Kebu Stewart
Assistant Basketball Coach, Recruiting Coordinator and Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach Kebu Stewart used to be an NBA player. He has been coaching basketball since 2018 and coaching for the Occidental men’s basketball team since 2021. Before his career as a coach, he played professionally for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Dallas Mavericks.
Stewart said he was recruited to play basketball by several colleges. He listened to his mother’s advice and chose to play for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), which he said was one of the best decisions he ever made.
“I wanted to stay home and go to Saint John’s. It was close to home. My mother decided as we were picking colleges, she said ‘You know what, you should go somewhere to be able to meet new friends, meet new people, go see the world,’” Stewart said.
Stewart played for UNLV between 1993 and 1995 before transferring to California State University, Bakersfield, due to coaching instabilities at UNLV. Stewart and the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners won the Division II National Championship in 1997, and Stewart was named the NCAA Division II Player of the Year.
According to Stewart, he went to combine camps after college, where he performed very successfully, getting the attention of and getting drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers.
“One of the highlights of playing [for the NBA] was me playing with Hall of Famers like Allen Iverson, Jerry Stackhouse and Derrick Coleman” Kebu said. “The second highlight was my first game that I debuted. When I first got into the game, I think I played for 10 minutes and had eight rebounds.”
According to Stewart, after his two-year career with the 76ers, he joined the Dallas Mavericks. After his career in the NBA, Stewart said he played in numerous European countries, like Serbia, Greece and Russia.
Stephen Perkins
In addition to playing tennis at Occidental, Tennis Head Coach Stephen Perkins ’13 had a professional basketball career after graduation. Perkins said he played in the Peruvian National League in 2013.
Perkins said his study abroad semester in Spain influenced his decision to move abroad after graduating from Occidental. Perkins said he wanted to make a living while in another country, which is what led him to getting a certification for teaching English and getting a job at an English institute in Peru.
“I really wanted to immerse myself in another culture and also become fluent in Spanish,” Perkins said.
According to Perkins, he stayed in Peru for a year and joined a local basketball league there. Perkins said that through the local league, Club Faraday, asked him to play with them in the Peruvian National Basketball League.
“We traveled all over Peru, and our team actually made the national semifinals — so we made the final four of the Peruvian National League,” Perkins said.
Perkins said that has been playing tennis since he was 7 or 8 years old and started playing competitively when he was 14 years old.
“I really love both sports. I used to go through phases where I would, for a couple of months, like basketball more, and in a couple of months, I would like tennis more,” Perkins said.
According to Perkins, he played for the men’s tennis team during all four years of his time at Occidental and also played for men’s basketball alongside tennis his senior year.
After Peru, Perkins said he lived in Colombia for two years, where he got into salsa dancing before moving back to the United States and eventually settling at Occidental.
“I really do think seeing the team bond and having breakthroughs where a player will see the hard work paying off or you see the team’s hard work paying off [is one of the highlights] of coaching,” said Perkins.
Isaiah Gatewood-Flowers
Assistant women’s basketball coach and advisor to the Black Men’s Forum, Isaiah Flowers, is going on his fourth season of coaching at Occidental.
According to Flowers, he realized he wanted to have a career in coaching during his junior year of undergrad at the University of Oklahoma. It was then, Flowers said, that he got a job working with the women’s basketball team. Flowers said he continued working with the team during his graduate years at the University of Oklahoma.
“Before I got the opportunity to work in women’s sports, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was in school because my mom said you’re either going to school or you’re going to work, and I wasn’t ready to work,” Flowers said.
Flowers said that his dream in his junior year of high school was to open up a doughnut shop, while in his freshman year of college, he was a journalism major.
Flowers said he grew up playing and watching basketball with his older sister.
“My biggest role model in my life is my older sister. She played basketball. That’s the reason why I love basketball,” Flowers said.
Contact Francine Ghazarian at ghazarian@oxy.edu
