…To understand the sheer thrill Oks got from dominating his adversaries and contemporaries, one would have to understand the source of the nickname that he’d soon take on – The Big Aristotle. The Big Aristotle had been a nickname that Shaquille O’neal had given himself as a reference to the consistent greatness that won him the 2000 MVP award. Just like Shaq, Oks had won his MVP award in the year 2000.
One of Oketcho’s closest friends and teammate Isaac ‘Magalo’ Afidra told me that, “Oks would do everything that Shaquille O’neal did. The mannerism, the celebration after making a basket and the sheer force and dominance.”
Power in the early 2000s, Wilbrod Oketcho – standing, extreme right.
Oks and Afidra met in December of 1998 during the Abe Lincoln Tournament. The Abe Lincoln tournament had been a popular basketball showcase in Uganda that collected competing teams in East Africa in both senior and junior categories. Afidra narrates, he had first met Oks that December while playing for the Power Junior team at the tournament. He recalls that he was in his Form Four(U.C.E) vacation while Oketcho was in his Form Six (U.A.C.E) vacation. The junior team did not go past the quarter finals of the tournament but as was the tourney’s norm, teams could upgrade players from the junior team to the senior team and Oketcho was upgraded to the Power seniors team to play the semi finals against Rhinos.
“The Rhinos of then is not the Rhinos of now. That team really had distinguished players.”, Afidra told me. In the semi finals, a young Oketcho faced off with a Rhinos forward, an American Marine called Dr. Jay – Afidra recalls. Oks was way ahead of his time, instantly showing confidence exchanging trash talk with the experienced marine. “Give me the ball, this is light work”, Afidra remembers Oks saying.
Wilbrod Oketcho
Before then, Afidra had only heard about Oketcho from his brother Jesse who played for Power. Jesse had repeatedly spoken of a fearless kid from SMACK who played with the Bugolobi Bingos. In one tournament, while Bugolobi was playing against Makerere University, Oks had driven through their zone defense and dropped an emphatic dunk on their forwards.
“At that time, Makerere had some of the creme de la creme, players like Humphrey Hakiza. These were gifted players.” – Afidra told me.
In 1999, both Wilbrod Oketcho and Isaac Afidra would team up for Power. As rookies, they would test the heat, and the thrills of competing in the National Basketball league. Being on any roster in that era meant you’d have to face off with the mighty Falcons. Power verses Falcons was an epic rivalry.
“In those years, everything about basketball was Falcons. They were too organized. Falcons’ players were very disciplined, they had a very tactical coach in Ronnie Kaboha and Stephen Omony was literally unstoppable.”, Afidra told me of Falcons.
Stephen Omony is a legend and the undisputed G.O.A.T of Ugandan basketball. His Runnings with Wilbrod Oketcho would start while both players were in high school.
“Without a doubt we had an early running. I was at Kitante Hill School and he was at SMACK. I was the leader of my team and he was the leader of his. He had such a big fight in him and you could tell he didn’t want to lose.”, Stephen Omony told me.
The two players (Omony and Oketcho) had a fantastic relationship off the court but on the floor, it was always fierce competition. Omony reaffirms Afidra’s comment about Falcons’ superiority and discipline in the day, “We had things we were doing as a team that were different”. “Personally, I had a drive and resolve within me that I didn’t see in many other guys but when you compete, you can always see people that have that fire similar to yours .”, Omony says. I had a role to lead my team and so did he, Sometimes that calls for a bit of unfriendly things – Omony continued. Stephen Omony points out Marvin Banks Keronga (also a very close friend to Oks) as the other guy on the Power team that had a burning flame inside him.
Despite going unbeaten in the regular season, Oketcho and Afidra’s Power would lose to Falcons in the Finals of 1999. Afidra believes the result of those finals would have been different hadn’t it been for Oketcho tearing a ligament in the knee and Jesse having to move to the U.S ahead of the finals.
“I could see the frustration in them when they continuously competed and things not going their way. It was so intense some people misinterpreted it as hatred for each other but as far I’m concerned, It was an on-court thing.”, Omony told me about that 1999 finals between Falcons and Power.
Oketcho and Power would get restitution against Falcons with the dawn of a new millennium, the year 2000. Afidra recalls that 2000 wasn’t an easy year especially for Oketcho.
“He had to go through surgery on his knee and it was a very slow return. He joined us half way through the season”, Afidra remembers. I asked Afidra how a half healthy Oketcho could win MVP. He told me that he hadn’t seen such efficiency from a player until then.
“Oks knowing he was only recovering did only the basic stuff, He was a sure bucket in the blocks, he played good defense, locked down his opponents and set up his teammates. MVP just naturally came to him”.
Afidra remembers how hard they trained to win the league in 2000. They had learned from their slip ups from the year before. “We were fitter than any team in the league. We had to make amends.” Afidra recalls two weeks to the semi finals against Rhinos – they had no rims installed at YMCA, all they did was run hills and run on court. “The rims were only installed on a Thursday for a Friday practice. We ended up sweeping Rhinos on Saturday and Sunday in a best of three series.”
Omony acknowledges that the Power they faced in 2000 had changed a whole lot. ‘Oks and Afidra had gotten a whole lot better and Marvin had a fire in him’.
2000 Power Championship Team
Oketcho Wilbrod, Isaac Afidra, Julius ‘Shell’ Wapera, Stephen ‘Sengo’ Sengooba, Charlie, Elliot ‘Baddu’ Bagenda, Shaban Ali, Marvin Banks Keronga, Musa Malamu, Samuel Sebadduka, Martin Kindagaire.
Oks was a fierce competitor. Afidra remembers that ‘he would foul you so hard and turn to his teammates and argue with them about why they’re getting beaten easily’. He had this thing where he would extend his elbows after making a basket, whether you were his teammate or opponent, you didn’t want to be in the way of that, ‘Get out of my way‘, he would said. Oketcho created an aura of intensity starting from practice and pick up games – ‘It was always bloody. Oks and Marvin started the Power Intensity slogan still used to date ‘, Afidra tells.
“Oks never beat about the bush. Whether it was telling the lanky Julius ‘Shell’ Wapera to get stronger by going to the weight room or telling Sengo to quit playing like a girl.”
Afidra and Power won the league in the year of Oks’ passing -2008 in his honor.
For his legacy, Afidra will always remember Oketcho as a ‘true sportsman’, a ‘true competitor’, a father, big brother and a friend.
Stephen Omony will always remember Oks as a ‘happy guy who had so much positive energy to throw around.’ “His presence was always contagious and I can attest that he always pushed people around him to do and be better. You could tell that he was a smart and progressive guy who was going going to have a very impact-full life not only on the basketball court. I think he had just began expressing just who he was as a person.”
Rest in Power Wilbrod ‘Oks’ Oketcho.
By Cucu Brian| I respond to tweets, @Cucubrian | Also tag @Basketballug
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