Darkwa could see plenty of minutes for Raiders

The 27-year-old from Ghana joined team after seven years in the Navy.

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By Marc Katz, Staff Writer Updated 2:26 AM Tuesday, October 27, 2009

FAIRBORN — Wright State has had foreign players contribute to its basketball program, but it can be argued that none traveled farther to the southwest Ohio campus than Paul Darkwa.

The Raiders began practice earlier this month for what they hope will be their fourth straight 20-win season and second Horizon League championship in four years. Darkwa, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Ghana (on Africa’s west coast) is expected to earn a great deal of playing time.

He is not a high-profile foreign player looking for an American university that might propel him into riches in the NBA. Darkwa, 27, migrated to this country with his family when he was 9 years old, lived in New Jersey through his grade-school years, then moved with his family to Riverside, Calif., where he went to high school.

Eight years later — seven of them spent in the Navy — Darkwa is trying to make a name for himself with the Raiders.

He indicates it took him that long to find direction.

“I played basketball (in high school) because I could,” the soft-spoken Darkwa said recently. “It was easy to do. But I was motivated to go nowhere. I didn’t take SAT or ACT. My mom said, ‘What are you doing? You’re about to graduate.’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know.’ ”

‘No future plans’

Eva Darkwa always wanted the best for her five children, and with a husband who wasn’t always around, she decided nearly two decades ago to move her family to the United States.

“I wanted to bring my children here so they can have education and also a better life,” she said from her home in California, where she operates a store selling African goods. “I want to take care of my children. I want my children to be something in the future.”

Four of her children made it to college before Paul, the middle sibling. He is the one who took his time, although mom had an idea all along what would happen.

“There’s something particular in Paul,” Eva Darkwa said. “When he was born, I knew. This boy is meant for something. There is something potentially about this boy. Anywhere Paul goes, people would pick him to do something.”

In Ghana, Paul Darkwa remembers living in a house. Later, it was a two-bedroom apartment in Montclair, N.J., near where his mother became a care-giver to the elderly in nearby Tom’s River.

Kwasi, Darkwa’s father, was around, but not as much as Eva, who instilled in her family a work ethic and steered her children away from trouble.

Paul said he didn’t get into trouble other than a few youthful fights, but “I started running around. I was motivated to go nowhere. I had no sense of direction. I didn’t get into the bad crowd too much — my mom was real protective. But my junior year my mom and dad divorced. That was real hard. I didn’t have a father figure in the house.”

At one point, Eva Darkwa thought her son would be a singer; he was in the school choir. Paul didn’t want that.

When he graduated from Ramona High School, he wasn’t ready for college, and his mother didn’t care for some of the friends he had in California. She sent him back to New Jersey to live with a friend he considered close enough to be called an uncle.

There, Darkwa played pickup basketball and considered a junior college, but had no easy transportation. Jobs didn’t last long.

“I had no future plans,” Darkwa said. “No nothing.”

Then his “uncle” suggested he join the military.

“I tried the Navy,” Darkwa said. “I was basically a kid with nothing to do. I walked in and said, ‘Where do I sign?’ ”

Growing up

It was 2001 and Darkwa was in for four years. He had some rough moments but began to apply himself to the Navy way. He and his girlfriend had a baby girl, now 5, and it proved to be a defining moment.

“At first, I was selfish; I was lazy. I didn’t care about anything else,” he said. “My mom said, ‘It’s not just about you any more. It’s time to grow up.’ ”

It was the same way in the Navy. He was 19 when he went in, and it took him awhile to understand that a good education meant better jobs, better pay. The military taught him, “Maybe I do need to do this when somebody says something. You have to listen. You have to perform. The military doesn’t take any crap. What they say, goes. That’s the bottom line.”

As Darkwa was learning, he also was growing. Only about 6-1 when he enlisted, he grew almost another six inches. Cut once from the All-Navy team, he made it the next year, and after following his original four-year enlistment with another three, he began letting it be known that he wanted to go to college.

Francis Ebong, a Naval officer whose brother Victor is an assistant coach at WSU, heard the music and you know the rest of the song.

“Being older, I have to put myself in a whole different situation,” Darkwa said. “I had an officer say to me, ‘I know you haven’t made the best decisions in the past.’ But they never gave up on me.”

Darkwa is called “grandpa” and similar names by his teammates. He doesn’t mind.

“I don’t want to play to that whole age thing,” he said. “I’m older. I’m wiser. I’m looking to get into international business, but I’ll play basketball until my knees and ankles fall apart.”

Eva Darkwa thinks Paul has made a successful journey.

“He’s a great son,” the mother said. “He listens.”

Contact this reporter at  (937) 225-2157 or  mkatz@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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