Akbar Gbaja-

Biamila

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Akbar Oluwakemi-Idowu Gbajabiamila

(born May 6, 1979),[1] is a former
professional American football player of
the National Football League (NFL), who
currently is the co-host for American Ninja
Warrior, works as a sports analyst for the
NFL Network, and author.
 Akbar Gbajabiamila
No. 98, 94, 93
Position: Defensive end /
Linebacker
Personal information
Born: May 6, 1979
Los Angeles,
California
Height: 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Weight: 263 lb (119 kg)
Career information
High school: Crenshaw
(Los Angeles,
California)
College: San Diego State
Undrafted: 2003
Career history
 Oakland Raiders (2003–2004)
San Diego Chargers (2006)
Miami Dolphins (2007)
Oakland Raiders (2008)*
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member
only

Career highlights and awards

Honorable mention All-Mountain West
(2002)
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com
 Akbar Gbajabiamila
Born May 6, 1979
Los Angeles,
California
Occupation Sports commentator,
TV personality,
author, former
linebacker
Notable works Board Member for the
Asomugha
Foundation, Board
Member of the
Michael J. Fox
Foundation
Website
iamakbar.com
The Los Angeles native grew up in the
Crenshaw district with his mother and
father, both of whom were born and raised
in Nigeria, and his 6 siblings. Among his
siblings is Green Bay Packers defensive
end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.

Gbajabiamila was signed by the Oakland

Raiders as an undrafted free agent in
2003. Before beginning his professional
career, he played college football at San
Diego State University. Gbajabiamila also
played for the San Diego Chargers and
Miami Dolphins.
Gbajabiamila currently serves as a board
member for the Asomugha Foundation ,
an organization aimed at creating better
educational opportunities for
impoverished communities. Akbar also
serves on the Board of the Michael J. Fox
Foundation, which raises millions of
dollars for Parkinson’s research.

Gbajabiamila currently co-hosts American

Ninja Warrior alongside Matt Iseman and
Zuri Hall. American Ninja Warrior is an
American sports entertainment
competition, which features hundreds of
competitors attempting to complete series
of obstacle courses of increasing difficulty
in various cities across the United States,
in hopes of becoming the season's
"American Ninja Warrior." In addition to
this, he also hosts the Universal Kids spin
off show, American Ninja Warrior Junior as
well as NFL Networks’ highest rated show,
NFL Fantasy Live .

Gbajabiamila‘s first book, Everyone Can Be

a Ninja, was released on May 7, 2019
(ISBN 978-1982109752).

Early life
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Learn more
Gbajabiamila was born in Los Angeles,
California.

At Crenshaw High School in South Los

Angeles, he was a star basketball player
on teams which were part of the Willie
West Jr. coaching era. He and his
teammates won back-to-back City and
State Championships in 1996 and 1997.
Gbajabiamila moved to play football during
his senior year. He was an all-league and
all-conference choice. He was also named
team’s defensive lineman of the year,
compiling 11 sacks and 74 tackles in his
senior campaign.
College career
Gbajabiamila accepted a football
scholarship at San Diego State University,
where he was all-Mountain West
Conference in his senior year of 2002. He
joined the group Athletes For Education,
one of a handful of collegiate players that
were part of the outreach group, and
worked with founder Steve Haynes and a
group of San Diego-area professional
players to go into communities and work
with young people on life skills. Akbar’s
passion was speaking about financial
literacy, and he spent hours working with
youth in San Diego about the value of
investing and understanding how the
financial system worked. He also worked
on reading and math programs with
impoverished youth, giving him insight as
a young athlete into the value of
community assistance.

Professional career

Oakland Raiders …

Gbajabiamila went undrafted in the 2003

NFL Draft and later signed with the
Oakland Raiders as a free agent. He made
the team out of training camp and played
in 13 of the team's 16 regular season
games, while being inactive for three. He
recorded seven tackles (four solo) on the
season, with his first and only sack of the
season coming against Daunte Culpepper,
then with the Minnesota Vikings.

In 2004, Gbaja-Biamila split time between

defensive end and linebacker, occasionally
filling in for players such as Travian Smith
and Tyler Brayton. He appeared in 14
games for the Raiders during the regular
season and was inactive for two games.
He accumulated a career-high 14 tackles
(11 solo) and added a sack on the year.
That sack came against Brad Johnson and
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while he
recorded a season-high three tackles in
games against the Denver Broncos and
Jacksonville Jaguars. Gbajabiamila also
recovered a blocked punt against the
Carolina Panthers which led to a Raiders
touchdown.

Battling injuries during the 2005 training

camp, Gbajabiamila was released by the
Raiders on September 3. He had a workout
with the Green Bay Packers two days later,
but he was not signed and spent the
season out of football. In 2008 re-signed
with the Raiders and was released to retire
as a Raider.
San Diego Chargers …

Gbajabiamila returned to the NFL in 2006

after being signed by the San Diego
Chargers on January 12. The fit was a
good one for him, who as slightly
undersized yet quick defensive end was a
perfect fit for the 3-4 defense employed by
then-defensive coordinator Wade Phillips
and the Chargers.

Miami Dolphins …

On February 6, 2007, it was announced

that Gbajabiamila had been signed to a
future contract worth $7.4 million with the
Miami Dolphins. The move reunited him
with new Dolphins head coach Cam
Cameron, who was offensive coordinator
in San Diego the season before when
Gbaja-Biamila was a member of the
Chargers. On September 11, 2007, he was
released by the Dolphins. He spent the
season out of football.

Other …

In 2005, Gbajabiamila was selected as one

of the NFL’s first athletes into their
Broadcast Boot Camp, held in Mount
Laurel, N.J., and designed to give 20
players a short and rigorous look into the
skills needed to embark on a broadcast or
journalism career after their playing
careers. He also took advantage of some
time between playing stints to volunteer at
KSWB, the NBC affiliate in San Diego, and
ended up as the co-host for “Football
Night in San Diego,” while he awaited his
next chance back in the pros. He hosted
the show for two and a half seasons
(2006–2008) before getting one last shot
in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins

Personal life

Name meaning …
Akbar’s full name is Akbar Oluwakemi-
Idowu Gbajabiamila. Akbar is Arabic and
means "greatest." His middle and last
names are of the Yoruba language. The
middle names, Oluwakemi means "God
blessed me" and Idowu means "born after
twins." (One of his twin older brothers is
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila who was also a pro
football player.) Their last name, Gbaja-
Biamila means "big man come save me."
This name comes from his paternal great-
great-grandfather who was 7 ft (2.1 m) tall
and was the village moderator in his
Nigerian village.
Family …

He is of Nigerian ancestry. Both of his

parents were Muslim, until his mother
converted to Christianity. While he was
raised under a Sunni Muslim household,
he converted to Christianity while in
college.[2] In 2000, his father, Mustapha,
was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
In 2002, his mother, Bolatito, died in a car
crash. While a member of the Chargers in
2006, Akbar routinely drove back-and-forth
from San Diego to Los Angeles to spend
time with his father. Akbar has four
children.
Television career
With his playing career over, Akbar turned
his focus to the broadcast booth in
addition to his philanthropic work, serving
as an analyst for the Mtn. Network and
CBS Sports Network for two years, while
also taking voice and acting classes. He
also founded Rush The Passer, a year-
round athletic, academic and life skills
program for youth in Southern California.
In 2010 he was approached by reality
producer Mark Burnett to be part of a
three-man athlete team for his latest
project on ABC, Expedition Impossible.
That role, and the exposure that came with
it, helped further Akbar’s exposure.

In 2009, Gbajabiamila was an analyst for

Division I games on CBS College Sports.
He was a contestant on the reality
adventure game show Expedition
Impossible. His team "The Football
Players" finished in 4th place on the show.

As of 2012, he has joined the NFL Network

as a member of the NFL Fantasy Live cast
of hosts. As of 2015, he is a host
alongside Matt Iseman for American Ninja
Warrior being broadcast on G4, Esquire
Network, and NBC.[3] Akbar is also the co-
host of Team Ninja Warrior alongside
Iseman, a spin-off of American Ninja
Warrior that debuted on Esquire Network in
2016, and American Ninja Warrior Junior
with Iseman on Universal Kids in 2018. In
his commentary, Akbar is known for the
"Akbarism",[4] an inspirational and often
humorous statement to describe the
action.

References
1. "Akbar Idowuoluwake Gbajabiamila -
California Birth Index" . FamilySearch.
May 6, 1979. Retrieved August 21,
2016.
 2. Hamilton, P. S. (July 21, 2006). "Akbar
Gbajabiamila Keeps the Faith" . Official
Chargers Blog. Archived from the
original on September 7, 2008.
Retrieved June 11, 2016.
3. "American Ninja Warrior Hosts -
NBC.com" . NBC. Retrieved June 29,
2018.
4. "#Akbarism and #Akbarisms created
on Twitter by @ANWakbarism March
2015" . twitter.com. Retrieved
December 2, 2015.

External links
Akbar Gbaja-Biamila on IMDb
 Akbar Gbaja-Biamila on Twitter

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