For Immediate Release - March 10, 2021
Toronto native Olu Famutimi rejoins the Guelph Nighthawks for his third consecutive season with the team.
He was named team MVP for the 2019 season, and provided tremendous leadership to his teammates both on and off the court. Famutimi has had a long professional career with stops in Turkey, Ukraine, France and Germany, among others. He had a standout career in high school; first at Chaminade College School in Toronto and then at Flint Northwestern in Flint, MI.
While in high school, he was ranked as the 7th overall recruit by ESPN and also received a prestigious invitation to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game. This led him to commit to the University of Arkansas where he played for two years before declaring for the NBA Draft.
He also earned a stint with the Canadian Senior Men's National Team for four years where he played on the team that finished fourth in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship.
Notables
• 2003 7th ranked high school basketball prospect (ESPN)
• 2003 McDonald’s All-American (Did not play due to injury)
• 1st Canadian McDonald’s All-American
• Signed two NBA contracts with Philadelphia 76ers (2005) and San Antonio Spurs (2006)
• Represented Team Canada for 4 years. Finished 4th place in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship.
• 2019 Guelph Nighthawks MVP
The Nighthawks start their CEBL 2021 season on June 8th. All games are available on CBCSports.ca and the CBC Gem App via Android or iOS devices.
The CEBL led the NHL, NBA and later the CPL in returning to play in Canada after the coronavirus shut down the sports world in March of 2020. The CEBL Summer Series put professional basketball on the television and digital screens of millions of viewers across Canada and around the world, establishing the league as the top Canadian-based global team sports brand.
The 2021 season, set to start on June 5, 2021, will build on that momentum with an expanded viewing audience around the world, and locally through an innovative approach to addressing the uncertainties due to the pandemic around having fans in arenas across the league.
A league created by Canadians for Canadians, the CEBL has the highest percentage of Canadian players of any professional league in the country, with 80 percent of its 2020 rosters being Canadians. Players come from the NBA G League, top international leagues, the Canadian National team program, and top NCAA and U SPORTS programs. It uses FIBA (International Basketball Federation) rules, and player and referee standards set by its partner, Canada Basketball.
The CEBL became the first professional basketball league in the world to use the Elam Ending in FIBA competition when it incorporated the innovative conclusion into all of its games during the 2020 CEBL Summer Series.
More information about the CEBL may be found at CEBL.ca, as well as on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.
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