In an era when excellence was never sacrificed on the altar of mediocrity, secondary school student, Charlton Ehizuelen, through sheer hard work, won an invitation as a junior athlete to compete at the senior All Nigeria Open Championships in Ibadan. After posting a spectacular performance in his maiden outing at there, he earned another invite to the national team. At the Nigeria/Ghana Athletics meet, where he represented Nigeria, an eagle-eyed American coach recognised his potential and elected to see to Ehizuelen's eventual movement to the University of Illinois, the United States (U.S.), where he amazed many with show-stopping performances. Decades after, he boasts a massive medal chest acquired during his competitive days.In the course of his athletics career, he won the long and triple jumps at the first National Sports Festival in 1973, broke 11 records at his first collegiate competition in 1974, and also became the first African to record a distance of over 8.24 metres (27'0) in long jump at indoor and outdoor performances. Now armed with several coaching certificates, including an Olympic coaching certificate in the jumps and the sprints, the seasoned athletics coach, who lit the ECOWAS Games torch in 1977, is an inductee of the U.S. Drake Relays prestigious Hall of Fame in DesMoines Iowa. Ehizuelen, one of Nigeria's most successful athletes of all times, told ENO-ABASI SUNDAY that his romance with sports and participation in the Nigeria/Ghana Athletics meet dramatically changed his course of life.WITH a cop boss and quartered at different times in some Nigeria Police Force facilities in Northern Nigeria, Charlton Ehizuelen ended up grabbing an invite to feature at the senior All Nigeria Open Championships in lbadan, Oyo State, having excelled at the Nigerian Open Junior Championships in another police facility - the Nigeria Police College, Ikeja, Lagos.To date, these two sporting events remain the ones that changed his life for good. Expectedly, the excitement he got upon his invitation to the senior All Nigeria Open in Ibadan remains indescribable. In fact, the feat resonates back to his school, the famous Edo College in Benin City, confirming it as a nursery for sports champions of those days.Born in Kaduna State, Ehizuelen later relocated with his family to Maiduguri, Borno State, where his search for the Golden Fleece began at Holy Trinity Elementary School, Maiduguri. In the secondary school, he began to show considerable interest in sprints and jumps as well as football. He recalled: 'I attended elementary school in Maiduguri, where I made the soccer team as the goalkeeper. My elder brother, Aaron, was also a goalkeeper and we always faced each other during practice sessions.'It was his participation that actually encouraged me to continue participating in sports at an early age while we were both students of Holy Trinity Elementary School. In those days, I continued developing my potentials by playing as a goalkeeper in the school's soccer team and taking part in the hurdles, long and triple jumps.'As the family moved southward, he enrolled in Anglican Grammar School, Evboneka, near Benin City, where he continued his secondary education. There, the principal, Mr. Idahosa Osifo, was in love with sports and knew the intricacies of implementing and sustaining athletics programme.'As an athlete representing the school, we enjoyed many privileges that non-athletes did not. But to continue enjoying the privileges, it was required that both academic and athletic records must be in good standing. These requirements instilled in us a strong desire to compete and remain competitive,' he added.However, Ehizuelen began falling more deeply in love with the sprints and jumps as Osifo, in his bid to realise his goals, brought in trained coaches from outside the school and engaged them in organised training programmes. He was soon to change to another school, where his fledgling sports career experienced a blast.'Arriving at Edo College in Benin City was one of the best things that happened to my athletics career because the school, at the time, had the reputation of being the only one in the Midwest State that could challenge Hussey College, Warri,' he explained. 'Hussey College was a school far ahead of its time because of its recruitment tradition of attracting the best athletes from around the country, using scholarship as a bait.'On its part, Edo College had a principal who understood the dividends that a strong, well managed athletic programme could do for an institution. As a result, we had coaches assigned to every sport and event and, along the line, a coach came from Ireland and taught me a completely different approach to jumping.'Little wonder why in 1972 at Edo College, Ehizuelen went ahead to win his first National Secondary School Sports Championship (NSSSC) title in Kaduna in both long and triple jumps, breaking the NSSSC records in both events with a distance of 7.57 metrs (24'9'') in long jump and 15.57 metres (51'2'') in triple jump. Same year, while representing the Midwest State at the Nigerian Open Junior Championships at the Police College, Ikeja, he won the long jump with 7.60 metres and also the triple jump with 15.77 metres. In that outing, he surprised all and sundry by also winning the 110 metres hurdles in 14.6 seconds.'My achievements at the Nigerian Open Junior Championships earned me an invitation as a junior athlete to compete at the Senior All Nigeria Open Championships in lbadan,' he noted. 'Five of us were invited from Edo College to compete in lbadan. The rest were Ekido Macaulay (high jump), John Okoh and Peter Ofili (sprints), Godwin Obasogie (hurdles) and Harrison Salami (throws).'During my time, the only way a junior athlete would qualify to compete at the Senior Open was by invitation, so we felt honoured and so was Edo College. At the championships, I won my first title in the long jump with a distance of 7.68 metres and placed third in the triple jump after jumping a distance of 15.45 metres. It was my performance there that earned me invitation to the national team.'Athletes that were picked from the championship were asked to return to Ibadan in preparation for the Nigeria/Ghana Athletics, a tradition that both nations enjoyed for many years. Being chosen to represent my country filled me with indescribable feelings, which followed me all through my athletics career. As a Nigerian sports ambassador, I was very proud of myself because it was no mean feat to be included in the national team as a secondary school athlete. This was a rarity in those days because you had to prove your inclusion beyond reasonable doubts.'More so, officials in those days considered a winner with no experience as not qualified to represent the country. This was at a time sports was dominated by seasoned athletes serving in the Armed Forces and para-military services, as well as employees of states' sports councils.He continued: 'When l represented Nigeria for the first time, there were only four athletes who came directly from the secondary school system; prominent on the list was one of Africa's greatest athletes, Modupe Oshikoya, who came from Methodist Girls High School in Lagos and had been on the Nigerian team for several years before I made the team.'He recalled with nostalgia his first time representing Nigeria at an event at the Liberty Stadium, Ibadan: 'The first time I represented Nigeria was at the Liberty Stadium, lbadan. l felt very proud wearing the green and gold outfit with the map of Nigeria on my chest. Today the outfit has been changed to green and white. I remember that the night before the competition started, I wore my outfit and kept starring at myself over and over again with so much pride. I was honoured to be a sports ambassador for my great country.'At the Ghana/Nigeria Athletics competition, the Ghanaians had a great team; they came with several athletes from the United States and also brought along some American coaches. I was third in the long jump and the best Nigerian in the event for that day. Ghana's Joshua Owusu won it with an 8-metre jump, Mike Ahey was second with a 7.90-metres and l was third with a 7.69-metre. The other Nigerian that participated in that event was John Okoro, whose best jump was 7.38 metres.'I later found out that the two Ghanaians who beat me were Olympians. Knowing about that gave me hope and l felt happy. But little did l know that my first international championship was going to change my life's journey completely because at the end of the competition, an American coach that came with the Ghanaian team approached me and told me he was pleased with my performances. Afterwards, he asked if l would be interested in going to the U.S. to pursue my education as well as my athletics career.'When I told him I was interested, he fished out a pen from his shoulder bag and wrote on a piece of paper an address to the University of Illinois and asked me to write to the coach. I wrote to the head track coach, Bob Wright. By the time my letter arrived the school, there was also another Nigerian at the school. He was the then Nigerian national coach, Dr. Awoture Eleyae, pursuing a post-graduate programme. Discussions between both men began and at the end, Dr. Eleyae played the most important role in my leaving Nigeria for the U.S.'However, with the bruises inflicted on the country's psyche as a result of the Nigerian Civil War, the authorities found it expedient to put in place an event that would rally the mass of the Nigerian people and in the process heal the sores created by the war. That gave birth to the National Sports Festival. This was how Ehizuelen became one of the first participants at the multi-sports fiesta.'I remember very well the first National Sports Festival that took place at the newly built National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos in 1973 because l competed in it. I won the long and triple jumps at the festival while representing the Midwest State. At the end of the festival, we won by a large margin.'The defunct Midwest State governed by a man whose vision was great, helped change the way youths saw things, and also created an atmosphere of enthusiasm and competition, which led to the many excellent performances the state enjoyed in many areas, especially sports.'Ehizuelen arrived in the U.S. to attend the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign in 1973 right after the sports festival ended. He revealed: 'In my first collegiate competition in 1974 at the University of Illinois'sArmory, I broke 11 records, including legendary Jesse Owens's 39-year old record in the long jump event. This record was set in 1935, a year before Owen went to the Olympics in Berlin, Germany, where he won four Olympic gold medals.'This was how I announced my arrival in the U.S. I later improved on the record and it still stands today after 36 years. This initial accomplishment in U.S. showed the type of performances athletes that who have early exposure to grassroots programmes could achieve when all the proper support systems are in place and remain consistent.'Still in 1974, Ehizuelen tripled the best jump in the world and won his first National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) title in the triple jump event in Austin, Texas. In 1975 in Bloomington, Indiana, he recorded the second longest jump ever in history, behind the world's longest jump by Bob Beamon, which the later achieved in 1968. It was not long before Ehizuelen won his second NCAA national title in the long jump in Provo, Utah.He also won the long and triple jumps at the Africa University Games in Accra, setting his first Nigerian record in the long jump with a 7.96 metres on a cinder track. He deposed Africa's top long jumper, Joshua Owusu of Ghana, right in his home country.As his athletics profile remained upswing, Ehizuelen's performances began to benefit from rave reviews in newspapers and magazines. And in April 1975, he was featured on the cover page of the world renowned Track and Field News magazine. Before then and till date, no African jumper has been featured. Then in his best form, Ehizuelen went ahead to pick a silver medal at the pre-Olympic Games in Montreal, Canada. He followed this up with silver and bronze medals in the long and triple jumps while representing Africa in Durham, U.S., against the U.S. and Germany.'I became the first African to jump over 8.24 metres (long) (27'0) in indoor and outdoor performances,' he enthused. 'In 1976, l again recorded one of the best jumps in the world and made the Olympic team to represent Nigeria in Montreal, Canada. That same year, I won my third national NCAA in the long jump event in Detriot, Michigan.'In 1977, Ehizuelen was at the World Cup, where he picked a bronze medal while representing Africa in Dulseldorf, Germany. Same year, he also won his fourth national NCAA in the long jump and was ranked the third best jumper in the world. Aside his accomplishments on the track and field, he also gained recognition as Africa's sports ambassador. This partially accounted for why he was chosen to light the ECOWAS Games Torch in Lagos. He ended up winning two gold medals in both long and triple jumps at the Games.At the Africa Championships in Tunis, Tunisia, he won two gold medals - in long and triple jumps - and by the end of the athletics season, he had achieved the most wins in the Big10 Conference, a total of 11 titles in the sprints and the jumps. The following year, Ehizuelen won two gold medals at the All Africa Games - in long and triple jumps, in Algiers, Algeria.A member of the Nigerian Commonwealth Games team to Edmonton, Canada, who was ranked No.3 in the world in the long jump, he also won the long jump event at the U.S. National Championships in New York. In Nairobi, Kenya, he made Nigeria proud by winning two medals, (gold and bronze) in the long and triple jumps at the Africa Universities Games.Two years after representing Africa at the World Cup in the long jump in Rome, Italy, he retired from competitive sports in 1983 and began to coach and design programmes for jumpers as well as sprinters. Ehizuelen was employed as coach by the National Sports Commission (NSC), and during his time, he developed a programme of grassroots identification, which allowed him to discover athletes mostly from the secondary schools, trainand find them universities in the U.S. to further their education, making sure they left Nigeria as student/athletes with full scholarships.With pride, he stated: 'Many of those athletes today have great successes in their respective professions ' among them are judges, doctors, business owners, coaches and politicians just to mention a few. While still coaching at the NSC, I coached the jumpers to the first World Junior Championships in Athens, Greece in 1987. Some of the athletes ended up in the U.S. and became NCAA champions, All Africa Games champions as well as Olympians.'Since returning to the U.S., he has continued with the programme of grassroots identification and has coached several athletes to NCAA and Olympic standard. Currently, he is engaged in sports consultancy initiatives. In recognition of his services in sports, he was in 1987 inducted into the U.S. Drake Relays Hall of Fame in DesMoines, Iowa, which includes individuals such as Jesse Owens, Wilma Rudolph, Jim Ryun, Michael Johnson, Mike Boit, Marlene Ottey and Nawal El Moutawakel.Looking back, Ehizuelen, whose children have also gone ahead to win several state championships in the jumps, reveals that life has been good to him: 'I am married to a friend and a lovely woman, Vivian, and we have four children and three grand children. My true passion is in sports development and maintenance - this is where I find my joy, especially when I see youngsters smiling with scholarships in hand, pursuing their God-given talents with a bang.
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