A 46-acre lot sitting on Corpus Christi's Westside is soon to be the home of a new sports complex. But there's one particular man behind it.
With distinguished roots as a Nigerian-American, Dr. Kingsley Okonkwo had dreams of being a businessman for years. But it was in high school and college, where he found his love for soccer. Fast forward to now, he is the owner of the Corpus Christi Football Club, which started in 2016—the first and only of it’s kind.
“I realized we didn’t have anything like that in Corpus Christi," Okonkwo said. "So the idea and the idea and the concept came, can we build something here?”
One year later, the football club was registered to bring a professional soccer franchise to the city, which is known as the CCFC Sharks. Soon, they’ll have the field to call home — located near Old Brownsville Road and Cliff Maus Drive.
“What we’re building what will be a world class facility," Dr. Okonkwo said. "Our athletes will be able to play soccer, baseball, softball fields. We will not need to travel every time.
Besides home to the Sharks, the multi-sports complex will have 9 different fields and will allow for other teams to compete and host tournaments. It will also be equipped with a 5,000 seat stadium. Okonkwo said it wasn’t easy to get to this point, but with hard work, he believes anyone can do it.
“It feels good to know that when you put in a lot of hard work, you can see the benefits of the hard work," Okonkwo said.
However, this is not the only accomplishment under his belt. Okonkwo is also a board certified, licensed pediatrician and owns his own urgent care, PediCare. It's considered the first and only Black owned pediatric clinic and urgent care in Corpus Christi.
“I’ve always wanted to be a pediatrician since I was 12 years old," Okonkwo said."The first clinic I opened was actually in Odessa, TX about 5-6 years ago. It’s grown to 4 different clinics and the Corpus Christi branch is actually the fifth branch.”
He opened the location across town nearly two years ago and said this is only the beginning of his plans for Corpus Christi. As he’s added to the list of dynamic entrepreneurs that represent the Black community, Okonkwo said celebrating Black History Month is way to spotlight our culture’s achievements
“I see it as a way to look at the past, to reflect on the present and look towards the future," Okonkwo said.
For young men and women wanting to follow in his footsteps, he says they should pay close attention to a few words.
“The key to success is a good education and hard work. There’s no way around it. And I also make it clear to them that they should not allow other people’s view of them become their reality," Okonkwo said.
Phase one of the sports complex is expected to open towards the end of the year.
For the latest local news updates, click here, or download the KRIS 6 News App.
