By Mike Asuquo
SUNNY OJEAGBASE (SO) was a ground-breaker and a self-made entrepreneur beyond the traditional bounds of the media!
He was a man who mastered the art of the possible – a grand master of overcoming the odds once he set his sight on the goal!
Before him – and long after he switched the newsroom roles – sports writers were a breed who were consigned to the lower rungs of the newsroom pecking order! It was familiar to see this breed – especially the Lagos caucus – turn the Sportscity – into a lounge where the reverie and attendant pre- occupations were broken by the deadlines and newsroom hammer!
Sports reporting was not a well-traversed land for the media dreamer with lofty ambitions.
This is not to say that there were not great sports journalists in the country before the advent of SO! There were great sports writers and reporters – and they were as varied as their talents!
But SUNNY Ojeagbase was a class act!
The Guardian was miles ahead of the crowd in the sports reportage of the Los Angeles Olympic games in the early ’80s – and SO made that difference!
When he veered off the sports reporting course as an employee, he turned up as a publisher – and some of us still recall the pix of SO vendoring his publication from the stands inside the National Stadium in Surukere, Lagos. He wasn’t afraid of humble beginnings!
SO would sooner transcend sports publishing into soft sell genre and into business entrepreneurship. CLIMAX and SUCCESS DIGEST are living proofs of this man’s industry!
But COMPLETE SPORTS and SPORTS SOUVENIR were undoubtedly his flagships! He even ventured into Sportscasting with radio and television programmes!
SO was a trailblazer as a mediapreneur – that rare combination of media talent and entrepreneurship! He wasn’t afraid to dream – and he wasn’t afraid to DARE! That’s the way of true groundbreakers! SO made a difference to the uncharted territories he ventured into. He was accomplished in all ramifications – warts and all!
I guess one of the most enduring legacies of Sunny Ojegbase was that he not only mentored a new generation of budding and talented journalists, he inspired them in such a way that members of that class have become accomplished sportspreneurs – all thanks to the inspirational roles of SO!
When the history of journalism – especially the specialised sports bit – is written in this country, Sunny OJEAGBASE will take a giant credit for his pacesetter role – as the authentic hero who broke the glass ceiling to change the narrative that a sports journalist deserved more than the stereotype of belonging to the staid corner of the sports department in a newspaper house! That a sports journalist could go the hog – and become an accomplished business man and role model! That a sports journalist could earn a top rank in the newsroom pecking order – after all!
And he was a gift to solid entrepreneurship beyond the bound of journalism and the media!
ADIEU SUNNY OJEAGBASE!
Asuquo was a former Deputy Features Editor of The Guardian.
