However, it is worth noting that no basketball player in Uganda has had an unending success streak as Okello. And perhaps no one perfectly embodies the dominance and fighting spirit of Oilers. Hamza Nyambogo, the former KIU Titans coach told The Observer, that all he sees in Okello is a warrior; one that should always lead the front-line to a war.
Nyambogo explained: “I do not know of any player today who puts their body on the line for their team like Okello does as though everything depends on it. Yet, in basketball sense, Okello never accepts defeat.”
That is a trait clearly special in Okello; the major reason why Mugisha took him to Oilers in the first place. He saw selfless and dogged determination to effect a result by hook or crook. Grace Kwizera, an Oilers club official said that they would not want to take credit for the fighter that Okello is.
But he was quick to add that the union of Okello and Oilers has been a case of rubber meeting road, a complete match-up.
“Oilers, as is the management that owns the club is a team of strong values; discipline, hard work, professionalism, competitiveness and compassion. You get all that in Okello,” Kwizera said.
During the playoff finals recently with UCU Canons, Oilers were missing key cogs in the chain: Stephen Omony and Nigerian import Francis Azolibe. Also, Jonathan Egau did not play. Tony Drileba and Daniel Jjuuko played on pain killers. For Oilers’ opponents, this was seen as a good opportunity to end Oilers winning run, finally.
But because Okello never ‘dies’, as Nyambogo described him, Oilers were still able to win the best of seven series 4-3. To understand how vital Okello was to Oilers’ cause, he was man of the match in three games of the seven in the final.
When asked about how he was able to put up formidable displays under such gruelling circumstances, where the team for the lack of numbers (depth), was stretched meaning that Okello had to play many more minutes than usual, his response was chilling: “Well, I had to do what had to be done, which was helping the team win at all cost.”
That was Okello’s tenth major title at Oilers, including two Africa Zone Five championships in 2017 and 2018. But knowing how physical basketball games in the NBL are, because of the battering a centre/power forward like Okello takes, one has to take their hat off for the resolve he has.
Unbreakable is what Okello is. During the 2018 playoff finals against the Betway Power, Oilers lost game one 66-85. To get back in the series, Oilers had to muster all possible energy in game two. Yet, by the end of the first quarter, Okello was bleeding, after his lower lip was deeply torn into two.
To correct it, Okello appeared like he would need a cleft-like kind of surgery. But he played through the pain and aided Oilers’ 78-71 win, to restore parity, one-all, before winning the championship on a 4-1 aggregate. Such Okello spirit is a bit humanly incomprehensible. But it draws back to something that befell him earlier in his life.
In November 2013, right in the middle of the playoffs, Okello lost his father, an event that would impact on him and his family greatly. While his father was polygamous, Okello’s mother bore nine of them of which Okello is the sixth. As a widow, she had a more or less insurmountable challenge, taking care of her children.
Surprisingly, Okello decided to supplement his siblings’ efforts too, for his mother’s needs.
“Although I have a Diploma in Procurement from Makerere University Business School, I had to work extra hard at basketball, because that is where the money to support mother would come from.”
Procuring championships for Oilers just paid back Okello. In fact, earlier this month, Okello travelled to Arua to see his mother, and show her his seventh winners medal. It is worth noting, that Okello’s sporting efforts especially in basketball (he was a sprinter and footballer in school too) right through school earned him a full scholarship at Crane High for five years.
That saved his parents of the hefty school fees, paving way for others to partake of that money. But it would be a big oversight if Okello’s misfortune was propped as the basis of his legendary status in Ugandan basketball. His genes too speak volumes.
Rugby Cranes star Phillip Wokorach is Okello’s step brother, and together they share a bond that has seen them both wear the shirt number 15. When Okello won his most recent championship, Wokorach posted on social media that number 15 ruled the nation.
Meanwhile, the two have a younger brother plying his trade at Heathens rugby club, Innocent Gwoktho, a number 14. His flying wing skills have not gone unnoticed in the league. But at the moment it is about Okello who joins Wokorach in being recognized among Uspa’s best of the year.
Wokorach has been the best rugby player on a couple of occasions. And that is the sort of dream Okello has harboured over the years.
“For Uspa to announce me, as the best basketball player in the country, was a dream come true. I cannot put it into words,” Okello said.
Well, for sports pundit Collin Subika, putting into words a sports moment (or describing a sports personality) is not a problem. In reference to Okello, he told The Observer, that he doubts there is an athlete anywhere in world sport, that has made tremendous and incredible progress at their field, as James Okello has!