It’s April 1st, but there is still some March Madness going on!
This is a repost of a story orignially run by Mike Foss of USA TODAY Sports.
USA TODAY Sports
Chris Otule is a big piece of Marquette’s run to the Elite Eight.
He also has only one eye; he popped out the artificial one for CBS’ Jeff Goodman after Thursday’s 71-61 defeat of Miami (Fla).
“I guess you could call it glaucoma,” Otule told said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I was born with one eye, actually, and the other one wasn’t fully developed. So I had to get an artificial (left) eye, since I was one or two. And every time I grew out of it, I had to go back to the doctor and they’d make a new one.
“I’ve always had one eye,” Otule said. “It didn’t happen in the middle of my life; I’ve had it since birth. If I hadn’t had it since birth, it would probably be difficult to adjust to. But I’ve always been used to it, since I’ve had it since birth.”
A redshirt senior, Otule has come a long way in his time with the Golden Eagles. He told CBS of the first impression he made on coach Buzz Williams in high school.
“He told me I sucked,” Otule said. “But he said that I would improve at Marquette. That’s how he earned my trust. He was brutally honest.”
Did Williams remember the interaction differently?
“He did suck,” Williams added. “He was a bad player, but we really need a big guy.”
Williams knew of Otule’s ineptitude on the court, but he didn’t know he was blind until the team doctor Ernest Eugene evaluated Otule the summer before his freshman year.
“Coach, you have a few minutes?” Eugene said. “Did you know Chris was blind?”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Williams responded.
That’s when Eugene told Williams about Otule’s glass eye.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Williams said.
Well, now we are all believers.
