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Olajuwon, Ohonme was able to attract interest from colleges in the United States. One of those schools was thousands of miles away, in a cold place called North Dakota.
• "I decided that the school that gives me my travel papers first and sends me the best-looking brochures, that's where I'm going," Ohonme said, laughing about his decision to attend Lake Region. "Obviously they took that picture in the summer."
• He arrived in Devils Lake on a Sunday, clad in a linen suit that provided little protection from the chilled air. As he walked around town, a couple stopped on their way home from church and offered him a ride. They took him home, fed him his "first American cuisine" with mashed potatoes and gravy and let him snooze on the couch.
• When he woke up, the family was gone, but they'd left him a note to help himself.
• "I am from Lagos, Nigeria. Nobody leaves a stranger in their house," he said.
• Ohonme finished his stint at the two-year college, finished his undergraduate years at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn., and received a master's degree from NDSU. He and his wife moved to Charlotte to begin their business careers and raise a family.
• When Ohonme returned to Nigeria for his father's funeral, he revisited that old basketball court and saw kids with no shoes -- and no future.
• It led him to start Samaritan's Feet in 2003, but the momentum it needed didn't arrive until 2008 when Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis basketball coach Ron Hunter shed his footwear and help generate donations for 100,000 shoes.
• Since then, more than 3,000 basketball coaches at all levels have coached in bare feet. Ohonme said the charity has helped more than 5 million children get shoes in 65 countries.
• "What started in my little garage in 2003 has now galvanized a global movement," Ohonme said. "It's going to be exciting for me to come back to what we knew as home and see the people of North Dakota rally around this."
• This year, he said, more than 50,000 children will get shoes in 86 U.S. communities, including the Fargo-Moorhead area.
• It will be the second time that NDSU coach Phillips will ditch his shoes. He jokes that rival coach Jones, at 6-foot-11, will be making a much larger contribution, but hopes their solidarity will convince fans to donate to the cause and a goal of 10,000 shoes.
• "We will still be trying to beat each other's brains out during the game, but we can agree that we can do some good here in the meantime," Phillips said.
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