The rise and rise of Team Moran's Tylor Ongwae Okari

Piece by: victor kipkoech
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Tylor Okari Ongwae aka “T.O.” is a Kenyan born Basketball ballplayer who studied his tertiary education abroad and played for the Kenya Senior National Team.

Born on July 15, 1991, in Kisii, Kenya, he is the son of Samson Omweno and Florence Okari. His other siblings include; James Omweno who is his elder bro and Stacey Moragwa his younger sister who is majoring in business.

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Upon his early life, he was a footballer who could compare himself to the likes of African great footballers like Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto' o until he got a fracture on his foot which brought his career to a standstill and almost made him lose hope.

Upon recovering, he switched his love for football to basketball18 months after recovering from the fracture.

Having scored an A- in KCSE, Okari wanted to become a pilot or an engineer but the passion for sports denied him all.

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Until now, Okari has not only settled himself with some big European teams, but he is now a revered Kenyan poster boy, having helped the Morans to the Africa Zone Five title, taking the MVP title, as well as the final of the FIBA AfroCan for the first time ever, where he was named in the dream team.

The story of his success began while in Kamusinga High School where he helped his school to shine to National games final while in form 3 and named the most valuable player though they lost to Maseno School.

Day by day, month by month, his star continued to shine. In Form Three, he helped Kamusinga reach the National School Games final, and was named the Most Valuable Player despite losing to arch rivals Maseno School.

That year was the turning point of his career as he was selected among five Kenyans to head to South Africa for the Basketball Without Borders National Basketball Association camp alongside Bruce Ndikumana, Joseph Ouma, James Mathiang and Samuel Odera.

After clearing, Okari immediately went into league action and signed up for his local club Eldonets. As an A student, Okari joined Strathmore University where he had a three-month stint before the big call finally came.

He is the all-time leading scorer at Friends School Kamusinga with an average of 24 points and seven rebounds as a senior. He was named Most Valuable Player in the country in 2009 as a junior and helped the team to participate in the Western Province championship for three consecutive years while scoring 43 points in the national title game against Laiser Hill.

The superstar Tylor Okari Ongwae has been hailed by many after his Saturday’s score against Angola which saw Kenya beat Angola 74-73 while helping Kenya to qualify in the 2021 FIBA Afrobasket for the first time in 28 years.

The 2021 FIBA Afrobasket is scheduled to happen this coming August in Rwanda.

The 30-year-old attributed the win and dedicated to his coach who is led by an Australian by the name Elizabeth Mills.