The mother of Charlie Peprah, the Green Bay strong safety, sat on her couch, VCR remote in hand, and fast-forwarded through the history of her native Ghana until the grainy image of her father, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, filled the screen.
\nAcheampong was a general who became the Ghanaian head of state in a bloodless coup in 1972. He was overthrown six years later, placed under house arrest, and executed by a firing squad in June 1979.
\nThere can be no taping over history, but Peprah\u2019s vivacious mother, Elizabeth, senses it being rewound whenever her middle son walks through the door of the home he bought for her in this Dallas suburb.\u201cHe\u2019s like my dad reincarnated,\u201d she said Wednesday. Peprah, 27, visited his mother two nights earlier upon arriving in town for the N.F.C. champion Packers\u2019 clash with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV on Sunday at Cowboys Stadium.
\nIt was a circuitous journey home. After playing at Alabama, Peprah was drafted in the fifth round by the Giants in 2006 but did not make the team. He was picked up by Green Bay and released last season after he sustained a knee injury. Peprah appeared in two games late last season with the Atlanta Falcons, then was re-signed by the Packers.
\nInjuries thrust Peprah into the starting lineup in Week 5, and that is where he remained, contributing 63 tackles and 2 interceptions.
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t take anything for granted in this league,\u201d he said, \u201cand you have to take advantage of each opportunity.\u201d He added, \u201cAfter what my mom, my family\u2019s been through, I feel like I can handle anything.\u201d
\nAcheampong (pronounced aye-CHAM-pong), Peprah\u2019s grandfather, established the National Redemption Council and sought to make his agriculturally rich country more self-reliant. The council militarized the Ghanaian government, and Acheampong, amid accusations of corruption, gradually lost public support.
\nHe was forced out in July 1978 and succeeded by Lt. Gen. Fred Akuffo, who was overthrown and executed with Acheampong. Elizabeth Peprah, who had six younger siblings, said she was the last family member to see her father alive. She made him a dinner of fufu, a West African staple that is similar to a dumpling, and soup. The next morning, June 16, 1979, she said she was awakened by a phone call from a friend who informed her of her father\u2019s death.
\n\u201cThat night when I took him his food, he said, \u2018Tell everybody I was a good man and pray for me,\u2019 \u201d said Elizabeth Peprah, who was 25 at the time. \u201cThe way he said it, it bothered me the whole way home.\u201d
\nMoments before he was executed, Acheampong took off his watch and handed it to an executioner. Was he sending a message? Peprah\u2019s mother often wonders, Did he want it returned to his loved ones so they would know his last thoughts were of them, or was it meant as one final magnanimous gesture to his enemies?
\nThe watch found its way back to the family, and over time, the story has found a place in Peprah\u2019s heart.
\n\u201cThere was a nobility to his life,\u201d he said, adding: \u201cI think because I grew up hearing his story, I\u2019m desensitized to it a little bit. I might take it for granted.\u201d
\nElizabeth Peprah and her husband, Josh, a lieutenant in Acheampong\u2019s army, fled to Europe with their 18-month-old son, Richard. They ended up in the United States, in Fort Worth, where Josh studied engineering at Texas Christian.
\nPeprah was born in 1983 in Fort Worth, and shortly thereafter, the family settled in East Plano. His parents divorced when he was in middle school, and his father returned to Ghana to work for the government. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be dark and graphic when I say this,\u201d Peprah said, \u201cbut a lot of people in my mom\u2019s situation might have contemplated the easy way out, if you know what I\u2019m saying.\u201d He added, \u201cJust the fact she was able to make it is amazing.\u201d
\nLeft to shepherd three rambunctious boys through adolescence, Elizabeth Peprah shelved her dream of becoming a nurse and worked multiple jobs, including an all-night shift as a gas station cashier.
\n\u201cEvery time I\u2019d go to that job,\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019d get out of my car and pray, \u2018Dear Lord, keep me safe for these eight hours.\u2019 I can\u2019t lie to you. Inside I\u2019d be shaking, but I would act like I was fine.\u201d
\n\u201cI was determined not to become a failure,\u201d added Elizabeth Peprah, who still works as a cashier at a Home Depot in Allen. \u201cI was determined not to let the opportunities my children had in this country slip away.\u201d
\nRichard Peprah, now 32, played football at Wyoming and earned a master\u2019s degree in marketing. He is thinking about pursuing a doctorate while his wife attends medical school. The youngest son, Josh Peprah, 19, is a redshirt freshman defensive back at Wisconsin. At Alabama, Peprah earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in marketing and a master\u2019s in financial planning.
\nHe is careful with his money, borrowing his girlfriend\u2019s digital camera for media day at Cowboys Stadium rather than replacing the one he lost. Peprah appeared to spare no expense on his mother\u2019s two-story home, which has four bedrooms and a gourmet kitchen.
\n\u201cIt feels good to be able to take care of her a little bit,\u201d said Peprah, who did not appreciate how much joy his mother took in his success until he went to see her Monday.
\nHe walked through the front door, where a red plastic runner covered the hardwood floor like a red carpet. Green and yellow streamers hung from the ceiling, 26 balloons floated in the air and congratulatory signs adorned the walls. His mother, wearing his No. 26, was waiting with outstretched arms to give him a big hug.
\n\u201cYou forget how big a deal this is until you come home and see how excited your family is,\u201d Peprah said, adding, \u201cI kind of had to pull myself back a little bit because I\u2019m trying to stay focused on the game itself.\u201d
\nIt was weird, he said, to see the Giants win the Super Bowl the season after they released him, like watching your first love marry someone else. Peprah never imagined that three years later, he would be playing in the Super Bowl practically in his hometown.
\n\u201cYou can\u2019t really write it up any better than it\u2019s played out,\u201d he said.
\nPeprah bought his allotted 15 tickets for the game. His cheering section will include his father, who will travel from Ghana; a couple of relatives from England; his brothers; and his mother, wearing her 26 jersey and a foam cheesehead.
\nElizabeth Peprah\u2019s radiant smile could have melted the ice on the streets and her voice was jubilant as she talked about the way she and her family overcame the exhausting days and fearful nights that made this joyful week possible. \u201cI think Charlie takes right after my dad,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cHe would have been so proud of him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The mother of Charlie Peprah, the Green Bay strong safety, sat on her couch, VCR remote in hand, and fast-forwarded through the history of her native Ghana until the grainy image of her father, Ignatius Kutu Acheampong, filled the screen. Acheampong was a general who became the Ghanaian head of state in a bloodless coup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-275694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\n