It was a double celebration for Nigerian Kaetochuku “Kay” Okafor, 24 on May 7, 2017 as he bagged his business administration degree from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., and was also drafted by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

“It’s the biggest day of my life so far to be honest. To graduate from university and get drafted was amazing,” he told CBS.

Kay left Nigeria in 2011 at the age of 18. He started out playing Basketball in Charlottetown, but later switched to football.

“I had never seen a sport where you had to wear a helmet and pads — it was very different. I had to wrap my head around the game. It’s been a bit of a journey for sure,” he said.

He had not seen any member of his immediate family since he left Nigeria, and sighting his father as he got on stage “was the best part of everything.”

“I actually didn’t know if he was going to make it because his flight got cancelled the day before, so we had to get him on a flight to Fredericton instead of Halifax on the morning of my graduation. My cousin actually drove to pick him up and I actually saw him just before I walked across the stage. I saw him taking a picture, it was great,” he said.

Okafor will be leaving for Hamilton’s training camp this week and is already planning to return to Nigeria for Christmas this year.

Congrats Kay!

Photo Credit: Nick Pearce/St. FX Athletics