Indian Hills basketball star Chris Mpaka helps take care of his family in Africa
OTTUMWA – Indian Hills Community College men’s basketball player Chris Mpaka sits at a table at the school's Hellyer Student Life Center when he looks down and admires his shoes. The Crocs he is wearing are black and are decorated with stickers of different NBA teams.
“Everything is good,” Mpaka says with a smile.
His Crocs are just a reminder of how far he has come since moving to the United States. Mpaka, a sophomore at Indian Hills, didn't have any money, hardly any belongings and just one beat-up set of shoes when he left his home in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to play basketball.
“Pretty bad,” Mpaka says.
In this Thanksgiving season in the country he now calls home, Mpaka says he has a lot to be thankful for. Life is looking much better for the 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward. His future is now as bright as ever after already coming so far.
“His story is inspiring not only to me but I think our staff and our players,” said Indian Hills men’s basketball coach Josh Sash. “It gives you perspective to be thankful for what you have and maybe some things that we take for granted on a daily basis.”
'If we got food, we ate.'
Mpaka never had much growing up. He was raised in Kinshasa, the largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo located in one of the poorest parts of Africa. Things got even worse when his parents separated early on. His father, Joseph, lived in a house so small that Mpaka moved in with his grandmother.
His father had to stop working about five years ago due to complications from diabetes. It became even more difficult for Mpaka and his family to afford food. It wasn’t uncommon for him to sometimes go a day without eating.
“If we got food, we ate,” Mpaka said.
Mpaka started playing basketball when he was 10, but he barely had the resources to play. His family couldn’t afford internet service so he’d ask strangers for money so he could log on and watch highlights of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. He sometimes walked an hour to a gym to get shots up. He played in the street with holes in his shoes.
“You don’t have a choice,” Mpaka said. “You’ve only got one (set of) shoes.”
That’s all he really needed. Mpaka was a natural athlete with tons of potential. He had size, strength and the desire to get better.
Jason Sautter, the head coach at Frank Phillips Community College (Texas) at the time, found out about Mpaka from a friend who works in the NBA. The coach loved what he saw on film and pulled some strings to bring Mpaka to the United States. His first stop was Frank Phillips in Texas before later transferring to Indian Hills in Ottumwa.
He showed up to the Borger, Texas, campus in September 2022 weighing 202 pounds, a staggering number for a player of his stature. Mpaka didn’t bring much with him, arriving with a small bag of clothes and zero dollars.
Sautter knew Mpaka grew up in impoverished conditions. But he quickly learned just how bad it was when Mpaka showed up to a practice and his feet constantly slid across the court. Sautter couldn’t understand why. Then he saw the giant hole, the size of a coffee cup, on the bottom of his shoe. Sautter realized then that shoes were the least of Mpaka’s problems.
“They basically had to fend for themselves,” Sautter said. “I saw pictures of him smiling with his friends and all that stuff. You’re looking at tin huts that he’s living in where his neighborhood is. For him to have shoes with holes in that (environment), he was blessed.”
Once he got to the United States, he thrived. During his freshman year, Mpaka started 26 of 28 games and lead the team in scoring with 11.6 points per game while shooting 56.7% from the field. He also tallied a team-high 5.6 rebounds per game and 0.6 blocks per contest.
Mpaka spent every Sunday, the one day the team didn't have games or practices, working in the school cafeteria, cleaning dishes. Every dollar he made, he sent back to his family in Africa so they could buy food and clothes.
“I know where I’m from,” Mpaka said. “I can’t forget where I’m from.”
Indian Hills coach helps raise funds for Mpaka's father's funeral
Mpaka had a ton of potential that Sautter wanted to tap into. He figured with some coaching and some time in the weight room, Mpaka's game could take off.
Mpaka bulked up to 232 pounds over the summer. He worked on his 3-point shooting, which became a strong part of his game.
Mpaka was able to showcase his improvement when Sautter brought him to a practice at Texas Tech. He broke down all of the big man's measurables. The results were impressive. Mpaka has a 7-foot-8 wingspan and a 36-inch vertical leap.
"That's high, high major stuff," Sautter said.
When Sautter resigned from Frank Phillips in September 2023, Sash reached out to Mpaka about transferring to Indian Hills.
Mpaka just wanted a place to play so he could grow his game and continue his pursue of his dreams of playing Division I basketball and eventually in the NBA. Indian Hills offered him that opportunity. Ottumwa quickly became home to him.
When Mpaka's dad died early in the school year, Sautter knew he couldn't afford to go back, let alone pay for the funeral. So Sautter helped start a GoFundMe to raise money. He and Sash encouraged others to donate. It generated enough to pay for the funeral.
"Coach Sash said, 'Don't worry, you are not alone, this is family for you, we can help you, you've got some people that love you,'" Mpaka said.
After all that Mpaka has been through, things are looking better. On Nov. 13, the Warriors climbed to No. 7 in the National Junior College Athletic Association DI men's basketball poll. Mpaka had a strong start to the season.
But there should be even bigger days ahead for him. You'll likely see him on a Division I roster next season. Sautter believes Mpaka doesn't know how talented he is. But others are learning.
"There's literally people that (are) quietly watching from afar that are with the higher levels of basketball in this world just to see his growth," Sautter said.
All Mpaka needs is a shot to show what he can do. He wants to be able to keep sending money back to his family back in his homeland. That's always been his goal.
"I want to help my family," he says.
Tommy Birch, the Register's sports enterprise and features reporter, has been working at the newspaper since 2008. He's the 2018 and 2020 Iowa Sportswriter of the Year. Reach him at tbirch@dmreg.com or 515-284-8468
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Indian Hills' Chris Mpaka builds basketball career after move to U.S.
