One of the giants of the sports world passed away yesterday. Dikembe Mutombo was an impressive basketball player with an 18-year NBA career, and at 7-foot-2-inches tall, he towered over mere mortals as well as some of his teammates and competitors.
Born in 1966 in what is now the Republic of the Congo, Mutombo was one of 10 children of a principal and his wife. At age 21, he came to the U.S. to play basketball at Georgetown University, and he parlayed his college success into the NBA.
Mutombo played in the big leagues for nearly two decades, including five-year stints with the Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks. Both teams retired his jersey after he retired from the NBA in 2009, and he entered the Hall of Fame in 2015.
Confession: I’m not a pro basketball fan, but certain players like Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, and, of course, Mutombo have earned my respect over the years. It was Mutombo’s time in Atlanta that led me to appreciate him, and he made Atlanta his home when he retired.
As a powerful center with height and reach, Mutombo excelled at blocking shots. His signature move was waving his index finger after a block. He became so famous for that move that he parlayed it into commercial success.
Mutombo was fun to watch, and his highlights were always worth looking for. I always enjoyed it when Sportscenter anchors — especially Stuart Scott, if I’m remembering correctly — would call him by his full name: Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo.
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But what made Mutombo so remarkable was his life outside of basketball. We tend to pigeonhole athletes as not possessing intelligence, and people often give short shrift to athletes with thick accents. However, all of those stereotypes belied Mutombo’s gifts.
He spoke nine languages and originally intended to go to medical school. Instead, he graduated with degrees in linguistics and diplomacy. Both of those degrees served him well in the humanitarian work he undertook as a player and after he retired.
Mutombo supported the Special Olympics for years and partnered with a foundation that teamed athletes up with special-needs competitors. He helped fund the first modern medical center in the Republic of the Congo since the 1970s; the hospital is named for his late mother. His foundation also built the Samuel Mutombo Institute of Science & Entrepreneurship, a modern elementary school in the Republic of the Congo, which he named after his father.
He spent millions of dollars and countless hours eradicating diseases in Africa and educating Africans on how to stay healthy. He became an American citizen and served on the board of Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center.
Mutombo wasn’t perfect; his name popped up in an Atlanta prostitution scandal in the early 2000s, and he faced accusations of involvement in a Congolese gold-smuggling scheme in 2012. But he was a man of deep Christian faith, and in 2018, he talked to the Associated Press about his legacy of Christianity.
In 2022, Mutombo revealed that he had a brain tumor, and it claimed his life on Monday. But in 58 short years, he left behind a legacy of basketball excellence and selfless service.
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