It wasn’t planned that there would be a sequel to my first article on the magnificent Clement Okwufulueze. Yet, the moment his story hit the inter-net and reactions began to pour in, as voluminous as the River Niger flows, the need for a follow up story emerged. First, the reactions showed that as stratospheric as the praises I heaped on him were, most respondents said the applause, the tributes, the com-pliments and the acclaims were less than enough owing to the wonders Okwufulueze performed in sports. Actually, many concluded I never watched him perform his magic in the field of play. They posited that if I ever watched him, say, mesmerizing his opponents in a soccer match, I would have dwelt deeply on a cer-tain match. They said that no mat-ter the match I would have chosen to write about, I would have latched onto a moment of magic …and rec-reated it because Okwufulueze had magical feet and he would leave the opponents spellbound, really fasci-nated. And the audience? Oh, they gushed that he never failed to leave those watching him enchanted and entranced. One respondent said that to watch Okwufulueze in his school days was to watch a man that was totally in control of a situation at play in the field of soccer. Yes, those who concluded that I never watched Okwufulueze at play were right. I knew him by reputation only and only sang “Piccolo teach them soccer, aye, teach them soccer ooo” when the sports superstar had left secondary school. But the more I kept researching and writing about secondary school sports, the more his name kept popping up. Yes, again, if some people are special, Clement Okwufulueze, alias Piccolo, the school boy sports super star was doubly special. He was a veritable wonder of Nigerian school sports in the late 1960s and early the early and the early 1970s. Second, there is another reason why this sequel in the Okwufuleze story is imperative though it is not likely that my mistake on the school Okwufulueze attended for his High-er School Certificate could cause a war between Government College, Ughelli, and Hussey College, Warri, I feel duty bound to correct the mis-take for journalism is history on the fast lane. It is a grievous failing to mislead the public and I did mis-lead the public in my first offering. In my initial write up, I said wrongly that Okwufulueze attended Govern-ment College, Ughelli, for his HSC. He actually attended Hussey College, Warri, after he finished his School Certificate examination at Anglican Grammar School, Ubulu UKu. The moment my attention was drawn to the mishap, I knew I had to correct it. If facts are sacred, then the fact that Okwufulueze schooled in Warri and not Ughelli should be a big deal. This is especially so because histor-ically, Hussey College, Warri, was a stupendous sports power house. Yet, there is more to it because the team OKwufulueze captained in 1971 at Ughelli could have beaten any secondary school in the world. They were Mid-West champions as a matter of course. That team could even have challenged the na-tional team, yes the Green Eagles and would not have fared as badly as St. Patrick’s College, Asaba, that fell 0-7 when they played against the national team. The unforgettable Jo-siah Dombraye had left Immaculate Conception College (ICC) Benin in 1969 and enrolled in Hussey College, Ughelli in 1970 – just as Okwufulueze did. The following year, the formi-dable Hussey College, Warri, team had such other school boy greats – Morton Owolo, Didiare, Clement Adinkwe, Opone, Gigi Donbraye. The great Thompson Usiyan, Zion Ogunfehimi (goalkeeper) Franklin Howard, Clement Temile, Mike Obi-ku, and John Umugheli, also attend-ed Hussey College. Tried as I did, I couldn’t confirm if Ben Popoola attended the same Hussey College. If he did, then the school’s 1971 team would have been as unstoppable by any Nigerian secondary school just as though what was in action was a locomotive engine. Why? Oh the reason is simple. Ben Popoola was in form four when he helped St. Thomas Aquinas Sec-ondary School, Akure, to win the 1969 Francis Omitola football com-petition for schools in the entire Western State– today’s South-West minus Lagos state. Then he came over to either Warri or Ughelli for his HSC, which he would have finished in 1971. Ben Popoola was no ordinary footballer either. Mr. Emmanuel Okwuokei (from Ubulu-Uku, Delta State, who played with Ben Popoola in the Akure team in 1969 and who represented West-ern State in soccer that year as well as in Javelin and Pole-vault, said that Popoola was a truly gifted footballer: “It was clear to us that Ben would go places, and he did. He not only played for Bendel Insurance Foot-ball Club of Benin in its glorious days, but he played for the nation-al football team then known as the Green Eagles. Popoola was about the youngest in my school team at Akure. He was a great dribbler that often wriggled his way through a defence, no matter how tight, only to get us a much-needed goal or cre-ate a chance for another to score. He was a remarkable schemer. He had that ‘don’t dirty me’ style that made him avoid injurious contact with defenders”. Here is Reuters’ report of Green Eagles match against Ivory Coast on 14th July 1974; “sub-stitute player Ben Popoola opened the scoring in the 70th minute with a fast low shot into a corner of the net. The goal obviously boosted the Eagles’ morale and in the 88th min-ute forward striker Sunday Izevbigie netted the second goal”. Both scorers belonged to Bendel Insurance of Be-nin. Popoola left for the US, played professionally there and coached some university soccer teams. In praise of School sports in the bye-gone eras, I must not fail to point out that Sunday Izevbigie nearly be-came Okufulueze’s team mate at Edo College, Benin-City. He stopped over briefly at Edo College, but he didn’t quite like the sports atmosphere there. So, he left Benin-City for War-ri. When I asked him why, Okwufu-lueze replied that Hussey had more sports facilities than Edo College. Had he tarried at Edo College, he would have had another school boy soccer great, Damian Ogunsuyi, the unforgettable Bendel Insurance Football Club of Benin’s outside left player as a school team mate. I en-gaged that little digression to exhibit the power of school sports in those good and glorious old days. Now, to end this second offering on Clement Okwufulueze, alias Pic-colo, the king of soccer, or actually the king of Nigerian school sports in the late 1960s and early 1970s, I have to coopt a reaction to my first offering, from Mr. Christian Odia-ka, a proud ex-student of Anglican Grammar School, Ubulu-Uku. It was in that school that the star Okwufu-lueze rose and took his place of em-inence in the Nigerian school sports firmament. He wrote: “Tony, that story on Clement Okwufulueze, alias Piccolo, the King of School Sports” was very comprehensive indeed. But can anybody fully enunciate the rare blessings/talents embod-ied in that boy (then), called Clem-ent Okwufulueze? I was privileged to witness the said event of 1969 at Issele-uku, where Ubugrams swept almost all the medals available. Pic-colo did the 100 meters sprint, the hurdles, the javelin, the shot put etc, and excelled in all. But there’s just a slight correction. Tony Awulor (Tony Risky), who was the senior prefect (1969), was no 1, in sprints. Also the writer failed to mention that St. Anthony’s borrowed our own”Bob tuner” (Cyril Dibia), who scored one of the goals and who’s picture the “Nigerian Observ-er”, carried in that memorable cap-tion”Notre Dame walks to a sudden death”. (Author’s comment: Odiaka must be referring to the finals of the Giwa-Osagie cup competition for Mid-West secondary schools, which St. Anthony’s College, Ubulu-Uku, won in 1969. All I will add is that I unearthed the Nigerian Observer newspaper report on that 1969 foot-ball match and I’m not sure that Cyril Dibia’s picture illustrated that delicious story. I’m also not sure that the story bore the title which Odiaka supplied. Yes, I have the story of the semi-finals between Anglican Gram-mar School, Ubulu-Uku –Ubugrams and even the quarter-finals match between Immaculate Conception College –ICC- Benin-City and St. An-thony’s College, Ubulu-Uku which Anthony’s won. But I’ll reserve such matters for another story and anoth-er day). Christian Odiaka continued: “We had them – great, great guys – San-co-hero, “iron gate”, Lanky 7 etc. It was a great fun and privilege to be a student of Ubugrams then. But Clement Okwufulueze, (Pic-colo), tall, handsome, humble and exceptionally gifted stands shoulder high above all. UP UBUGRAMS!” Thank you, Mr. Christian Odia-ka; you confirmed my rendition that Clement Okwufulueze was not only special but he was a wonder of Nigerian secondary sports history. He is one of a kind, the type of boy that comes into the world once in a lifetime.