Catching up with Manute Bol

by: Marc Zumoff

“God is great,” said Manute Bol. “After all, I almost died. I didn’t think I was going to live. God is great…”

Manute Bol, 44, is living, though rather modestly these days, in a home in West Hartford Connecticut. The former 76er says he lost much of the money he made during a 10-year NBA career supporting various causes related to his war-ravaged nation of birth, Sudan. And then, there were the thousands in medical expenses following an accident on June 30, 2004 in Connecticut. A taxi he was riding in flipped, throwing Bol from the car and leaving him seriously injured. The driver of the taxi was killed. It was later determined the driver had been under the influence.

“I’m doing ok now,” said Bol during a recent interview exclusively for Drive Magazine. “The accident happened when I was coming back from a women’s basketball game (The Connecticut Sun of the WNBA). The driver was going too fast. I told him to slow down. Next thing I know, I woke up four weeks later. I had been in a coma. I spent six weeks in the hospital.

“Thank God people prayed for me every day. People didn’t think I was going to walk. I had two broken bones in my neck. My left hand even now, I don’t have full feeling in it. And I have nerve damage in my right hand.”

At 7-7, Bol used those hands and his incredible wingspan to become one of the NBA’s all-time leading shot blockers. While there’s some debate as to whether Bol or former Washington Bullet and New Jersey Net Georghe Muresan was the tallest player in NBA history, Bol left an indelible mark on the game. He was a curiosity at first, drafted by the Bullets in the second round of the 1985 draft after playing one season of basketball at the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut). He had come to the United States from his native Sudan, the son of a Dinka tribal chief, his face bearing the markings of a childhood ritual.

Sixers fans saw him play for three seasons, from 1991 to 93 and again for part of the ’94 campaign.

“I played with some good players,” recalled Bol. “Charles Barkley, Johnny Dawkins, Hersey Hawkins. We had a great time. And the fans, they never booed me because I tried hard every night. I had a great time playing in Philly.”

Barkley and Bol grew close during their time together. Good natured barbs flew across their Spectrum locker room nightly. It kept everybody loose.

One day, for a television show, the joke was on Bol, shocking as it was.

“They brought me into a big hotel conference room and told me we were going to have lunch,” remembered Bol. “They went through the different dishes. They said here’s the soup, here’s the salad. Then they came to a big covered dish and said it was the main course. When they opened it, Rick Mahorn’s head was on the plate. His eyes were open real big. Man, I jumped! The people who did the show put him under the table and he put his head through a hole and onto the plate. Man, I thought I’d have a heart attack. Good thing I didn’t have a bad heart!

“Well, Charles was in on the joke so I got him back. One day there was a golf tournament in Philly. I was driving a golf cart and I hit him with the golf cart while he was doing an interview. I don’t remember what Charles thought, but I thought it was real funny.”

Bol’s NBA career ended in 1995. He played briefly in the CBA, some more in Europe and Asia, then left the game. But he didn’t leave our consciousness. Bol began turning up where we’d least expect to see him, in a boxing ring against former Chicago Bear behemoth William “The Refrigerator” Perry, on skates for a minor league hockey team, even a brief stint as a horse jockey.

“The reason I did those things was because I wanted to bring attention to my country,” he said.

Bol’s native Sudan has been locked in civil strive his entire life. Today, many are familiar with the conflict in that nation’s Darfur region, where literally hundreds of thousands of civilians have died while millions of others have been left homeless.

“When I played in Philly, I went to Washington, D.C. because the president of Sudan was visiting. I ended up being fined $25,000 for missing a game. But it was important for me to go. I need to meet with politicians. I needed to educate people. It’s why I did the celebrity boxing and everything else I did after basketball.”

The 76ers current marketing campaign, It’s a Philly thing, harkens back to the team’s heritage. The campaign was started this past summer with a number of Sixers alumni being brought back to Philadelphia, meeting and greeting thousands of fans on NBA Draft Night at the Wachovia Center. Among those in attendance, standing high above an adoring throng in the building’s Cingular Pavillion that night, was one Manute Bol.

“It was great being there, being with my old teammates again, being with the fans. A lot of people were thanking me, for what I did for the team and the city of Philadelphia. I was really touched by those people. And the team, I was thankful for what they did for me. They gave Philadelphia back to me, because when I originally left the city, when my time there was over, I didn’t think they would remember much of me.

“I want to go back this season and see them play. I want to tell them what Charles Barkley taught me. When you play hard (for Philadelphia fans) every night, I don’t think the fans will say anything bad about you because you’re out there trying. I see that with this (current) team. They play hard. And I think if they play hard, they can win.”