's no boys soccer team and that was my first sport. I always take pride in my soccer roots. If there was a boys soccer team I'd play for that.
Frierson: When you first started going to school in the States and maybe in Canada, too, were there football coaches looking at you and asking you to come out and play?
Ogbeide: Yeah, they definitely wanted me to play. But my mom would never allow it. She was so terrified of football in general, though she likes to watch it. She hated the idea of me playing it. I did play rugby growing up and it's somewhat rougher than football.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
