Keep Pounding Classic is special to Panthers’ Ickey Ekwonu

COURTESY PROVIDENCE DAY SCHOOL

Before Ickey Ekwonu (79) became a Carolina Panthers tackle, he was a multiple sport standout at Providence Day who parlayed his abilities into a football scholarship at North Carolina State.

At 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds, the man reading to the attentive group of Freedom School summer scholars in the Providence Day School library might well have been one of the characters in the story he chose, Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are.”

But the only time that Ikem “Ickey” Ekwonu is a monster comes on NFL game days when he’s a left tackle protecting Carolina Panthers playmakers from opposing defenders. Even in monster mode, Ekwonu is probably smiling as he is quick to find the joy in life’s endeavors, even when that includes fending off other beasts, brutes, and giants, and especially when it comes to putting them on the ground. But more so when he can inspire kids to find that same joy.

“I feel like I’ve always just had that, like, childlike mindset when it comes to football,” Ekwonu told the USA Today Network in a pre-draft interview last year. “I’m playing a game. It’s just fun. Anytime I’m running into space, it feels like I’m in the backyard playing flag football. I've never lost that playfulness about the game. When I’m running out there, even now, I’m always smiling.”

You can go home again

The library at Providence Day was familiar to the 22-year-old Ekwonu as he had spent his high school years before heading to North Carolina State and eventually home to Charlotte as a Panther. As his game improved from high school through college, there was never a question that he was going to the NFL. It was just a question of where.

The big kid who cheered for the Panthers growing up became one with the sixth overall pick in the 2022 NFL draft. He is the second Charger to play in the NFL after linebacker Reggie Clark, a former North Carolina standout who spent three seasons (1994-96) with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Jacksonville Jaguars.

Walking the campus before his Freedom School Harambee session with the kids, Ekwonu, who graduated in 2019, was surprised and pleased to see a photo of his older sister Adaora on the wall of the Fine Arts building from a production she performed in.

Ekwonu’s older brother Chike (2015) and twin brother Osita 2019, also graduated from Providence Day. Osita is a graduate linebacker for the Charlotte 49ers after four years at Notre Dame while Adaora, a 2016 graduate, is doing her residency as a medical student at the University of Chicago. After graduating from Savannah College of Art and Design, Chike is a professional animator who’s worked on productions including “Rick and Morty,” and “Solar Opposites.”

Chike and Ickey were also accomplished wrestlers in high school. Ickey, Osita and Adaora all competed in track and field. The athletic genes came naturally. Their 6-6 father Tagbo, known as “TJ,” is a family medicine doctor with a practice in Charlotte. He was a basketball player in Nigeria where he attended medical school before emigrating with wife Amaka, who was a track star herself. She now runs the business side of her husband’s medical practice.

Friday night lights on a Saturday

Ekwonu will be back at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday for the Chargers’ game against Rock Hill Northwestern High in the Keep Pounding High School Classic, the first-ever high school game at the arena. Kickoff is 7 p.m. Tickets are $5.

Providence Day finished 12-1 last season, winning a second straight NCISAA state championship. Northwestern went 14-2 and was runner-up in South Carolina’s Class AAAA state championship game. Northwestern has sent several players to the NFL, including Mason Rudolph of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Cordarrelle Patterson of the Atlanta Falcons.

“Supporting youth and high school football is a pillar of the Carolina Panthers community endeavors,” Panthers director of community relations Riley Fields said when the game was announced last spring. "The Keep Pounding High School Classic will provide an opportunity to celebrate high school football and the important role that it plays in communities across our region.”

“This game is really meaningful to me as the coach of the Panthers in this stadium," Panthers head coach Frank Reich added. "My dad was a longtime high school football coach for many, many years. I grew up as a little kid going to high school football training camps and games. Those are some of my best memories.

Ekwonu’s high school memories are special to him as well, a reason that he is still engaged with the community there and supporting programs like Freedom School.

“It was a really cool experience,” he said, adding that his sister had been a counselor with the program, “which put it on my radar.”

Getting a jump on the academic side has been significant in his career.

“I felt like when I got to college, I was steps ahead of some of my peers because of (college level coursework). And going through the whole regimen over at PD also was kind of cool, meeting new people as well,” which included connections to his family’s African roots. “At PD, we had a great opportunity to see some global students; we had some Nigerian students come to the school, I believe in my sophomore year.”

Ekwonu’s gregarious personality was also embraced.

“I’m sure it’s no secret, I was a little ’outgoing’ at PD,” he admitted in an interview with the school’s magazine. “Those teachers did their best at letting me ’live’ a little bit, letting me breathe. I know I was a little bit of a troublemaker, but they let me be myself in their classes, which I definitely appreciate.”

Ekwonu said the discipline of each side benefited the other.

“You're working hard in the classroom and then having to work twice as hard on the football field. It prepares you for a lot of adversity, a lot of hard times.”

Ekwonu adds that when his grades faltered during his junior year, Providence Day coaches pushed him to get back on track, not to be eligible for high school games, but the future.
Along with academics and athletics, Ekwonu enjoyed the arts, performing with the chorus.

His full name, Ikemefuna (pronounced Ee-kehm-e-fu-na), came from the book “Things Fall Apart” by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. The name loosely translates to “my effort will not be in vain.”

“He has lived up to his name,” Tagbo Ekwonu told USA Today Network while Ekwonu was at N.C. State. “Everything he has wanted, he has achieved. But he also had fun with everything he did. Even in sports, playing football at an early age, he was always laughing and smiling.”

The advice Ekwonu offers to young students echoes the importance of effort and determination while keeping it in perspective.

“Be yourself. Don’t be shy when it comes to hard work. Put the work in, good things will come, but also have fun with life,” he told the Providence Day magazine. “Math, history, academics… they prepare you for other things. Like the AP US History packet, if you break it down, is just a goal. Something you have to get through. Once you get through that, you’re going to feel good, you’re going to feel better, and then it motivates you. That’s something I had to keep learning.”

Ekwonu’s athletic prowess combined with the academic rigor of Providence Day to put him on the radar of Ivy League schools including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Penn. He was also courted by Georgia Tech, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia among others before choosing N.C. State.

Did a desire to play pro ball sway him towards a Power Five program?

“Honestly, not really,” he says. “I was focused on picking the school I really liked. When I’ve got some of the Power Five, D1 offers and I had opportunity to take the burden of paying for school off my parents, that was an easy decision for me. But until I started getting some of those Power Five offers, I was really considering the Ivy League.”

A marketing major with a minor in psychology there, Ekwonu left N.C. State after his junior year, knowing that his chance to go high in the draft was the best business decision at the time. Earning his degree, though, is a priority in a family that cherishes education.

“I definitely want to get my degree as fast as I can,” he said. “Took a year off last year just focusing on football, but definitely want to get some classes in this offseason. It’s a personal goal I set for myself.”

Game time

Ekwonu and the Panthers will be looking for improvement and redemption against the Giants after a disappointing performance against the Jets last week. He will then focus on supporting his Chargers 24 hours later. He will be an honorary captain and participate in the coin toss. His lack of bias will end there as he will be on the Chargers sideline for the game.

He says the biggest stadium he played in during high school was probably in a playoff game against Davidson Day his freshman year. What would his high school self think about the chance to play in an NFL stadium?

“There will be a little bit of awe on how big that stadium really is when you’re on the field,” he said. “It’s different when you’re in the stands.”

And it will be noisy.

“When the folks get loud,” Ekwonu said, “the sound gets trapped in there.

“I think it’d be a really cool experience. Obviously, me being from Charlotte, I grew up as a Carolina Panthers fan. So any chance I would have gotten to touch the field, I would have taken it. They get to play here, get to be part of history so this is definitely a challenge they’re excited for.”

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