Manute Bol passes at age 47

 

I can recall one winter night back in 1985 when my dad, his friend Kuch and myself went to what I believe was an NCAA Division II All-Star basketball game in Durham, CT. My father, a former all-state basketball player in Connecticut (THS '60), went on to attend the University of Hartford on a full athletic scholarship and from there played some semi-pro ball with the Hartford Spickets. Later in life, he was a great fan of the game. On this particular night, the main reason we were going to this basketball game was to see an impossibly tall (7'-7") and long-limbed Sudanese player named Manute Bol, the center for the University of Bridgeport's team. While not the most skilled player, Bol had already developed a reputation as a formidable shot-blocker who had begun to gain the interest of some NBA teams and had earned the nickname, "The Dinka Dunker" (he was a Dinka tribesman). Indeed, he went on to play in the NBA for 10 years with four different teams, blocking as many as 11 shots in a half and 4 in a single possession.

I had kind of forgotten about Manute Bol until a couple of years ago when I heard that he had broken his neck in an automobile accident, the result of his cab driver driving under the influence of alcohol. I had heard that he made a recovery, but beyond that, nothing else.

Manute Bol with University of Bridgeport in 1985
(Photo: Bill Polo/Boston Herald, via Associated Press) 

What I never knew is that Manute Bol was a Christian who gave nearly all his money to help suffering people in Southern Sudan and Darfur, and even risked his life doing it. In 2001, he was offered the position of Minister of Sport by the Sudanese government, but refused because one of the requirements was for him to renounce his Chirstian faith and convert to Islam. You can read more about Manute Bol and his involvement with the Sudan Sunrise organization by clicking HERE

Yesterday, Bol died in a Virginia hospital as a result of severe kidney trouble and a rare and painful skin condition at the young age of 47. Today I am inspired by the Manute Bol I never knew and who shined brightly, not so much on the basketball court, but in his acts of love and kindness which got little fanfare.