{"id":1420,"date":"2020-11-12T14:58:09","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/?p=1420"},"modified":"2025-12-10T15:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T15:13:13","slug":"the-man-80-80-eighty-a-book-on-coach-obj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/the-man-80-80-eighty-a-book-on-coach-obj\/","title":{"rendered":"The Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty \u2013 A Book on Coach OBJ"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"1420\" class=\"elementor elementor-1420\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-66d5408 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"66d5408\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-53b202b elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"53b202b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"emoji\" role=\"img\" draggable=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/s.w.org\/images\/core\/emoji\/17.0.2\/svg\/1f4da.svg\" alt=\"\ud83d\udcda\" title=\"The Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty \u2013 A Book on Coach OBJ\"> A Life Well Lived: Celebrating Coach OBJ in &#8220;The Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty&#8221;<\/h4><p data-path-to-node=\"1\"><b>New Book Chronicles the Extraordinary Journey of Basketball Legend, Oliver B. Johnson<\/b><\/p><p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><b>Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria<\/b> \u2013 A definitive literary work has arrived, offering a captivating and easy-to-assimilate description of the life journey of one of Africa&#8217;s most revered sports figures. <b>\u201cThe Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty\u201d<\/b> is more than just a biography; it is a profound tribute to <b>Oliver (Babatunde, Bala, Bassey) Berdeen Johnson<\/b>, universally known as <b>Coach OBJ<\/b>.<\/p><p data-path-to-node=\"3\">The book meticulously details the uniqueness of Coach OBJ, celebrating him as a <b>rare legend, a God-fearing individual, an extremely humble spirit, a cherished treasure, and a true hero in Basketball<\/b>.<\/p><h4>The Call Beyond Comfort<\/h4><p data-path-to-node=\"5\">At the heart of Coach OBJ\u2019s story is a spirit of immeasurable curiosity and a deep desire to make a positive impact. The book vividly recounts the pivotal decision that shaped his life and the course of African basketball: his choice to leave his comfort zone in the United States of America (USA) and move abroad.<\/p><p data-path-to-node=\"6\">Against all odds, and propelled by an inner drive to &#8220;see the world beyond the USA,&#8221; Coach OBJ embarked on a mission that would ultimately plant the seeds of professional basketball across the African continent. This decision, as explored in the book, exemplifies his selflessness and commitment to a larger purpose that transcended personal ambition.<\/p><h4>A Legacy of Excellence and Humility<\/h4><p data-path-to-node=\"8\">\u201cThe Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty\u201d paints a comprehensive portrait of the man who mentored global icons like Hakeem Olajuwon and NBA executive Masai Ujiri, and founded transformative programs like <b>Basketball for Peace (BB4P)<\/b>. The book explores:<\/p><ul data-path-to-node=\"9\"><li><p data-path-to-node=\"9,0,0\"><b>His Diverse Identity:<\/b> Highlighting the names that reflect his journey\u2014Oliver, Babatunde, Bala, and Bassey\u2014signifying his deep integration into the Nigerian culture he embraced.<\/p><\/li><li><p data-path-to-node=\"9,1,0\"><b>His Spiritual Foundation:<\/b> Emphasizing his identity as a God-fearing individual whose faith informed his actions and his approach to coaching and youth development.<\/p><\/li><li><p data-path-to-node=\"9,2,0\"><b>His Immeasurable Impact:<\/b> Documenting his decades of work that laid the foundation for modern African basketball, often without seeking the limelight.<\/p><\/li><\/ul><p data-path-to-node=\"10\">The book serves as a timely reminder of the profound difference one individual can make when driven by humility, curiosity, and a dedication to serving others. It is an indispensable read for basketball enthusiasts, peace advocates, and anyone seeking inspiration from a life journey dedicated to empowering youth through sport.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-f700bd0 e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"f700bd0\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c9a6b1f elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"c9a6b1f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"849\" height=\"851\" src=\"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-man-80-80.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-1425\" alt=\"the man 80 80\" srcset=\"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-man-80-80.jpg 849w, https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-man-80-80-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-man-80-80-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/The-man-80-80-768x770.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px\" title=\"The Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty \u2013 A Book on Coach OBJ\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7f2553a e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"7f2553a\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4d64b60 elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"4d64b60\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"#\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Click here to buy<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Life Well Lived: Celebrating Coach OBJ in &#8220;The Man 80 \u2013 80 @ Eighty&#8221; New Book Chronicles the Extraordinary [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,61,29],"tags":[67,40,7,5,62,36,8,70,12,68,11],"class_list":["post-1420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-about-bb4p","category-books","category-events","tag-80-80","tag-african","tag-basketball","tag-bb4p","tag-book","tag-coach","tag-coach-obj","tag-nba","tag-nigeria","tag-the-man-80-800","tag-zaria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1420"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1431,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1420\/revisions\/1431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bb4p.org\/sites\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}