The phone rang at 5 a.m., and Emmanuel Omogbo didn't recognize the number. Then it came twice more, this time with his older brother, Samuel, informing him that the two-story family house in Chillum, Md., had burned down.
"My brother never told me," Omogbo said. "They always want to protect me."
But the Colorado State junior forward couldn't be kept in the dark for long, not with the news stations back home in Maryland reporting the news that their were four victims from the fire that took place early Tuesday morning.
Thirty minutes later, a friend from back home called after hearing about his parents, niece and nephew.