At 6'2 and 210 pounds, Kojo Attah looks as if he's played football all of his life. In fact, he's a former soccer player.
Attah comes from Ghana, West Africa (his name means “Born on Monday”). He came to the United States in March, 1985, when his father, Martin, a diplomat, was transferred to the United Nations for a four-year term. Kojo attended St. Joseph's grammar school in Manhattan and then Cardinal Hayes High School, where he first donned a football uniform.
It was there that head coach John Audino saw him play.
“He could only practice a few days a week in high school because he also had a job,” Audino says. “He wasn't polished, but I was impressed with his size, speed, strength, and dedication. The talent was there, and we were lucky enough to get him.”
Kojo hasn't seen his parents and two of his four sisters since 1988, when they left New York City for a four-year stint in West Ghana. They are now in Zimbobway.
“It's hard being away from them,” says Kojo, who lives with an uncle and his other two sisters in the Bronx. “But being from Africa, I was taught to be independent at an early age.”
Attah began his career at Union as a fullback for the junior varsity team before moving to tailback. Last year he gained 511 yards with six touchdowns, and this season he had 632 yards with eight scores. A punishing runner, Kojo has the strength to run over tacklers on the inside and the speed to run around them on sweeps to the outside. He is also an excellent blocker as well as pass-catcher.
“Kojo's game is multidimensional, and that makes him a very special player,” says Audino.
Multidimensional also describes Attah's interests outside football. A psychology and women's studies major, Kojo is also president of Alpha Phi Alpha, a resident advisor, vice president for campus life, and a disc jockey for the College radio station, WRUC.
Last fall, the Albany Times Union did a feature on Attah. The article was seen by Diane Micelli, a sixth-grade teacher for School 27 in Albany, whose class
was studying Africa. She called Audino to see if Kojo would be interested in
talking to her class. He was, and he spent more than an hour with Micelli's students answering questions regarding the language, the culture, the clothes, the geography, and the differences between Africa and the United States as seen through his experiences.
For the next half hour, Kojo delighted the class by answering football questions, signing autographs for each student, and posing with them for a class picture.
“That was fun,” he said of his trip to School 27. “They asked some very good questions. I enjoyed that.”
Kojo's goal is to earn his masters in teaching at Union and then to go to law school; he wants to practice immigration law.
He also looks forward to being the featured back next season after spending the last two years behind Chris Irving, who set records with his 3,408 career rushing yards and thirty-three rushing touchdowns.
“You have to pay your dues and wait your turn,” he says sincerely.
“He has improved tremendously over the last three years,”
Audino says. “If Kojo was playing someplace else, he might get thirty or thirty-five carries a game. But he hasn't complained about anything and he does whatever we ask of him. He's a team player and a leader.”
Both on and off the field.