Senior day stirs reflection as Nwachukwu recalls father’s legacy

West Virginia defensive end Noble Nwachukwu (97) earned the team’s defensive award in a 34-10 win over TCU on Oct. 22, hours after learning his father had died in Texas.

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — On the morning of Oct. 22, hours before West Virginia’s game against TCU, defensive end Noble Nwachukwu woke up to a crushing text message.

His father had passed away unexpectedly in Wylie,Texas.

The dad who drove Nwachukwu from Dallas to Morgantown for a fateful recruiting visit five years ago, the man who never let the 1,200-mile divide stop him from encouraging his son at WVU, was gone.

Nwachukwu called his mom Isabel, spoke to his brothers and sisters, and then informed coaches he would be heading home. But not until Sunday, not until after West Virginia’s game.

“I bet Noble hasn’t said five to 10 words if they’re not pried out of him, but that morning was probably the most we’ve talked one-on-one,” said defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. “It wasn’t about football. It was, ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ And he said ‘Coach, I’m ready to go. You don’t have to worry about me.’ He basically sad he was there for his teammates.”

Gibson called Nwachukwu’s response, and the locked-in performance he gave in a 34-10 win over TCU, “the one thing that will stick out the rest of my career in coaching.”

Nwachukwu earned the coaches’ weekly defensive champion award by making a sack, two tackles for loss, and batting down a pass.

“It was hard to focus leading up to the game,” he said Tuesday, speaking publicly about his father’s passing for the first time. “The whole day it was impossible to think about football, until the game started.”

Given Nwachukwu’s silent disposition, teammates didn’t learn what was wrong until Sunday’s meeting, when the fifth-year senior wasn’t in his customary place — front-row, second-chair.

“You feel bad, because I always sit there right next to him,” said center Tyler Orlosky, one of four senior captains alongside Nwachukwu. “We had no idea.”

Three days elapsed before players could share face-to-face condolences with Nwachukwu, who was home in Texas processing a loss he called “out of the blue.” Doctors told the family Emmanuel Nwachukwu died from complications related to diabetes.

The month since the funeral “has been hard, but life goes on,” Nwachukwu said. He’s grateful to be joined by his mother at Saturday’s senior day ceremony. Having attended several Mountaineers road games in Texas, the regular-season finale against Baylor will mark her first game in Morgantown.

Wrapped in their thoughts will be his father, who immigrated from Nigeria with Isabel and started a family, urging all four children to find their paths to college educations. Oldest daughter Michelle was a sprinter at Baylor, Andrea is a freshman long-jumper at Texas A&M, and youngest son Andrew is a high school junior being touted as an FBS prospect.

“A great man who loved this family,” Nwachukwu said. “He taught us what it meant to be hard workers, moving here from Africa. He wanted us to succeed. He always checked up on me, and we talked all the time.”

Their last conversation was a call placed two nights before the TCU game.

“He told me he loved me and he wanted to see me keep doing good.”





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