Dirk Nowitzki is used to being the clutch player when the game is on the line. Such was the case in his African wedding to Jessica Olsson. In true Kenyan tradition, Nowitzki had to identify his wife in a group of five or six covered Kenyan women. Pick wrong and Dirk would be giving up a goat.
I guess it’s one of the traditions. If you get it wrong, you got to pay the parents a goat or something. So I was lucky. I smelled her to find the right one. So, I got lucky there. But that was just an experience that I’ll never forget.
It was an unforgettable experience for the Mavericks star who met his bride at a charity event for the Sports for Education and Economic Development (SEED) Project in 2010. Tricked into Rolando Diaz painting, the forward hoped to score a date with Olsson who worked at a Dallas art gallery.
Olsson, born in Kenya to a Kenyan mother and Swedish father, caught Dirk’s eye instantly. In addition to physical attraction, the German-born NBA star loved Olsson’s intellect, her love of art, and her love of sports.
Although Dirk grew up in a small German town with little to no black or African residents, race was never an issue. However, the Twitter world exploded when the couple made their first public appearance together, kissing, at the 2011 ESPYS.
Former 76ers guard Evan Turner tweeted: “Well I’ll be damned. Dirk got him a sister.” Hassan Whiteside, now with the Miami Heat, tweeted: “Dirk got himself a black girl hahaha.” WNBA star Candace Parker used the line “jungle fever” on Twitter and wrote “love it” after they smooched.
When shown the tweets, Nowitzki laughed it off, adding that no one has even approached him with anything negative to say about his interracial relationship.
The couple wed in 2012 and had ceremonies in both Germany and Kenya. Nowitzki has embraced every part of the Kenyan culture, including African music, food, and their traditions, including the cutting of a goat at their Kenyan ceremony. Another tradition is the payment of a dowry, which demonstrates a groom’s ability to financially support his bride.
We kind of faked things,” Nowitzki said. “They gave me a little Kenyan shillings and I paid them that. It was literally like a whole-day event. There were hundreds and hundreds of people there.
The Nowitzki bunch has grown to include a daughter and two sons. To ensure that their children are fully in touch with their roots, Dirk and Jessica travelled with their children back to Kenya last summer. The plan is to visit both Germany and Kenya yearly to learn about and embrace their heritages.
We don’t want them to just grow up [in Dallas]. We were gone for three months this past summer. We want to show them different cultures, different languages so they can grow up, become educated and make educated decisions when they’re older on where they want to live, what they want to do.
2016 was a rough year as the racial divide deepened in the US. Dirk believes that education, respect and discipline are essential to keeping not only his children, but all children, safe in today’s society.
Like most parents, the Nowitzkis are navigating through parenthood with a mixture of love and discipline in efforts to raise responsible, educated children.
Kudos to Dirk and Jessica for finding and maintaining calm in the chaos of “post-racial” America.
Flip the pages for photos of the loving couple and their family.