William Chidi Njoku (born March 5, 1972) is a Ghanaian-Canadian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and member of the Canada national men's basketball team. A 6'9½" forward born in

Accra, Ghana Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...

, Njoku immigrated to Canada as a four-year-old along with his parents Lawrence and Catherine. He starred for

Halifax West High School Halifax West High School is a Canadian public high school located in the Clayton Park neighbourhood in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia. Encompassing grades 10 through 12, Halifax West High School offers a variety of courses in b ...

despite missing most of his senior year through injury. The Warriors consequently did not reach the provincial championship finals tournament in 1990. Will attended hometown Saint Mary's University, where in his junior year (1993) he was winner of the Mike Moser Award as the

Canadian Interuniversity Sport U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Can ...

's (CIAU) Most Outstanding player. In his junior and senior seasons he was also named a CIAU All-Canadian. Njoku was drafted in the second round of the

1994 NBA draft The 1994 NBA draft took place on June 29, 1994, at Hoosier Dome in Indianapolis. Two NBA rookies of the year were picked in the first round, as Jason Kidd and Grant Hill were co-winners of the award for the 1994–95 NBA season. Kidd and Hill ...

with the 41st pick overall by the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

. Failing to make any NBA regular season roster however, Njoku played professionally for the next ten years for various clubs in Europe. He retired in 1999 due to a chronic back ailment, one which was properly diagnosed and successfully treated allowing him to make a comeback to pro ball at age 31 in 2003. This is a mostly complete list of the clubs by year: * Elan Sportif Chalonnais, ( Pro A), 1994 * Jersey Turnpikes,

USBL The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

, 1995 * Atlantic City Seagulls, USBL, 1996 *

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a German professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Mercedes ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, autumn of 1996 * Besiktas,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, 1997 * Illianbum Taka,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, 1998 * Oliveirense, Portugal, 1999 *

KB Bashkimi Klubi i Basketbollit Bashkimi, also known as K.B Bashkimi or simply Bashkimi , is a professional basketball team based in Prizren, Kosovo. Bashkimi is the oldest basketball team in Kosovo and competes in the top professional men's basketball leag ...

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

, 2003 * Eurolines Vilvoorde,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, 2003-4 *

KK Rabotnički KK Rabotnički ( mk, КК Работнички) is a basketball club based in Skopje, North Macedonia. They currently play in the Macedonian First League and ABA League Second Division. The club has won the Macedonian championship 15 times and the ...

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

, 2004 Njoku also played in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Njoku was a member of the Canadian team at the

1994 FIBA World Championship The 1994 FIBA World Championship was the 12th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. The tournament was hosted by Canada from August 4 to 14, 1994. The tournament was held at SkyDome and Maple L ...

as well as the 1998 Championship. In 2007, he also played for the Canadian national developmental team in a tournament in Argentina. Since retiring from playing pro basketball, Njoku has been involved in coaching and motivational speaking. Having lived in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

for the off-seasons during much of his playing career, he now resides in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. The ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

. He was the Athletics Director at

Crandall University Crandall University is a Baptist Christian liberal arts university located in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is affiliated with the Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada ( Canadian Baptist Ministries). History The school was founded in 1949 ...

from Sept 2007 - Sept 2010, when he left to focus on his motivational speaking company
Will2Win

Sources

''www.eurobasket.com''''www.thedraftreview.com''''www.turkishdailynew.com.tr''''www.espndeportes.espn.go.com''''www.will2win.ca''

External links