Former Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa, Dr. Awoture Eleyae is a balanced individual with superior athletic and academic qualities. Now 86, he is still strong and healthy - a carry over from his active days as an athlete, coach, teacher, lecturer and sports administrator in Nigeria, Africa and beyond.As a teenager, Eleyae's desire was to hit the top after deciding to combine football and athletics on the streets of Uzere, a community in Isoko-South Local Council in present-day Delta State. That was in the mid 1940s, when he commenced elementary education at the Native Authority (NA) Primary School in Uzere. Though he started as a goalkeeper, it was in athletics that the lad realised his dream after he ran bare-footed to pick a silver medal for Nigeria in the 880 yards (half mile), during the Ghana Athletics Championship in 1954. Two years later, Enugu hosted the All Nigerian Athletics Championship and Eleyae, who was a student at the popular Government Teachers' Training College (GTTC), Abraka, set a national record in the 880 yards.He had emerged the regional champion from the old Western Region and the record he set in Enugu remained unbroken for five years, until Mohammed Pankshin from the present-day Plateau State erased it in 1959. Later, academic excellence and sportsmanship would fetch him a Federal Government scholarship in 1960, which took him to Britain to study at Leeds University, Glasgow College of Physical Education and the Loughborough University in Northern England.He was still a student in Britain when he attended the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where he under-studied how the Games were organised.He returned to Nigeria in 1962 and was quickly employed by the College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria, now Ahmadu Bello University (ABU). As a Physical Education lecturer in the college, Eleyae was handed a great task by then Amateur Athletics Association (AAA), to lead the national team to the Dakar Friendship Games, where his athletes, including policeman, Sam Igun, David Ejoke and A.K Amun, did wonders by winning 10 gold medals to top the table. The Dakar Friendship Games later gave rise to the All Africa Games.He also discovered other great athletes, including Emilia Edet and Violet Odogwu-Nwajei. In fact, it was Eleyae, who converted Violet from high jump to the hurdles and long jump events. He coached the athlete to the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica, where Violet picked bronze in the long jump to set a record as the first African female athlete to achieve that. In 1970, Eleyae led another Nigerian team to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburg, with Gen. Henry Adefope as Chef-de-Mission.In his squad was the high-flying Modupe Oshikoya, a long and high jump specialist. Oshikoya was declared the best African athlete at the 1974 edition of the Games in Australia. Eleyae later served as director of Sports in the old Bendel State, where he rose to become chairman of the Sports Council. He capped his career with his appointment as secretary general of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa, a position he held for several years.Eleyae spoke with GOWON AKPODONOR, during the week on a number of issues, including the decline in the nation's school sports system, which, according to him, is a result of the dearth of Physical Education (PE) in both public and private schools.FROM the early 1940s, down to Nigeria's Independence in 1960, not much was heard about the country's sportsmen and women whenever they competed at major sports events.The absence of television robbed many Nigerians the opportunity to watch their heroes and heroines, a majority of whom used to play or run bare-footed and without kits. One of the heroes of the time is Eleyae, whose great career and contributions formed the bedrock and symbol of Nigeria's athleticism.Remarkably, his prowess soared to high heavens. He was famous for his exploits in the 440 and 880 yards. From NA in Uzere to GTTC in Abraka (now Delta State University after transformations), he was quick to become a regional and national athlete. From a humble beginning in his native Uzere community, Eleyae, was born on April 27, 1927, rose through athletics to become a leader and champion, senior prefect and academic front-runner.Though the seed of his athletics career was planted at the NA between 1940 and 1947, it was nurtured to stardom when he gained admission into GTTC in 1951 for his Grade 111 training. He later obtained his Grade 11 (equivalent of the Senior Secondary School Certificate) in 1956. While at GTTC, the young Eleyae travelled to Warri, uninvited, to participate in the Provincial Athletics Competition in 1951, and the race was his first test in athletics, as he finished third in the half-mile event.Now he recalls with nostalgia, 'after that race, I was selected to represent the zone in the Western Region Athletics Championship, which took place at the Government College, Ibadan, in late 1951. I came first in the half-mile race and was picked to represent the Western Region at the National Athletics Championship held at the Police Ground in Ikoyi, Lagos. I was in collage at that time.'Eleyae was still a student at GTTC when he started work as a Grade 111 teacher at NA Primary School at Otu-Jeremi in present-day Ughelli South council of Delta State. He disclosed enthusiastically.'One of my pupils at NA Primary School is the current Deputy Governor of Delta State, Prof. Amos Utuama. He actually did sports in his school days. I thought him in the classroom and some of the things in athletics and other sports. I was transferred to Ughelli Primary School in 1954 as a Grade 111 teacher.'His most memorable moment in his athletics was in 1954, when he represented Nigeria at the Ghana Athletics Championship. Then, the sports rivalry between the two countries had started and all attention was on the young Eleyae to salvage Nigeria's image. Among those who paid their way from Nigeria to watch the race was his Principal at GTTC, Mr. Soulbry, a Briton.Of the Ghana race, he said, 'this is one race I won't forget in a hurry. Few hours to the race, my principal (Soulbry) bought a sports shoe for me to compete in the race. He thought he was doing me a great favour because he actually wanted me to win the race. But that was the first time I would be using sports shoe to run and it became a problem midway into the race. I was uncomfortable with it and halfway, I pulled off the shoes and continued bare-foot.'In the process, I lost the first position to my Ghanaian rival, Edward Nyako. But everybody was happy with my performance. May be if I had started the race on my usual bare feet, I could have possibly finished ahead of Nyako.'On return from Ghana, Eleyae got a red carpet reception. In 1960, he got a federal scholarship to study in Britain, which took him to the three great institutions. While in Britain. On his return in 1962, ABU employed him as a lecturer and he was still in Zaria when he was called by the AAA to lead the national team to Dakar Friendship Games.'I quickly assembled a team in readiness for the trip. I picked Sam Igun, a policeman and best triple and high jumper at that time, David Ejoke was the best sprinter in the country, and Benedict Majekudumi from Ogun State was combining the 100 and 200 metres while A.K Amun was running in the 400 metres,' he said.'In Dakar, my team did wonders. We topped the medals table with 10 gold and were treated like kings on arrival in Lagos. It was the Dakar Friendship Games that gave rise to what is today the All Africa Games.'Other athletes he discovered as coach included Emilia Okolie, Eddie Jeyfous, Jimmy Omagbemi, George Ogan, Clarice Ahanotu, Christian Ohiri, Emilia Edet, Modupe Oshikoya, Ashanti Obi, Seigha Porbeni, Charlton Ehizuelen, Harrison Salami, Bruce Ijirigho, Aboyade Cole, Godwin Obasogie and Violet Odogwu-Nwajei, who he converted from high jump to the hurdles and long jump event.He coached Violet to the 1966 Commonwealth Games held in Jamaica, where she captured a bronze medal in the long jump - the first by an African female athlete in history.While the civil war raged in Nigeria, Eleyae and Jim Alford, who was chief coach of Britain, led a joint African team to compete against the United States (U.S.) at the Commonwealth Games in Los Angeles, but the team lost to U.S. That same year, Eleyae went to Mexico with some Nigerian athletes like Igun and Odogwu for altitude training in preparation for the 1968 Olympics. He coached the team to the Olympics proper in Mexico with Bode George (then a superintendent of Police) as team manger.'I was full of expectations that no matter what happened, we must get at least a medal at the Olympics,' he recalled. 'We had good preparation and in my team were Igun and Violet, and the likes of Majekodumi and Amu were in the relay team. But at the end, we could not win anything. Violet got so close to the medal zone but was injured in the hurdles event. It was my worst moment as a coach.'In 1970, Eleyae led another Nigerian team to the Commonwealth Games in Edinburg, and 'by this time, Oshikoya had become prominent in the long and high jumps. Oshikoya specialised in the heptatlon event and I could recall that Modupe was declared the best African athlete at the 1974 Commonwealth Games in Australia.'Eleyae went to the University of Illinois, Urbana Champagne for his Ph.D soon after the 1970 Commonwealth Games, thus becoming the forth Nigerian to bag this prestigious degree. On his return, he was appointed director of Sports in the old Bendel State. He had served as assistant national track and field coach in Lagos in 1964, thus becoming the first indigenous coach to be so employed at the National Sports Council. He became a rallying point in Physical Education and sports profession, just as he pioneered the establishment of NAPHER-ED in the country.He obtained his masters degree in P.E in 1971, returned briefly home to groom athletes for the second All Africa Games in 1973, which Nigeria hosted in Lagos. It was Eleyae, who initiated the idea of establishing the National Institute for Sports (NIS), and was its pioneer principal. He also played key role in Nigeria winning the Africa Cup of Nations trophy for the first time in 1980.Meanwhile, he was the architect of Nigerian athletes' scholarship programme in American universities, which has benefited the likes of Oshikoya, Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imo, Seigha Porbeni, Bruce Ijirigho, Charlton Ehizuelen, Mary Onyali and Fahilat Ogunkoya, among others.When Johannesburg hosted the seventh All Africa Games in 1999, Eleyae told this reporter at the Sandton Sun Intercontinental Hotel that Nigeria would surprise the continent, indeed the world, in terms of preparations and provision of facilities for the next edition of the Games (Abuja 2003). He was the Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa at that time. His dream came true when Nigeria dazzled the world at COJA Games, where Team Nigeria came top for the first time.And in recognition of Eleyae's contributions to African sports, the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) last year named the Nigeria Grand Prix held in Warri City Stadium after him. About 61 international athletes from over 20 countries took part in that championship. In 2005, the Federal Government honoured him with the OON Award for his professional contribution to the nation.Looking back to his days as a schoolboy in Uzere and Abraka, Eleyae said that grassroots sports in the country had nose-dived, and that promoting school sports is the only sure way to guarantee the future of sports in Nigeria.According to him, 'it will be a wise decision if schools in the states can re-enact what we used to do during our days in sports, when Children's Day (May 27) was used for sports competitions among schools.'Then, I used to come from Lagos to Warri and Ughelli to run coaching courses for teachers of Physical Education in schools. You might have been hearing about Empire Day. If we have Children's Day on May 27 what do they do, just a march past.They should do a competition.
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