It’s not quite as drastic as Ron Artest becoming Metta World Peace, but AFL star Harry O’Brien has joined the growing list of US athletes altering the letters on the back of their jerseys by reclaiming his birth name ahead of the 2014 season.
O’Brien will be officially known as Heritier Lumumba as of next season after the running defender recently sought to reconnect with his past and childhood .
The 27-year-old adopted the name of his step father at age nine after moving to Western Australia from Brazil to be raised by step-parents.
The Premiership player says the change is an attempt to reconnect with his Brazilian and Congolese heritage.
“The name Heritier means the inheritor or the heir. The inheritor is the inheritor of the Lumumba name, and the name is a very famous one in Africa, in particular the Democratic Republic of Congo,” Lumumba explained.
“It is a bit stronger than Harry O’Brien. It’s Heritier Lumumba and it has always resonated with me.”
Lumumba says the change has gone down well with the rest of the Collingwood club.
“They are really happy for me,” he said of his teammates.
“They are already using my last name, Lumumba, and they are having a lot of fun with it.”
US sports history has been littered with famous name changes. Previous decades saw two all-time greats, Cassius Clay and Lew Alcindor, become Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when both joined the Nation of Islam.
More recently, former NFL star Chad Johnson changed his name to Ocho Cinco (Spanish translation of his jersey number 85) in 2009 before returning to birth name in 2012.
Ron Artest ironically changed his name to Metta World Peace in 2011 in an attempt to inspire youth years after instigating the 2004 ‘Malice in the Palace’.
Get amongst CraveOnlineAU on Twitter and Facebook for daily sport, music, entertainment and gaming news.
