The wonders of the world are few – but you would be right to list Clement Okwufulueze, the school boy sports super star among those wonders. Yes, he was a veritable wonder of Nigerian school sports in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. It is easy to term my opening sentences an exaggeration if you never watched Clement Okwufu-lueze (alias Piccolo) in a sports ground not just shining like a thousand stars but actually making all the difference. Was it when he decorated the colours of Anglican Grammar School, Ubulu-Uku or Federal Government College, Ughelli, or of Bendel Academicals or the much talked-about 1971 Nigerian Academicals, where with the likes of Adinkwe, Ilodig-we, Dominic Ezeani, Godwin Ogbueze and he gladdened the souls of Nigerians? A witty commentator termed he and Ez-eani the two “ezes”, (Igbo for kings) of Nigerian youth soccer. Yet, his soccer prowess was just a part, no matter how huge, of the story of Clement Okwufulueze. To see things in proper perspective, we need to pan back to the 1969 Aniocha Division of Mid-West state Amateur Athletics Association (AAA) competition for secondary schools. It was held on the grounds of Pilgrim Baptist Grammar School, Issele-Uku. Okwufueze’s school, Anglican Grammar School, Ubulu-Uku had no representative in the 100 yards (now 110 metres) hurdles event and the school’s main rivals, St. Anthony’s Col-lege, Ubulu-Uku (in the nature of the much-vaunted local rivalry between two great schools in the same town) were jubilating that they had another chance to earn more marks against their rivals. Moved by nothing but the indomita-ble spirit in him and his superlative and polyvalent sports talents, Okwufulueze opted to compete in the hurdles sprints event. That he never ran a hurdle race before, did not dissuade him from join-ing the race. At the blast of the whistle, Okwufulueze flew off the starting point, sailed over the hurdle sticks not just ef-fortlessly but stylishly, and was the first to reach the tape. The year 1969, could have been Ok-wufulueze’s in the entire Mid-West state, except that his school lost in the quarter final stage of the Giwa-Osagie football cup competition. But their Ubulu-Uku neighbour and rival, St. Anthony’s College, Ubulu-Uku, wiped the tears off their eyes. Okwufulueze’s school played against Edo College, Benin-City, in that unforgettable match. Confusion from wrong officiating had trailed the match, so the then Military Governor, Col. Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia who was among the spectators at the Ogbe Stadium advised that the match should be replayed the following Saturday. Edo College defeated Okwufulueze’s school through a controversial penalty kick in the replay match and faced St. Anthony’s College which had just defeated Immacu-late Conception College (ICC) Benin-City at the quarter-final stage – with Josiah Dombraye in the ICC team. Had Ubulu Grammar school won that match, two Ubulu-Uku schools would have played the semi-final match. It was another Adesua War between Benin-City and Ubulu-Uku. Some called it Nigeria-Biafra war because the Nige-rian Civil War was on then. In the dying minutes of that match, Edo College was awarded a controversial penalty kick – just as in the match against the other Ub-ulu-Uku school. As some Anthonians be-gan to protest, their goalkeeper, Raphael Uwechie (alias Somersaulting Bastic) assured them that Edo College would never score through that penalty kick, that he would deny them the goal even if it would be his last deed on earth. The penalty kick took place and as a member of that Anthony’s team, the 1969 Senior Prefect, Ambassador Maurice Offor (now retired from the foreign service) described the outcome to me, “Bastic cuddled the ball like a baby, and the final whistle blew soon after”. St. Anthony’s College met Notre Dame College, Ozoro in the 1969 finals, beat them 2-1, and took the cup home to Ubulu-Uku to the joy of the entire Anioma area. May we return to Okwufulueze please. That 1969, there was commotion among the Mid-West sports authorities, especially among the different sports commissions. Okwufulueze had been invited into the Mid-West Academicals Camp, it was actually called Bendel Academicals even as the senior team in the 1973 National Sports Festival was officially tagged Bendel United. Bendel came from the first three words of the two provinces which had made up that state – Benin and Delta provinces and was being used in sports circles even be-fore the state official became Bendel (or Up Bendel as some insist on calling it). What caused the commotion? Well, Okwufulueze the footballer had also been invited for camping as a sprinter, as a hurdler, for javelin, discuss, shot-put – you name it. It was left for Okwufulueze to decide which track or field event camp he had to attend – as long as it did not clash with his beloved game of soccer. In 1971, Okwufulueze was doing his Upper Sixth form at Ughelli, so his final exams were at hand when the invita-tion to the Nigerian Academicals camp arrived. He was still debating whether to disdain the invitation or…when the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, sent a helicopter to Ughelli to airlift Okwufulueze, Piccolo the king of soccer to camp, because without him the team would be incomplete. He obeyed the national call and etched his name indelibly into the annals of Nigerian soccer history. Okwufulueze, born in Calabar, is from Umeneze quarters, Ogwashi-Uku town in the Aniocha-South Local Gov-ernment Area of Delta state. That same town produced Green Eagles and Afri-ca’s 1973 Captain, Victor Odua and Jay Jay Okocha. And all the years Okwufu-lueze faced the formidable St. Anthony’s College Ubulu-Uku, ICC Benin, Mid-West Line goalkeeper, Raph Uwechie (who be-came an aircraft pilot in the US), local ri-valry was always on display for Uwechie (Bastic) is from the same Ogwashi-Uku town. Now, there are friends! While still a secondary school student at Ughelli, Okwufulueze was already experienced in national Challenge Cup competitions as he played for Warri Wolves which later became Edewor FC and Esselomo Diamonds/Ndoro Island-ers Football clubs in the national chal-lenge cup competitions. With his Higher School Certificate in his pocket, he and his friend, Adinkwe, joined the Nigeria Airways Football Club, Lagos. Then in 1974 or ’75, Nigeria Airways demolished all the big Lagos clubs to emerge state champions in the Oba’s Cup. The final match was played on a Saturday. It was the biggest laurel the team ever won but Okwufulueze didn’t wait for the celebra-tions. On Sunday night he was airborne – to the United States of America. Why? Though I interviewed Okwufu-lueze for about an hour, the humble bun-dle of talents was ever the gentleman, never proud, and so never said a bad word against anyone. But Mr. Nkem Osu, who linked me up with him, and who I will write about very soon because he will soon turn 70 years old, told me that Piccolo once played a match with an eye injury. The club authorities didn’t care about his eye injury but were all con-cerned about winning the cup – and that meant that Okwufulueze, whose health they cared nothing about, must be on the field that day. That was it; Okwufulueze knew he had to pursue his education but he left Nigerians wondering what happened to their hero, Okwufulueze, alias Piccolo the king of soccer. Even today, many still in their nostalgic mo-ments sing “Piccolo teach them soccer, aye, teach them soccer eee”. That song went national when Okwufulueze and COgbueze electrified the soccer scene as members of the 1971 NigerianC Ac-ademicals. On arriving in the US, Okwufueleze earned university degrees, refusing to answer the call of various universities to play soccer for them. He simply faced his education. Today, Okwufulueze is retired from the Boeing aircraft manufacturing behemoth. He was a quality controller there…just as he was quality controller in the football matches he played in Nige-ria. And true to the “like father like son” saying, one of his children is on call from American sports authorities all year round…because he is good at sprints, soccer, American football, etc. But it would be difficult to see another Okwu-fulueze; he started playing for Anglican Grammar School, Ubulu-Uku first team right from class one. So, he captained the school for almost five years…just as he captained the Mid-West Academicals. He was that special and that is why he remains one of the greatest names in Nigerian school sports history.