Founder
Remi Yusuf is the founder of Be A 9th Wonder Foundation. He is a Houston native born and raised. He’s married with 2 children, a son named Shai and a daughter named Sarai’. Growing up on the South East side of Houston, he attended Dobie High School where he helped lead his basketball team to a District championship his senior year but ended up losing in the semi quarter finals of the state playoffs.
He went on to attend Texas A&M Kingsville where he received a full basketball scholarship and attained his Bachelors in Social Work along with a double minor in Sociology and Psychology. He is also certified in Special Education in the State of Texas.
During his collegiate career, Yusuf averaged 13.45 points per game in a Javalina uniform from 2002 to 2007 (he sat out 2004-05 due to a shoulder injury) and tailed 1,507 career points becoming the 20th player in school history to surpass the 1,000-point plateau.
2005-06 Yusuf received Player of the Year MVP honors after sitting out a whole season prior to but then returning to lead the LSC conference, North and South in scoring, with averaging a little over 19 points a game. He capped his Tamuk career by placing third on the all-time games played list, second on the steals chart (128) and fifth on the all-time scoring list. Yusuf is in the top 10 all-time in points, assists, rebounds, steals, minutes, field goals, and free throws on the single-season and career record books.
Professional Career
Proceeding College, Remi attended Pre Draft workouts with the Houston Rockets but went on to play internationally to further develop his skill set. He played in Colombia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, played on 2 different teams in Eastern Europe, Slovakia and was eventually signed by the Houston Rockets in September of 2015 but was later on released.
Vision
Remi has a passion for youth and young adults and created an organization that helps propel individuals into their future by using sports as a preventative method to help produce a Foundation in their lives. Be A 9th Wonder is comprised of a group of volunteers and partners that helps kids implore a lifestyle of self accountability, goal oriented, being active, hopeful, to persevere and to be resilient. Helping re-direct at risk individuals in giving them an alternative than what they have currently experienced by showing today’s youth that they have value regardless of their circumstances. Be A 9th Wonder wants to instill in them that their ending can be greater than their beginning. He has been a mentor to a multitude of boys and girls and has also assisted local and foreign student athletes in helping them find colleges or high schools to attend in the US.
Special Needs
Believing that everyone is different but equal, Remi has a huge heart for children with special needs. His younger sister was diagnosed with an unknown lung disease at the age of 12 that compromised her lifestyle and eventually lost the battle and passed away at the young age of 19 in 2011. He took note of all the things that his sister missed out on and all the things that she never got an opportunity to do because of her health condition, He wanted to make sure that those with Special Needs were a part of anything that he was involved in or at least given the chance to be included.
*He wears Purple in honor and remembrance of his sister, that was her favorite color. She was also born on September 9th, which birthed the name of the Organization…Be A 9th Wonder*
