Daniel Imatorbhebhe: Hard Worker in the Classroom, on the Field, and in his Community
By: Alexandra Donovan
How is it possible for University of Southern California tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe to find enough hours in the day to do everything that he does, and to do it all well? Somehow he does, and his hard work is paying off on the football field, in the classroom, and in his role as a community service leader.
Being a student at the University of Southern California is challenging enough, let alone being a student-athlete. USC is academically rigorous, currently ranked 22nd in the nation by US News, and USC’s Marshall School of Buisness, where Imatorbhebhe is studying, is ranked even higher, at 17th in the nation. Imatorbhebhe compares the time commitment required to play football at USC to having a “full-time job,” in addition to being a student. He describes how his day begins in the gym at 5:20 am, when he arrives to stretch to prepare for his 6:00 am workout. He works out until 8:00 am, and then heads to class from 8:30 am until about 1:50 pm. He then starts his football block at 2:00 pm, which goes until 6:30 pm, and usually includes meetings and practices. From 6:30 pm until 9:00 or 10:00 pm, there is a mandatory study hall for the student-athletes and tutoring sessions. He then usually spends the end of the day watching Netflix, which Imatorbhebhe describes as his way of taking “back some of the time that has been taken from me.”
While this is his typical daily schedule, it does not account for situations like missing class for the PAC 12 Championship in 2017, which was just three days before his final exams. These situations, which happen frequently for student-athletes, makes life gets a little more complicated. However, for Imatorbhebhe, going back and forth between “studying my opponent” and “studying my class material,” instead of just choosing one, is what makes him stand out as an athlete and a student. Imatorbhebhe also has an inner drive that has allowed him to succeed at USC. Imatorbhebhe acknowledges that it is sometimes difficult for him to watch his classmates, who are not playing sports, finish their assignments by 12:00 pm and be free the rest of the day, while he was “physically tired,” and could not finish till 8:00 pm. Yet he pushes himself to succeed and, despite missing class time for travel and the time commitment required for football, he has maintained a 3.10 GPA in a difficult major.
Imatorbhebhe jokingly describes the USC football players as “slaves,” but there is some truth to this statement. The millions of dollars and publicity the University obtains from having the football team play on national television or make it to the Rose Bowl is unfathomable, yet none of the athletes are being compensated. Imatorbhebhe told us about his good friend Ronald Jones, a running back for USC, whose jersey was being sold in the bookstores for 120 dollars, while Jones did not have even have food at home. Instances like this made it evident to Imatorbhebhe that, “There’s so much need out there, in Los Angeles and in the world,” and he decided to do something to meet that need.
Imatorbhebhe’s choice of major was actually influenced by his passion “to serve people.” At the Marshall Business School, Imatorbhebhe is studying social entrepreneurship, which he defines as “creating sustainable full profit business ventures that have a main goal of fixing social issues.” He is helping to address the sex-trafficking crisis and homelessness, providing job training for ex-convicts and helping released prisoners transition into functional members of society. Playing football taught Imatorbhebhe the importance of being part of a team — essentially a family — that relies on one another, and that supports one another. He carries this team concept and selflessness into his personal life, where he believes that, “If I see someone out there that needs help, and I can, why would I not?”
One story that Imatorbhebhe told was that, during a community service event, Imatorbhebhe and the other volunteers offered a screening of the movie “Black Panther,” along with food, to a group of orphaned children. Imatorbhebhe was also able to find another way to give back to his community by taking the excess food and handing it out to the homeless people on Skid Row. His experience giving back to the homeless clearly left a mark on Imatorbhebhe, leading him to say, “It really hit me when we finished and we turned to leave and we saw how much of that area we didn’t even come close to touching everyone.” Similar to how he strives for greatness in football and in his academics, Imatorbhebhe strives to better his community and the world through his volunteer work. He seems to apply the same level of effort and commitment to community service as he does to his academics and football career, which resulted in Imatorbhebhe winning the 2018 Community Service Award from the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and the Fiesta Bowl.
