Osunde Uses Family as Inspiration
Posted: Mon Aug 31, 2009 7:04 am
Article Continued ---> http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/2 ... quot_.htmlOsayi Osunde, full of speed and fury, has earned a reputation as the leader of Villanova's defense.
The 6-foot-1, 245-pound outside linebacker is a punisher of ball carriers who is fast enough to cover running backs in the flat.
Those who see him on the Main Line campus know they are looking at a football player. But he is much more than that.
He graduated from Central Columbia High School in Bloomsburg, Pa., at 16. Now 21, the Nigerian immigrant has an undergraduate degree in psychology. He is pursuing a master's degree in human-resource development.
Osunde is the youngest of Awawu Osunde's four sons. When Villanova plays, he writes F-A-M on the tape around his wrist to honor his mother and siblings.
"I don't play football for the glory," said the fifth-year senior, who is a Sports Network preseason all-American. "I play for my family.
"I play to get somewhere. I play to take my family out of the situation that we've been in for the last 10 to 15 years."
His mother struggled to pay the bills after her husband, Egerton, an African history professor at Bloomsburg University, died of sickle-cell disease in 1998.
To help their mother, Osunde and his brothers, Isoken, 29, Uyi, 28, and Osagie, 25, worked part-time jobs in high school.
Osunde remembers times when the family's water and other utilities were cut off.
"You had to look through the couch for pennies," he said. "It wasn't easy."
Through it all, the pursuit of education kept the brothers focused. For the Osundes, that always came first.
Their father used to commute back and forth from Nigeria while teaching at Ohio State University. He got a teaching job at Bloomsburg when Osunde was 2, and moved his family to Pennsylvania.
Always an inspirational player, very proud to call him my friend.
Keep doin Osiggs... keep doin. 
