He overcame being trafficked from Africa. Now he’s excited to play basketball at TCU.
When Souleymane Doumbia originally came to the United States from Ivory Coast in the summer of 2016, he was ready to experience the American dream. The thought of being caught up in a trafficking ring never even crossed his mind.
Instead, a teenager who has since grown to 7 feet and 233 pounds, believed he would further his education and develop as a basketball player. Maybe he’d play major Division I basketball and make it to the NBA one day such as Joel Embiid, who came to America from Cameroon at the age of 16.
Doumbia will finally get the chance to play D1 ball at TCU during the 2021-22 season, four years following the low points of being deported and battling depression after being part of a trafficking-type scheme exposed in a 60 Minutes investigation that aired in March.
Doumbia has resurrected his American dream, going from being deported home with nothing but the clothes he was wearing in 2017 to becoming the top-ranked JUCO big man at Navarro Junior College in 2020.
Doumbia, whose name is pronounced Su-la-Men Doom-bia, recently shared his story with the Star-Telegram. He discussed the depression he suffered after being hoodwinked by basketball “middlemen” to come to the United States for a better education and basketball future to his deportation to his eventual return to the States It’s a story filled with sadness, joy, anger and perseverance.
“He’s a kid that’s changed my life as a coach,” said Navarro coach Grant McMillan. “Hopefully I’ll be doing this for a long time and I don’t believe I’ll ever have one like him again. I just can’t stress enough the type of individual TCU will get in him.”
Coming to America
Doumbia’s sport of choice growing up in Africa’s Ivory Coast was soccer. He didn’t pick up a basketball until age 14.
But Doumbia excelled at basketball from Day 1. He had the size and athleticism coveted by basketball coaches. His soccer dreams quickly turned to basketball aspirations of playing Division I basketball in the United States, furthering his education and possibly chasing a professional career.
Basketball “middlemen” who try to locate talent overseas promised that and more to Doumbia as a 16-year-old, convincing Doumbia and his parents that he should leave Africa for the now-defunct Evelyn Mack Academy in Charlotte in 2016.
But promises weren’t kept. Instead of a quality education, room and board and a chance to play basketball, Doumbia lived with as many as six other teammates in a small house. The person who convinced him to come to Evelyn Mack lived a couple hours away.
Doumbia said there was no education. Food was scarce and living conditions were substandard. Several of his roommates smoked constantly. Doumbia’s mom gave him $2,000 to have some money for necessities, or in case of an emergency, and then his “handlers” wanted Doumbia to pay for his “education” at Evelyn Mack.
“It was very tough for me at Evelyn Mack because people lied to me,” Doumbia said. “Coming from Africa to America, we see stuff on TV and it all looks great. But people lied to me and told me they’d take care of me and we’ll do all of this stuff to make you better. When I came, that didn’t happen.”
Doumbia admitted he became “a little paranoid” after the experience, losing trust in most people within the basketball community. He tried to land at prep schools in Arkansas, Kentucky and San Antonio, but there were immigration issues.
Unbeknownst to Doumbia, his F-1 student visa had expired early in 2017 and he was eventually deported back to Africa that September.
“Being deported was very embarrassing for me,” Doumbia said. “I literally had to go back home with the clothes I had on and my shoes. It was very embarrassing for my family.
“For us in Africa, if somebody comes to America, they expect you to do something and when you come back, you’re somebody. I went home … nothing. It was very embarrassing. I stayed in the house for a month and a half. I went through depression because of that.”
In the meantime, the Evelyn Mack Academy was being investigated for trafficking charges. The school’s founder, Evelyn Mack, eventually plead guilty to a felony charge of concealing, harboring or shielding unlawful aliens in 2018.
Authorities estimated Mack made around $75,000 by hiding 75 foreign student athletes who were in the country illegally, mostly African athletes.
The journey back
Being deported left Doumbia believing his dreams of playing Division I basketball were finished. He re-applied for a visa twice, but was denied.
With returning to the United States seemingly out of the picture, Doumbia headed to Bangkok, Thailand, to play for the Traill International School in 2018-19. Asia proved to be the perfect landing spot as Doumbia developed his game and received a proper education.
Doumbia’s desire to return to the States strengthened, too. He gained optimism by talking with James Jean-Marie, who played at Navarro and is now at the University of Hawaii. Doumbia and Jean-Marie crossed paths when Doumbia had a short stint in San Antonio before being deported.
Jean-Marie encouraged Doumbia to talk with Navarro assistant Cody Hopkins, who would help guide Doumbia through the process to re-obtain a visa. Hopkins consulted with a few immigration attorneys and Doumbia fit the criteria for being able to receive another opportunity.
First, Doumbia was under the age of 18 when he first came to the States. Secondly, he was deemed a victim of a trafficking scheme once Evelyn Mack pleaded guilty.
Once granted the opportunity to return to the United States, Doumbia came back in August 2019, ready to play for Navarro.
“I remember picking him up at the airport, he was wearing a fanny pack but he was super excited,” said Hopkins, who served as TCU’s director of basketball operations from 2009-12 under Jim Christian. “He never thought he’d come back once he had his visa canceled, and you can tell that he’s determined not to waste a single second of this opportunity — on and off the floor.
“He’s become a guy all of our teachers and administrators have fallen in love with. He’s so appreciative and happy to be here. We’re awfully glad to have him here, too, you know? He’s going to do great things at TCU.”
Choosing TCU
Doumbia had a simple answer when asked what drew him to TCU and the Horned Frogs.
“They were just so professional in their recruitment,” Doumbia said. “They showed me how they were going to develop me and they didn’t talk negatively about any other program. I liked that they didn’t do that.
“It was just about them and how they’ll help me get better. That’s why I’m going to TCU.”
Doumbia is expected to make an immediate impact when he steps on campus for the 2021-22 season. He looks like a future college basketball star, an athletic big man who can run the floor, shoot from the outside and be an offensive and defensive force in the paint.
That much became evident by simply watching him go through a preseason practice. There’s a reason he’s ranked as the No. 1 JUCO big man in the country by 247Sports.
Doumbia has watched plenty of TCU film, too, and views himself as a big man with the offensive capabilities of former Frogs forward Vladimir Brodziansky, who averaged 15 points his final season, and the defensive capabilities of current center Kevin Samuel, who led the Big 12 in blocked shots last season.
That description should excite the TCU fan base.
“I’m a little bit of a combination of those two,” Doumbia said. “That’s why I feel it’s going to be a great fit for me in the program.”
That sentiment is echoed by his Navarro coaches. Doumbia averaged 10.4 points and 6.9 rebounds a game for the Bulldogs last season, highlighted by three games in which he scored 20-plus points. His best game was a 32-point, 12-rebound performance against Lee College.
“As a JUCO basketball player, he’s a guy who can switch across the board defensively. He’s able to guard the 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5,” McMillan said. “He has an elite length at the rim. He alters everything and has an ultra quick jump. He’ll only improve and get better. I’m really excited to see what he does at TCU.”
More than anything, though, McMillan, Hopkins and those around Doumbia are excited to see what he does with the rest of his life. The basketball talent is undeniable, but it’s just a part of a story that has the makings of a Hollywood script.
“You come across kids in your career that enrich your life. He’s a guy who has enriched my life,” McMillan said. “He’s been through more than the average person will ever go through in a lifetime, and he’s still just a kid.
“He’s going to be a great husband one day. He’s going to be a great dad one day. He’s going to be a great guy one day.”
This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
