When he stepped off the plane from Accra, Ghana and ended up in Rock Island, Illinois without a coat on a grey, cold day in March of 1980, Kofi Osei might have been questioning the wisdom of his decision to attend Augustana. When his first track workout ended early with his face in the sink of the Ericson Field locker-room, he was probably sure he had made a mistake. From that inauspicious beginning, however, grew a young man who would eventually win a national championship in track and to this day he holds the Augustana school record for the 100 meter dash outdoors and the 55 indoors.
Kofi Osei was a skinny, articulate young man who came to America from Ghana and he made the most of his opportunity. Considering the magnitude of his move when he started at Augustana for the spring quarter of 1980, he didn’t take long to adjust. Even in that first workout, which was cut short while he examined the porcelain in the locker-room, it was obvious that he was fast. He was fortunate enough to have a pair of veteran sprinters, Mike Meyer and Terry McMillan, to guide him in those early days and he had enough perseverance to make it all work.
In the early days he got better with each passing week and when the conference meet rolled around in the first week of May, 1980, he had a major part in the Vikings winning the first of what would eventually be five straight league titles. He was second in the 100, third in the 200 and ran the second leg on the winning 400 relay team that tied the conference record. Three weeks later in the NCAA Division III national meet he earned All-America honors with a fourth place finish in the 100 and a fourth place finish in the 400 relay.
As a sophomore he won the 100, placed third in the 200 and ran anchor on the winning 400 relay in the CCIW meet. He capped off a brilliant season by winning the 100 in the 1981 NCAA Division III national meet in Cleveland, Ohio as the Vikings placed second in the nation in the team standings. He anchored the 400 relay to a spot in the finals but the unit placed seventh and did not score. He set his school record in the 100 at :10.60 and that mark still stands. He also set the school record indoors over 55 meters with a time of :06.46 that same year.
In 1982 he won the 100 in the CCIW and was the anchor on the 400 relay team that took second. He placed seventh in the 100 that year in the national meet in the 100. He did not compete in 1983 but came back in 1984 and was third in the CCIW in the 100 and ran a leg on the 400 relay that placed second. That year the 400 relay that he was on turned in a time of :42.17 that is still the fourth best in Augustana history. He earned his final All-America certificate in 1984 as a member of the 400 relay.
Articulate and well-spoken, Osei is grateful for his years at Augustana. “Augustana provided a well-rounded educational experience that has facilitate my ability to adapt seamlessly to the vicissitudes of life,” he said. “The coaches who guided me have remained my life-long friends.”
After graduating from Augustana with a degree in business administration, Osei earned a master’s degree in public administration from Ohio University in 1986. He is currently a software development analyst/tester for Kaiser Permanente, a position he has held for nearly five years. He is also a realtor for Long & Foster Real Estate.
Kofi and his wife Mabel live in Lanham, Maryland with their four children: Nana, Maame, Awara and Abena. He is the geographic region leader of Agape Life Ministries, Inc. and also serves as a Sunday school teacher.
