Ogunbowale's stirring speech comes as no surprise
July 26, 2016 | Football
UW senior's performance par for the course to those that know him best
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
CHICAGO — Hang out with Dare Ogunbowale for any length of time and you'll notice that things seem to come naturally to him.
He's best known for being the senior tailback for the Wisconsin football team. Five years after showing up in Madison as a last-minute walk-on and two years removed from being a reserve safety, Ogunbowale is one of the signature pieces of a club that quietly, earnestly believes it will be a force when the season begins Sept. 3.
The profile of Ogunbowale has grown so during his time with the Badgers that the former Milwaukee Marquette High School product was chosen to deliver the keynote address Tuesday at the Big Ten Football Kickoff Luncheon at the McCormick Place.
His audience included fellow student-athletes, powerful coaches and administrators, national media and fans. His message was powerful. His performance was what you'd expect from an uncommon guy who seems comfortable in any social setting.
Ogunbowale made his audience laugh — noting that he set a personal record by having his name pronounced differently during every game last season — but mostly he made those packed into the immense ballroom think.
"There are forces throughout our society acting to pull us apart — or remind us of how different we are from one another," Ogunbowale said, his cadence quick, but controlled. "The coaches and players in this room, and beyond, are blessed with a different perspective, though.
"Every day we come together and have the opportunity to see past the differences on the surface and truly understand the ties that bind us all together as we pursue a common goal.
"In our world, the things that make us different, the unique things that each member of our teams bring to the table, aren't things that divide us — they're the pieces that fit together to make us complete. Pieces that make us a team.
"Why not take that mindset beyond the locker room? Beyond the stadium? Continue to carry it with you in your everyday life, but now encourage others to share the same view."
Among those listening to Ogunbowale was Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, arguably the most powerful figure in college athletics, and Kirk Ferentz, whose 18-year run at Iowa makes him the longest-tenured coach in the league.
"He hit it out of the park," Delany said.
"He did a fantastic job," Ferentz said.
The presentation — its content and its calm delivery — is another example of what makes Ogunbowale such a unique character.
"If there's one person in this world to crush a speech, it's him," childhood acquaintance Matt Ross said.
"I think it would be impossible for him not be successful at whatever he does," friend Aaron Moesch said.
Few have a better read on Ogunbowale than his roommates from the 2015-16 school year. Ross, who played golf for the Badgers, and three members of the UW men's basketball team — Moesch, Matt Ferris and Zak Showalter — shared an apartment with Ogunbowale at 1022 West Johnson St.
It was no ordinary place. Teammates, fellow UW student-athletes and friends from all walks of campus were drawn there. Video games, TV listings, conversations and laughter were high on the activity list.
"I don't think our door to the apartment was ever locked," Moesch said. "I hope that we've never been robbed."
Ogunbowale was a prime draw.
"Dare knew everyone from pretty much every level," Ferris said. "Just a very friendly, very easy-going guy. It's hard not to get along with him."
How many people across campus does Ogunbowale know?
"I would challenge him to say he would know at least couple thousand people by name on campus," Moesch said.
C'mon. Really?
"I couldn't give you a number, but it's pretty high," Ferris said. "He's got friends all over the place."
Thousands?
"Oh, for sure," Ferris insisted. "A couple thousand."
The fact Ogunbowale serves as president of the Beyond the Game program surely helps. It's an endeavor overseen by the UW Office of Student-Athlete Development whereby all student-athletes have access to networking and career-building opportunities.
But it seems Ogunbowale is a natural when it comes to making friends regardless of the setting.
"He'll meet someone for the first time and, two weeks later, he'll see them and know their name," Moesch said. "He's interested and he wants to get to know everybody. It's something he was raised with and it speaks volumes about his character."
Ogunbowle is the son of educators who sat in the audience Tuesday afternoon and beamed. His father, Gregory, is a high school principal who came to the U.S. from Nigeria to pursue advanced degrees. His mother, Yolanda, is an elementary school teacher. Their son is on pace to graduate from UW in December with a degree in economics.
Making friends — being a friend — requires effort and a certain attitude. Ogunbowale seems blessed in that regard.
"I've never seen him have a bad day," Ferris said.
"A lot of being a professional is who you know and how you make relationships," Moesch said. "That's something he's got. It's something you're either born with or not."
Ogunbowale, who led the Badgers in rushing in 2015, also seems to have a knack for putting people at ease.
"He doesn't come across that he's better than you," Ross said.
"It's something cool to watch, him meeting someone for the first time and making it seem like they've known each other 10 years," Moesch said. "He could probably call my grandma right now and have a conversation with her for two hours even though he's never talked to her before."
Moesch said a year living with Ogunbowale prompted Moesch to become more outgoing and to embrace his heightened profile as a UW student-athlete.
"We have a platform we can use to do things and there are certain people who like to promote themselves and promote things," Moesch said. "Watching him use that platform to spread joy and happiness to people just by meeting them is really something."
Ogunbowale has other gifts.
"We'll be hanging out at the apartment and he'll hear a jingle or hear a song and he'll be able to, within about 5 minutes, be able to play that song on the piano," Ross said.
That skill was on display during a raucous performance at the Buckinghams earlier this year. Ogunbowale and Ross opened the talent show/awards show for UW student-athletes by playing dueling pianos and singing.
"One of the better nights of my college career," Ross said.
"I have that video on my phone and when I get bored I go watch it because it was so awesome," Moesch said.
"If you could have a microcosm of Dare, just watch that performance. He makes everyone in the crowd laugh. Everyone's loving what he's doing. It's the perfect microcosm of who he is and how he is as a person."
Showalter said one of the reasons he'll cherish the year he lived with Ogunbowale — the parties are scattering — has to do with the example that he set. Showalter believes that being around people with "goals and ethics" rubs off on their acquaintances. Showalter marveled at how much work Ogunbowale put into football — film study and conditioning — while handling academics and other pursuits.
"He's really caring," Showalter said of his friend. "He's passionate about everything he does. He's not going to do anything half-hearted. He'll do it the right way."
Ferris, Moesch and Showalter will continue as roommates in the fall, but Ogunbowale will live alone because he'll graduate in December and then begin gearing up for a shot at the NFL. Ross, meanwhile, is on his own, selling computer software in Texas.
What will Ogunbowale be doing 10 years from now? His friends are curious.
"Being successful somewhere somehow," Mosech said.
"Doing something cool, something important," Ferris said.
Showalter and Ogunbowale took part in an internship at Merrill Lynch this summer. Showalter came to one conclusion.
"I would love to be working with him in 10 years," he said.
"If he's not in the NFL, he'd be a good guy to have on your team in any area of life. That would be a pretty good guy to go to work with every day and try to solve the world's issues."
To that end, Showalter said Ogunbowale put a lot of thought into his speech, one that concluded with a nudge to his peers.
"We are all leaders,'' Ogunbowale said. "So the next time you hear someone react to what's going on in the world by saying, 'Somebody should do something,' know that you have everything it takes to be that somebody."
