“Bigger Than Basketball.” Kevin Obanor Plays for a Higher Purpose

Fellowship is a luxury not awarded to professional athletes. A life spent living out of hotel rooms throughout the country with no time to plant roots. Bonds are tested as quickly as they are formed, come the trade deadline or free agency. Over time, and without conscious intent, it becomes the norm. To not attach oneself to any person, place, or thing. To become so used to cramped hotel rooms that you keep everything you could need on your bedside table, never unpacking or getting too comfortable. 

Though only in his rookie season, Kevin Obanor has lived a life of solitude for nearly a decade. Since transferring from Alief Hastings High School in his hometown of Houston, Texas, to Mount Zion Christian Academy in Durham, North Carolina. “It was almost like a military school.” Obanor reminisces on the school where he excelled in basketball, cross country, and football; three more sets of teammates he may never see again after the seasons end. “You weren’t allowed to have a phone to call your loved ones” he recalls of the overwhelming isolation, a far cry from his Texas household where he is the third of four siblings. The son of a Pastor mother and a Bishop father, it would be his faith that would keep Obanor grounded and focused throughout his tenure at Mount Zion and the sacrifices that came with it. Missing out on prom, homecoming, and other core memories that are pivotal moments in the life of the American teenager “definitely made me more of an introvert” admits the 6’8 forward “but it also let me stay focused on the bigger goal.”

For Kevin Obanor, that goal extends far beyond the realm of basketball.

Acts 4:29 - “Now, Lord, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.”

His athletic abilities, gifts he credits to the Lord, serve as a vessel. “To spread the word of God. That’s what I was meant to do.”

As Matthew, Paul, and John left their positions to follow Jesus, Obanor continued to follow the teachings of Christ, committing to Oral Roberts University over other Division I offers. Oral Roberts, a private evangelical university was not touted as a basketball school. The expectations of the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles were minimal. But just as God had placed a basketball in Obanor’s hand for the first time blessing him with immaculate talent, He placed Obanor in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Obanor’s sophomore season at Oral Roberts saw the school advance to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1975. His 30 points and 11 rebounds over Ohio State were the only time a 15 seed has put up such numbers since Popeye Jones in 1990. It was a reminder for Obanor that there is a bigger plan for him. “I know God’s got me.”

Rooting his patience in his faith, and his focus on the bigger goal, the bigger message, is what allows Kevin to approach a 30-point game with the same mentality that he would a game where he only briefly sees the floor. “I work hard every day to achieve that goal, to get one step closer, so even if it’s not my night I’m going to go out there and work my hardest to help others because I know God has a plan for me.”

If Kevin Obanor’s faith is the foundation of his being, it is strong enough to build a cathedral. He can weather any storm, postulating a better day, a reason, and use it as a lesson. For Obanor, even the heaviest of times are temporary, as God only gives what he can handle. The message is not just the words of the bible, but the love and community Kevin has received from it. To love one another, even in a tie game at crunch time. To treat others with kindness and grace, even when the calls aren’t going your way. And to believe in yourself, in your teammates and your community, even when dreams of the NBA seem farfetched for a kid from Houston, Texas who was cut from his eighth-grade basketball team and turned those dreams into reality, with the Lord as his Shepard.

Colossians 1:28-29 - “We preach Christ…we use wisdom in teaching every man. This is the reason I am working. God’s great power is working in me.”