You know Ike Opara as a strong, talented, energetic center back who is simultaneously one of MLS' most wrenching hard-luck stories and one of its most inspiring feel-good narratives.
A fracture in his right ankle robbed Opara of most of his 2014 season. He came back from that injury, only to go down with a ruptured left Achilles early in 2015, after his play at both ends of the pitch generated plenty of buzz about a possible US national team call-up for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Opara worked his way back from that setback, too, and is once more a key component of Sporting Kansas City's central defense.
There's a lot more to Opara than his medical history, though, as MLSsoccer.com found out when we caught up with him ahead of Sunday's nationally televised away date with the Portland Timbers (3 pm CT; ESPN in the US, MLS LIVE in Canada).
Everybody wants to room with Ike
Opara is Sporting's most popular player – so much so that his teammates are willing to bid to be his roommate on the road.
“Let's just say I keep the bidding going,” Opara said with a laugh. “They have to please my liking. They've got to bring someone to the table, is the way I look at it. It's just random things.”
Midfielder Benny Feilhaber is the current rights holder, but that's always susceptible to change.
“I wasn't too pleased with his last performance in preseason,” Opara said. “I took some other bids, but he complained enough that I felt bad for him, and so I'm back rooming with him for a while now.”
He knows what he likes
Opara lives in the Crossroads, the hub of Kansas City's art scene – and when time and the schedule permit, he likes to get out for the gallery openings and street performances that mark the first Fridays of each month.
“It's really kind of fun to just walk around and see what the galleries have to offer, meet some new people. I'm not sure I have such a good eye for art, so I'm not always sure what I'm looking at, but I think it's pretty cool to see the work.”
Opara doesn't have one favorite medium, and said he appreciates both abstract and representational work.
“It doesn't really have to make sense to me,” he said. “I guess it's open to your own interpretation. I think that's always something cool to look at – art that stands out and makes you appreciate whatever they're trying to portray, whether it's the human body, what they think of the world, things like that. But as a whole, I just try to take what I can from the things I see.”
Hitting the books again
While he recovered from both of his season-ending injuries, Opara spent a good chunk of that unexpected down time taking classes – both through the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and online through Brigham Young University.
“I enjoyed finally getting to takes some classes in subjects that I was interested in,” said Opara, who played his college ball at Wake Forest before turning pro in 2010 with the Earthquakes (though he commuted back and forth during the first part of his rookie season so he could finish his junior year).
“I kind of was really happy with being able to learn some things again and use my time wisely, take subjects that I relate to in personal life and where I am in adult life.”
Opara took communications and marketing classes – but focused mainly on sociology, a subject that fascinates him.
“I wish I would have taken more of that in my undergrad days,” he said. “I'm definitely happy with what I was learning and how it applies to society today.
“When you're younger, you kind of take ideas and you're molded into believing things that you don't necessarily have experience knowing, or experience living it. With sociology, you're able to look at things from a different perspective and realizing – without getting too in detail – that not everything we learn from a young age is correct. Learning new things that don't fit with what I learned when I was younger, and just kind of getting my mind blown from that perspective.”
When Opara warms to a topic, it's hard to keep him from diving into it. And the more he talks about his newfound academic interests, the more passionate he gets.
“For me, I get the concept, or the belief that people have that race exists,” he said. “Learning why it doesn't was interesting to be a part of. The times, the events that are happening in this country, looking back and saying, 'Wow, if there were a way to learn this at a younger age and be able to spread this message. Would we be where we are today in society?' It's an interesting point to look at.”
Flavor of the 26 weeks
Opara has a lot of interests, actually – usually in six-month bursts.
“I'm all over the shop,” he said. “I'm pretty random in what I do. I have a pretty addictive personality. I find something I like, and for six months I'm all about it. Then I go on to the next thing. It really keeps things interesting, to say the least. I'm never really stuck on any one thing.”
Opara had a casino phase. He'll pick a favorite restaurant and go there all the time (though he does say there are few that still draw him back, even after the six months are up). But the most random obsession he's developed?
“Just shopping,” he said. “I would shop really hard for – say, shirts, whatever, clothes – for six months. Then I was over it.”
What's my name?
Opara spends a lot of time next to Lawrence Olum, with the two often partnered in central defense – especially with Nuno Coelho's ongoing injury struggles and Matt Besler's absences, first on US international duty and now with a left knee strain.
The two don't look all that much alike, but manager Peter Vermes can't always keep their names straight.
“He does that all the time with everybody,” Opara said. “He even does it with Besler and [Graham] Zusi. It's just funnier when it's between Lo and me. Now that we're playing the same position, I can maybe give him a little leeway, but it's one of those things we tease him about. He defends himself with the NAACP Awards that he's won a couple of times now. It's just funny.”
Isn't fun the best thing to have?
Opara is intense inside the lines, but it's hard to spend much time around him off the pitch without seeing him grin and hearing him break into a laugh.
“I'm pretty open in social situations,” he said. “I like being around people. And I'm kind of a big clown, to say the least.”
Even during matches, when Opara finds the net, his celebration usually involves running down the end line with arms outstretched and a look of unbridled joy on his face.
“All the things I've been through on the field, I should be enjoying these moments,” he said. “They're valuable. You can't take anything for granted, so why not enjoy it. I try to stay focused and do what I need to do, but you need to be able to enjoy the moment.”
Don't tell Peter, but …
He certainly has a thoughtful side, but Opara can be a big kid at times – even during the tough moments.
He's not saying he turned the scooter that became his constant companion after both of his recent injuries into a plaything, but … never mind. Yeah, he is.
“I had to be careful, because I didn't want a setback,” he said. “But I'm not saying that I didn't take it on some off-course roads. By, that I mean down Baltimore and Wyandotte downtown.”
Both of those streets have hilly stretches near where Opara lives. Long ones.
“It was a level of fun, going down the hills and then up, that's for sure,” Opara said. “If it was late enough and there were no cars on the road, I would hit the streets. But I was pretty efficient at that thing, to say the least. I would take my skills up against anyone.”
Rocky Mountain Low
Opara isn't still angry about getting called for a penalty on the play that broke his ankle, in a late March 2014 match at Colorado – when he handled the ball while rolling in pain after a collision with the Rapids' Jared Watts.
He does admit to not liking away dates at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, though.
“The last few times I've gone to Colorado, I haven't had the best of luck, to say the least,” he said. “When I was with San Jose, we got knocked out of the playoffs there. I got my ankle broken there. Colorado's not really for me.
“I don't think about [the ankle injury] much at all, but it's kind of hard not to when you're there, and you're in the same area of the pitch warming up. I'm not still mad about the PK. It was ridiculous, but it is what it is. At least we won that game.”
An appreciation for sacrifice
Opara has gained a good deal of deserved admiration for coming back from his succession of injuries. Who does he admire the most?
A university professor – but not in any of Opara’s fields of study.
“Who's my hero? I'm just going to keep it simple and say my dad,” he said. “I don't get to see him too much now, but when I was younger, he sacrificed so much – first off, just to get to this country and provide for our family.”
Emmanuel Opara, who earned his Ph.D from the University of London, came to the U.S. in 1984 and now teaches at the Wake Forest School of Medicine.
“Not a lot of people know about this, but when I was in – probably middle school – he took a job in Chicago,” Opara went on. “He would do his best to commute back and forth as much as he could. Time passed by, and he ended up coming back to North Carolina and to Wake Forest when I was in college. He's been all over this country to provide for our family, especially for me when I was growing up. That allowed me to have the time to invest myself in soccer.
“I would have to give it to him, for the life he created for me and my family. I can't overlook that.”
Measured take on a hot-button issue
A good deal of election-year talk focuses on immigration – who should and shouldn't get into the country, who should and shouldn't be allowed to stay.
The subject is personal to Opara, for obvious reasons.
“We're all immigrants, unless you're Native American,” he said. “My dad came in as an immigrant. He was invited to this country because of his medical research.
“Now, don't get me wrong. He came over legally. I understand the issues with illegal immigration – but I'm not going to sit here and completely rule out the idea that most people come here with great intentions. Who am I to say that they can or cannot?”
