“When he died, he died with a good name,” his son Anthony Fashanu said recently. “If I go back to Nigeria, I introduce myself to a lot of people. They say, ‘Oh, you are the son of Adewale.’ They always respect that name. So it’s something I try to instill in my kids, too: Having a good name is better than having all the money in the world.”
A few decades after he moved to the United States and settled in Waldorf, Md., Anthony will hear his family name announced to a broad American audience. His son, Adewale’s grandson, will be selected early in the NFL draft Thursday night, perhaps among the first 10 picks and the first offensive lineman chosen.
Olu Fashanu did not try on football pads until he arrived as a freshman at Gonzaga College High in the District, and he played a year longer at Penn State than most anybody outside his family expected. Over eight years, Fashanu turned himself from a burgeoning basketball prospect into a team captain at a college football powerhouse. He was named an all-American, became a finalist for the academic version of the Heisman Trophy and graduated from business school a semester early.
“He did everything right,” Penn State offensive line coach Phil Trautwein said. “He’s not a kid who the money is going to change his work ethic or change who he is.”
Anthony Fashanu moved to the United States in the early 1990s, living with his uncle on Long Island. Shortly after he moved to Maryland, he met his wife, Paige, settled in Waldorf and had two children. Their son, Olumuyiwa, had the athletic genes that had helped Anthony play semiprofessional soccer. He sprouted above his peers and gravitated toward basketball. Fashanu’s parents spent between $50,000 and $60,000 so he could travel around the country to camps and with AAU and Elite Youth Basketball League teams. “Was he going to get a basketball offer? I don’t know,” Anthony said. “But I know that he was very good.”
During those basketball trips, football coaches often approached Anthony in the stands and pleaded for Fashanu to play their sport, for their team. Anthony declined every overture without telling his son. He was a college football fan, but he worried about football’s physical toll and the threat of brain injury. He had twice signed up Fashanu for Charles County youth leagues, but both times he changed his mind and wouldn’t let him play.
Fashanu enrolled at Gonzaga intent on playing basketball. He had grown to nearly 6-foot-6 by eighth grade. At a summer welcome picnic for incoming students, Eagles football coach Randy Trivers spotted Fashanu walking around, towering above his future classmates. “Of course, Olu looks a little different than the other freshmen coming in,” Trivers said. “You could see: ‘Whoa, man, this is a good frame. This young man may possibly be interested in football.’ You’ll welcome anybody into the program. But that one raised your eyebrow a little bit.”
In Anthony’s recollection, Trivers called him every day for a month. He ignored every call. On the first day of school, Trivers found Fashanu in class, handed him football equipment and instructed him to report to practice after school. Fashanu relented, seeing a means to keep in shape and add toughness for the winter.
“At that point in my life, I was a basketball player,” Fashanu said. “The thought process was, try out football, see if I like it, but at the end of the day, at the very least, I’d be conditioning myself for the basketball season.”
“I was worried,” Anthony said. “His mother was…
This article was originally published by a www.washingtonpost.com . Read the Original article here. .
