Dikembe Mutombo

Even though Dikembe Mutombo had great achievements on the basketball court, his most important accomplishments in his life have come off the basketball court and in the community. In the NBA when you get an award it is helping yourself, and Dikembe Mutombo has had great accomplishments playing basketball, but he likes it better when he gets an award for helping the community. To many people, winning the defensive player of the year would be a dream but an even better accomplishment is winning the President’s Service Award in 1999. Dikembe also funded the Zaire women’s basketball team in the 1996 Olympic Games. Dikembe Mutombo knows that he wants to keep helping people the rest of his life.

People know Dikembe Mutombo for being the all-star 7’2 center in the NBA. In 2005 fox sports recognized Mutombo for being the most generous professional sports athlete, putting him in front of Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods. He also graduated from the University of Georgetown. He earned degrees in Linguistics and Diplomacy. Dikembe's father wanted him to become a doctor and come home to help his home town of Kinshasa in his native country of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutombo puts others before him and that is what sticks out to me.

What does he do to help others? In Mutombo hometown of Kinshasa he is building a 29 million dollar state of the art hospital. He also founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997 to improve the lives, education and quality of life for the people of Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dikembe Mutombo was recently announced to the NBA global ambassadors program. He will work closely with the NBA Cares and Basketball without Boarders programs. Dikembe knows firsthand the value of health care because in 1999 he contracted malaria.

Mutombo is a strong vocalist for many organizations. He speaks for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative which pushes parents to immunize their kids from the disease of Polio. He also works as a spokesperson for UNICEF, which is the United Nations International Children Emergency Fund. Mutombo also pushes awareness for HIV, AIDS in Sub Saharan Africa where 24.5 million people are infected with this deadly disease and it is projected to claim half of all 15 year olds in Sub Saharan Africa. Dikembe’s hospital is named after his late mother who died of a stroke and couldn’t make it to the hospital which was less than 10 minutes away because of violence in the area. He makes sure that everyone is aware of disaster and diseases going on around the world.

Health care in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is not that good. Dikembe Mutombo is a smart man who knows they have to act fast to establish health care in the Congo. Mutombo says there is little time to waste in a country where the life expectancy is 44 years old and 1 out of every 5 children don’t get to experience their 5th birthday. Dikembe knows firsthand the value of health care because he contracted malaria in 1999.

Dikembe Mutombo has many accolades from playing basketball but the more important one come off the court. Dikembe donated 150,000 dollars to help the less fortunate children in South Africa. He was the recipient of the National Civil Rights Museum's Sports Legacy Award in 2007. He was also inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame on June 20, 2007. Mutombo was also named as one of the “Good Guys in Sports” by sporting news. All these good accomplishments in his life show how much he cares about others and wants to help the world.