Personal Info
- Country of residence: United States
Information
Oday Aboushi (born June 5, 1991) is an American football guard for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). Aboushi played college football for the University of Virginia. Aboushi was selected by the New York Jets in the fifth round, 141 overall pick of the 2013 NFL Draft.
Aboushi is the ninth of ten children born to Palestinian parents who immigrated to New York from the Beit Hanina neighborhood of East Jerusalem. Aboushi speaks English and some Arabic.
He is also a practicing Muslim, one of few in the NFL. During Ramadan, which fell every year during training camp season at Virginia, he fasted from sunrise to sunset every day. He was one of almost a dozen Muslim athletes honored by the U.S. Department of State for his contributions in 2011. He is one of the first Palestinian players in the NFL.
On July 12, 2013, the Anti-Defamation League issued a press release defending Aboushi after an article circulating online claimed he was a 'Muslim extremist'. ADL defended Aboushi's right to take 'pride in his Palestinian heritage' and emphatically stated that being pro-Palestinian is in no way equivalent to being anti-Semitic or a Muslim extremist.
In 2014 and 2015, Aboushi traveled to Sudan with the Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) to help repair cleft lips and cleft palates in the impoverished East African nation. Working with the IMANA SaveSmile team, Aboushi helped to perform surgery that adjusted muscles and connected tissues allowing full lips to form in place of cleft palates. Aboushi attended the University of Virginia, where he played for the Virginia Cavaliers football team from 2009 to 2012. During his college career he started 37 of 43 games in which he appeared. As a senior in 2012, he was a first-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) selection.
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