It was a night nearly a couple of years ago, in October of 2024, when then-Brewster Academy head basketball coach got a frantic call.

It was from Charles Okorie, the father of Nashua’s first ever NBA Draftee Ebuka Okorie, who made history Tuesday night being selected with the No. 17 pick by the Detroit Pistons.

“It was early in the morning, and frantic might be the best word,” Smith said. “He said ‘I need to see you immediately. I’ll drive to Wolfeboro if I have to.'”

What was the problem? Okorie, after three weeks of workouts, had committed to Harvard University, went home to Nashua during a break at Brewster and gave his parents the news he was set to go to Harvard. As Smith recounted, Okorie said “I know that’s something that makes you very proud as parents. (But) I think I can play at a higher level basketball-wise than Harvard.”

So Charles Okorie wanted to know if Smith felt the same way.

“Absolutely,” Smith said.

Then Charles Okorie said to him, “Well, what do we do now?”

Smith had the answers, and they weren’t easy ones. “I said to him, ‘Knowing how important academics are, you have a pretty small pool of schools to consider.'”

Thus Smith took the lead and called a group of schools: Stanford, Vanderbilt, Michigan, Virginia, and Georgetown.

Stanford responded immediately.

“Fortunately, Kyle Smith (Cardinal head coach) at Stanford, they were on campus in Wolfeboro within a week,” Smith said. “They subsequently came the next week, and the week following, and the rest is history.”

Was it ever. Okorie, after his incredible jump his freshman year from college hopeful to NBA first round pick, met every challenge and the plan worked. He attained his goal. It’s an incredible story.

He was asked by ABC’s Lisa Salters which was tougher – leading the ACC in scoring as a freshman or telling his father he was thinking of de-committing from Harvard.

“Ahhh, probably leading the ACC in scoring as a freshman,” Okorie said. “To leave Harvard, that was hard, too, though.”

But this plan worked to perfection. Maybe a year ahead of time, because Okorie played so well at Stanford his freshman year there was no reason to stay there any longer if he wanted to go pro.

“That was very easy, and simple,” Charles Okorie told WMUR-TV. “Because when we looked at it with him, from his point of view, going back to Stanford, he had broken the Stanford record, scoring record. … Freshman, for the ACC, he holds the record for the most 30-point plus games. Top scorer in the ACC. Nothing to prove.

“Is he going to repeat if he goes back to Stanford? Beat his record again? Or if he falls short of his record, or gets hurt? The only option was this. Since the NBA is an option.”

Before the draft, he was asked by Ch. 9 Sports Director Mike Cronin what all this would mean to him.

“It’s honestly really rewarding, and it’s hoping I’m inspiring the next generation,” he said. “An inspiration to all those kids in New Hampshire, to believe they can accomplish different things whether it’s basketball or other aspects of life, to really be ambitious and shoot for the stars.”

The area has had its share of professional athletes, that’s for sure. The most famous and perhaps successful was the late Greg Landry, who was a star for a few years quarterbacking the Detroit Lions in the early 1970s. Locally, we’ve had Nashua High alum Kole Ayi get a Super Bowl ring with the New England Patriots in 2000 and North alum Kendall Reyes be a second round pick of the then-San Diego Chargers back in 2012.

We’ve had minor and Major Leaguers, but no one has done what former Merrimack High standout Mickey Gasper has done, be a regular with the Red Sox in his third year in the Major Leagues. Nashua’s Mike Welch got a cup of coffee with the Mets, as did North alum Kevin McGowan. In hockey, we’ve seen Merrimack’s Tim Schaller be a fourth-liner – and a good one – with the Boston Bruins, and who can forget Jeff Giulano working his way up through the minors, starring with the Manchester Monarchs before being called up to the Los Angeles Kings.

But no one has reached the standard on a Draft Night that Okorie did. His success at Stanford came in relative anonimity, because his games were often late at night on the West Coast, and the Cardinal just missed out on a bid for the NCAA Tournament.

But the national TV bright lights were upon him Tuesday night. For Ebuka Okorie, and for Nashua, the fun has really just begun. He was a young man with a plan, and it worked to perfection.

Remember the name.

Tom King can be reached at tking@nashuatelegraph.com, or on X @Telegraph _TomK.