Hoops hero honoured
Sudanese-Canadian community, City of St. Catharines celebrates Abu Kigab’s gold medal
Abu Kigab has been able to beat many things since he started playing basketball.
He has been able to penetrate man and zone defences, withstand pressure when the target on the back is as big as the ball.
It goes without saying that the one-time St. Francis Catholic Secondary School standout has repeatedly beat the shot clock and, barring injury, will continue to do so into the foreseeable future in the NCAA with the Oregon Ducks and, after that, perhaps in the NBA.
The one thing the 6-foot-7 small forward can’t beat is the calendar, and that’s a bad thing for the native of Sudan and for hoops fans in St. Catharines, the dual citizen’s adopted hometown.
Because he was born 58 days too early to be a New Year’s 1999 baby, Kigab won’t be eligible to represent defending world champion Canada at the FIBA under-19 men’s Americas qualifier next June in St. Catharines.
Kigab, a key contributor to Canada’s first-ever championship at the under-19 worlds, which were decided in Egypt in July, is confident he would have made the cut and been able to play in front of his hometown fans at a packed Meridian Centre.
“That would be my age group, so I would have been fine,” he said. “I wish I could, I wish I was born two months later.
“Two months would have made the whole difference.”
Kigab and the national team wouldn’t have felt the pressure of coming up big for Canada had the sands of time swept his birthday into 1999.
“We wouldn’t really take it as pressure, we look at it as an opportunity to excel,” he said. “Pressure for us is just an opportunity to excel.”
The respectful, soft-spoken freshman isn’t boastful when he says this. Instead he is speaking from the experience of being a member of an underdog Canadian team that came into Cairo with a “chip on our shoulder” and returned home with the gold medal.
He said Canada didn’t put any stock in the pre-tournament hype that ranked the United States as the team that couldn’t be beat.
“The expectation was to win a medal, a gold medal,” he said. “They told the guys from the beginning that we wanted to go there and win the gold medal.
“We were the underdogs from the get-go. People don’t look at Canada as a basketball country, they see it as a hockey country.”
In Cairo the attitude of having a chip on one’s shoulder, usually regarded as counter-productive at best and destructive at worst, was turned into a positive by a determined, hungry Canadian team.
“Everybody just doubts us,” Kigab said. “They don’t think we’re tough enough.”
He said Canada’s 2-1 record in pool play and 4-0 record in the medal round addressed the question of whether Canadians are “too soft” to play basketball head on.
“Definitely a lot of questions were answered,” he said. “I’m happy we won the gold medal, we proved a lot of people wrong.
“We were playing with an edge, we were playing with something to prove.
“I think that’s how great things are made, when you play with something to prove every single night.”
In Kigab’s case, such a big investment in commitment returns dividends that are equally large.
“When you play that way, it feels great,” he said. “And when you win, it feels amazing.”
Kigab averaged 14.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. He was selected to the tournament all-star team.
Kigab spent three years studying at St. Francis, but graduated from Napa Christian Academy in northern California while playing for Prolific Prep Basketball Academy during his final year in high school.
Given that he already has spent a year living away from home, Kigab is a freshman only in terms of NCAA eligibility.
“It definitely prepared me a lot, it prepared me to be away from home,” the son of Elgaid and Masahair Kigab of St. Catharines said. “After a while, you get used to it, you kind of break that barrier of being away from home that held you back.”
In Napa, Calif., he stayed in touch with his family using Face Time.
“At first I called them every day and after a while they told me ‘This is the sacrifice you made, you just got to toughen up a little bit.
“’You just got to go through it. Everybody has to go through it at some time.’”
He said being alone made him “grow up a lot.
“Being there just opened up a whole other part of me. I became more self-aware of who I am.
“It just made me a stronger person, and I wouldn’t be the man I am today if it wasn’t for that.”
The first-year business major took a break from his studies at Oregon by returning home this week.
In addition to catching up with friends and family – and second, third and fourth helpings of his mother’s okra recipe - Kigab visited city hall Monday where he received a certificate of appreciation from the municipality as well as a t-shirt.
“When you get to the big leagues, wear it when the photographers start taking your picture,” Mayor Walter Sendzik said.
Kigab didn’t come to a presentation that included folk dances and a celebration of Sudanese culture empty-handed. He gave the mayor the No. 9 jersey that he wore in Cairo.
Sendzik, who got the guest of honour to autograph the jersey right on the spot, said it will be framed and put on display in the St. Catharines Sports Wall of Fame inside Meridian Centre.
“Everbody will know there is someone from St. Catharines who put us on the map.
“That was not just a moment for our community, but for Canada.”
Hisham Hassan, master of ceremonies for the one-hour program in front of city hall on behalf of the Sudanese-Canadian community, called Kigab a role model and praised the basketball player’s commitment.
“A dream becomes a goal when action is taken to achieve it,” Hassan said in his opening remarks.
Zachary Dadson, constituency assistant for St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle, was on hand to present Kigab certificates from the federal and provincial governments.
There was no word from either Parliament Hill or Queen’s Park on whether legislation will be introduced to retroactively change Kigab’s birthdate to Jan. 1, 1999, from Nov. 3, 1998.
Everbody will know there is someone from St. Catharines who put us on the map. That was not just a moment for our community, but for Canada.”
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik