Manute Bol

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**Manute Bol**
Full name	Manute Bol
Date of birth	October 16, 1962
Height	7'7"
Weight	200 pounds
Regular-season Experience	10 seasons (1986-1995)
Post-season Expierence	5 seasons (1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991)
Total career NBA games	624 Regular-season games and 29 Post-season games
NBA teams	Washington, Golden State, Philadelphia, Miami
Infobox last updated on: February 2, 2007.

Manute Bol (born October 16, 1962) is a Sudanese-born basketball player and activist. Until the debut of Gheorghe Mureşan (who was supposedly a few millimeters taller), Bol was undisputedly the tallest player ever to appear in the National Basketball Association. Bol is believed to have been born on October 16, 1962 in either Turalie or Gogrial, Sudan. He is the son of a Dinka tribal chief, who gave him the name "Manute," which means "special blessing."

1 Height
2 Basketball career
- 2.1 Breakdown of NBA stints and highlights
3 Career after basketball
4 Trivia
5 References
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Height

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Bol is 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) and 200 lb (90.7 kg).^[1] His paternal grandfather was said to have been 7 ft 10 in (2.39 m) tall, and he claims to have a younger sister who is 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m). Conversely, his father is said to be a modest 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) and his mother only 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m). According to Manute, both his mother and father are over 6 ft tall.

[edit] Basketball career

Bol moved to the United States at age 18 after being recruited by representatives of Fairleigh Dickinson University. He later attended Cleveland State University despite not having a strong command of written English.

He was first drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the 5th round of the 1983 NBA Draft, but the league declared the pick invalid and ruled that Bol had not been eligible for the draft. Bol played college basketball at the University of Bridgeport during the 1984-1985 season, and in 1985 he was drafted in the second round by the Washington Bullets.

Due to his height and extremely long limbs, Bol was one of the league's most imposing defensive presences, blocking shots at a nearly unprecedented rate. He blocked 397 shots during the 1985-1986 season, a rookie record. He also holds the all time NBA record for most blocked shots per minute, (.176). However, his other basketball skills were very limited, and his rail-thin physique made it difficult for him to establish position against the league's physical centers and power forwards. The sight of the tall, gangly Bol spotting up for a three-pointer during blow-outs became a fan favorite.^{[citation needed]} Off the court, Manute established a reputation as a practical joker; Charles Barkley, a frequent victim of his pranks, attested to Bol's sense of humor.^{[citation needed]} Bol also developed a close friendship with teammate Chris Mullin.

Over the course of his career, Bol averaged 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 3.3 blocks per game while only playing an average of 18.7 minutes per game. He played in the NBA for ten years, from 1985-86 to 1994-95, spending parts of four seasons with the Bullets, parts of three with the Golden State Warriors, parts of four with the Philadelphia 76ers and part of one season with the Miami Heat. After the end of his NBA career, Bol played 22 games for the Florida Beach Dogs of the Continental Basketball Association during the 1995-96 season. He also played one season, 1996, for the Portland (Maine) Mountaincats of the United States Basketball League. He then played professionally in Italy and Qatar before rheumatism forced him to retire permanently.

[edit] Breakdown of NBA stints and highlights

[edit] Washington Bullets

Bol's first tenure with the Bullets lasted for three seasons from 1985 to 1988. In his rookie season, Bol appeared in 80 games and recorded a career-high 5.0 blocks per game.

[edit] Golden State Warriors

Bol's first tenure with the Golden State Warriors lasted for two seasons from 1988 to 1990. It was his first season in Golden State that Bol first attempted to shoot three pointers with regularity. In that season, he shot a career-high 91 three pointers and made 20 of them.

[edit] Philadelphia 76ers

Bol's first tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers lasted for three seasons from 1990 to 1993. Although he played in a career-high 82 games in his first season in with the 76ers, it was also in Philadelphia that Bol's production as a player began to decline (in terms of both games played and per game statistics). After playing in all 82 games in 1990-91, he played in 71 games the next season, and in 58 (a career low at the time) games the following season.

[edit] Miami Heat

Bol played in eight games in the 1993-94 season with the Miami Heat. The Heat were Bol’s only team that he never appeared in the starting lineup with. He scored only a two-point field goal with the team and blocked 6 shots in 61 total minutes.

[edit] Washington Bullets (an encore)

Bol's second stint with the Bullets lasted only two games in the 1993-94 season. There, he was signed not to play in games, but instead to help with the development of fellow 7 ft 7 in teammate Gheorghe Mureşan.

[edit] Philadelphia 76ers (an encore)

Bol's second stint with the 76ers lasted for four games near the end of the 1993-94 season. There, he helped to mentor 7 ft 6 in teammate Shawn Bradley. In only 49 minutes, he played more aggressive than he did earlier in the season with Miami and Washington. He scored 6 points, grabbed 6 rebounds, and blocked 9 shots.

[edit] Golden State Warriors (an encore)

Bol's final NBA stop, was with the 1994-95 Warriors. Bol made the season opening roster and played in what would be his five final NBA games. On a memorable night in the middle of November, Bol finally made his home debut, coming off of the bench to play 29 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He intimidated and blocked his usual shots and grabbed his usual rebounds. That night, however, served as a "blast from the past" as Bol was back to shooting three pointers like he did in the late-1980s. In that game, Bol connected on all three of the three pointers that he took (each was shot several steps beyond the three point line). The crowd, in disbelief, cheered louder and louder with each shot he took. Seven nights later in Charlotte, on a game that was nationally televised by TNT, Bol was in the starting line-up again. By this time, two weeks into the season, Bol's career seemed to be rejuvenated under head coach Don Nelson in Golden State—he was again a defensive force, making threes, and contributing as a starter to create match-up problems. Unfortunately, after playing in only ten minutes against the Hornets, Bol suffered what proved to be a career ending injury and never played in the NBA again. Before he left his final game, he recorded a block and two points. Of course, he fittingly managed to unload a three point attempt in the limited minutes.

[edit] Career after basketball

Bol was very active in charitable causes throughout his career. He frequently visited Sudanese refugee camps, where he was treated like royalty. In 2001, however, he was held against his will by the ruling Islamic government because of his support of the Dinka-led Christian rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The Sudanese government refused to grant him an exit visa. Through intervention by friends in the United States, including Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, Bol was finally able to return to the United States.

He established the Ring True Foundation in order to continue fundraising for Sudanese refugees. He has given most of his fortune (an estimated $3.5 million) to their cause. In 2002, Fox TV agreed to broadcast the telephone number of his Ring True Foundation in exchange for Bol's agreement to appear on their Celebrity Boxing show. He scored a third-round victory over former football player William "The Refrigerator" Perry. Later that year, Bol signed a one-day contract with the Indianapolis Ice of the Central Hockey League to raise money for the Sudanese, and also had a brief stint as a horse jockey for similar reasons. His hockey publicity stunt, during which he never actually got on the ice, was ranked No. 92 overall in the book "Glow Pucks & 10-Cent Beer: The 101 Worst Ideas in Sports History" by author Greg Wyshynski. (Taylor Trade 2006)

On June 30, 2004 he was seriously injured when a taxi he was riding in flipped and crashed in Connecticut, killing the driver. It was later determined that the taxi driver had been driving under the influence. Bol was thrown from the taxi and suffered major injuries, the most severe of which were three broken vertebrae in his neck. However, after a grueling rehabilitation and with support from several friends and former teammates, he is now able to walk without a cane. He appeared for a ceremonial tip-off at a Chicago Bulls game in April 2005.

More recently, Bol has been involved in the Sudan Freedom Walk, a three-week march from the United Nations building in New York to the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.. The event was organized by Simon Deng, a former Sudanese swimming champion (currently a lifeguard at Coney Island) who is a longtime friend of Bol. Deng, who was a slave for three years from the age of nine, is from another tribe in Southern Sudan. His Sudan Freedom Walk is especially aimed at finding a solution to the genocide in Darfur (western Sudan), but it also seeks to raise awareness of the modern day slavery and human rights abuses throughout Sudan. Though unable to participate in the bulk of the walking, Bol spoke in New York at the start of the Walk, and in Philadelphia at a rally organized by former hunger striker Nathan Kleinman.

Bol lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.^[2]

[edit] Trivia

At 15, the Dinka herdsman killed a lion with his spear while it lay sleeping — a feat his agent noted during his contract negotiations.
He chipped a tooth on the rim of the basket when he tried to slam dunk for the first time.
In 1987, the Washington Bullets drafted the 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) point guard Muggsy Bogues, pairing the tallest and shortest players in league history on the court for one season.
In a game against the Orlando Magic, he blocked four consecutive shots within a single possession.^[3]
Bol is tied for the NBA record for the most blocked shots in one half (eleven) and in one quarter (eight, twice).^[4]
During his time in Egypt, Bol ran a basketball school in Cairo. One of his pupils was fellow Sudanese refugee and current Chicago Bulls player Luol Deng, the son of a former Sudanese cabinet minister. Deng's family eventually received political asylum in the United Kingdom. Luol later moved to the United States to further his basketball career, continuing a close relationship with Bol.
Bol speaks several languages fluently

[edit] References

^ http://www.databasebasketball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BOLMA01
^ http://www.interbasket.net/players/manute.htm
^ Manute Bol: Beyond the Glory, FOX Sports Net (Originally aired April 17, 2005)
^ http://www.nba.com/history/records/regular_blockedshots.html

[edit] See also

Sudan Spotlight

[edit] External links

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