TORONTO — Ahmed Awadallah could hardly get a moment to himself while watching the Basketball Africa League Select team play during the GLOBL JAM basketball showcase.

He was being chatted up by NBA scouts inquiring about players he'd watched. He was reviewing flights out of Toronto to make sure everyone on the roster was going to get where they needed to be. He was in a constant whirlwind of troubleshooting issues.

And he wouldn’t have it any other way. He has no desire to sit still.

You’ve probably never heard of Awadallah, but you may be familiar with some of his work.

He helped in getting Emmanuel Okorafor, a 6-foot-9 forward from Nigeria, to the University of Louisville. Prior to Okorafor, he assisted Anas Mahmoud, a 7-footer from Egypt, in making the transition to West Oaks Academy in Orlando, Florida, for his senior year of high school. Mahmoud eventually signed with the Cardinals and played from 2014-18.

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By Awadallah’s count, he’s been involved in helping about 65 players from Africa compete at varying levels of basketball in the United States.

“Honestly, it doesn’t feel like much work,” said Awadallah, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from U of L’s Speed School of Engineering in 2011 and 2012, respectively. “It feels like you’re doing something that you’re really passionate about that has a calling.”

And he’s done most of the ground work in his spare time.

Awadallah began spending his free time scouting African basketball players when he was in undergrad at U of L. When he wasn’t studying calculus or doing lab work at the school of engineering, he was watching video clips of players while searching for talent.

The son of Egyptian immigrants to the United States, Awadallah set out on a mission to try and assist as many African players as he could to play NCAA basketball.

“Even if they don’t become Division I NCAA players or pro players, they get to go back to their communities and impact them in a positive way,” said Awadallah, who also serves on the U of L alumni board.

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Awadallah’s reach expanded while working for Yum! Brands restaurant division in South Africa. He was able to grow from mostly knowing the players from northern Africa, to gaining more connections throughout the continent.

It was also in South Africa that he experienced a moment that changed his life.

Awadallah was on a flight from the states back to South Africa when he suffered a pulmonary embolism in 2019. Knowing a blood clot could have taken his life before he landed gave him a different perspective on how he should be living.

“Not a lot of people get to survive a 16-hour flight with that,” Awadallah said “I want to help as many people as possible, especially players from Africa. I want to use the game as a vehicle to enable people to get an education and have an opportunity to help their families and communities.”

He's not just limited to men's players. Awadallah said he takes a lot of pride in helping bring women to the states because in a lot of countries in Africa it was “a bit frowned upon” for them to leave.

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Awadallah's influence was validated at the highest level when the NBA came calling in 2020. He became so entrenched in basketball on the continent, Basketball Africa League — established by the NBA and FIBA in 2019 to help develop talent — brought him on as an advisor for the president and operational departments.

Awadallah is confident BAL will begin to produce players who are good enough to play in the NBA.

“The next 10 years, you’re gonna see a lot more of Africans in the NBA,” he said.

As for his own career, Awadallah said he’s happy doing what he’s doing. He doesn’t have ambitions to climb the ranks and become a general manager of a team.

“If that’s where I end up,” he said, “Amazing.”

Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on Twitter at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: University of Louisville to Basketball Africa League: Ahmed Awadallah