Todd Bozeman adored his older brother Danny. It was Danny who taught him to swim, drive and do all the stuff a younger sibling ought to know.
When Todd needed money, Danny gave him a buck. When Todd got into scrapes, Danny had his back.
When Danny died at 55 in 2007, he left behind an orphaned teenage son, Okoye. Todd knew right away that he would look after the 15-year-old just as Danny had once watched over him.
"If something happens to me, Bony, I want you to raise Okoye," Danny had said.
"For sure," Todd replied. "Bony" had been Danny's pet name for him since Todd was a skinny youngster. No one else dared call him that.
So when a pulmonary embolism claimed Danny two years ago, Todd Bozeman buried his big brother. Then he scooped up Okoye, took him home to Bowie and set another place at the family table.
The Bozemans have two teens of their own - Blake, 16, and Brianna, 15.
"Now, when people ask how many children we have, I say, 'three,' " said Bozeman, the men's basketball coach at Morgan State.
He still grieves the loss of his brother, 12 years Todd's senior.
"I was an aggressive kid," he said. "It wasn't uncommon for me to possibly get into a scuffle now and then. But Danny was always there to help. He gave me money to go to my prom [at Bishop McNamara High in Forestville] and let me take his car, a yellow Camaro."
A faded program from his brother's memorial service sits on Bozeman's desk at work. But having his nephew in tow helps him cope.
"I talk to Danny all the time and tell him how great 'O' is doing," Bozeman said. In fact, the once-chubby, underachieving Okoye has blossomed since moving in in May 2007. His grades are up; his weight is down. Now 17, he made the football and track teams at Bowie High, where Okoye plays linebacker, throws the shot put and runs the 55-meter dash.
Adapting to his adopted home wasn't easy, Okoye said. Bozeman, 45, is as demanding of his charges off the basketball court as on. Studies are a rigor - every night, for weeks, Okoye's aunt quizzed him on his classwork. Household chores are divvied up among the kids and monitored. Bedtime is 10 on weeknights. And there's no junk food in the fridge.
Okoye's life is laced with structure, teamwork and accountability.
"I take raising young men and women very seriously," Bozeman said. "God has given me an awesome responsibility, and I'm going to fulfill it. I've always been the 'tough love' guy. I'm not worried about hurting any feelings."
