Uzooma Okeke (born September 3, 1970) is a former Canadian Football League tackle for the Montreal Alouettes. He won a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

with Montreal in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. Okeke is currently the Football Operations Assistant/Scout for the Montreal Alouettes.

College career

Uzooma Okeke was a two-year starter at

offensive tackle Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

at Southern Methodist University (SMU), playing both offense and defense. He was on the team that brought football back to SMU following their penalty. Under the tutelage of Forrest Gregg, he blossomed both on the football field and in persevering to obtain his college degree. He graduated from SMU with a degree in Public Relations.

CFL career

Forrest Gregg recruited him to play for the Shreveport Pirates in 1994 and 1995, and that began his

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

career. He moved to the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

in 1996, but in 1997 started his very successful (10 year) career with the Montreal Alouettes. He was a durable mainstay of their offensive line, being named an All-Star six times, and in 1998 won the

Leo Dandurand Trophy The Leo Dandurand Trophy is a Canadian Football League trophy awarded to the Most Outstanding Lineman in the East Division. The winner of this trophy is chosen from a group of nominees, one from each team in the East Division. Either the winner of ...

as best lineman in the East, and in 1999 won the CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award. He retired as a player prior to the 2007 season and joined the Alouettes as a scout. He was inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

in 2014.

References

1970 births African-American players of Canadian football Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian football offensive linemen Garland High School alumni Living people Montreal Alouettes players Ottawa Rough Riders players People from Beaumont, Texas Shreveport Pirates players SMU Mustangs football players 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople {{Canadianfootball-offensive-lineman-stub