Manute Bol

Manute BolUnited to End Genocide - Flickr [Public domain]Manute Bol is best-known for being a Sudanese NBA player, and many people may not initially describe him as a hero, but he is more than what people first take him for. If you look past his basketball career, Bol made sacrifices, was selfless, kind, and worked hard to come up from poverty. These traits combined made him a hero. As his daughter once said, “He would do anything for his people" (Conn). His life story is inspiring, proving the popular saying that "it's bigger than basketball." Bol used this sport to his advantage to put himself in a positive situation to help other people, and looking at all the feats he accomplished, it is undeniable that he is a hero. "Sports stars often make headlines with spectacular misconduct, and they don’t use their celebrity enough to make the world a better place. But every now and then, along comes a star as gifted ethically as athletically..." (Kristof).

Manute Bol was a name that was talked about frequently because he was the tallest player to ever play in the NBA. Standing at 7'7", he was very distinguishable because of height, and people noticed him. People definitely knew who he was once he got to the league, but his journey to get there was not easy. This is most likely what built his good character. Bol was born in South Sudan, and was a part of the Dinka tribe. This group of people have actually been reported as the tallest in the world (Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, Dinka). Bol's mom and dad were both around 6'9", and his grandfather was 7'10", so it wasn't too uncommon there for someone to be around Bol's height. Bol says in the village life, there was no way to measure yourself, so he wasn't even aware of his height until he came to America: "I learned I was 7 foot 7 in 1979, when I was grown. I was about 18 or 19", he said in an interview (Abbot). The name "Manute" means "special blessing," and that turned out to be true in the end for the tribe. Like with a lot of African tribes, most people stay within them. It is not easy to play sports in a place like Sudan, as there are barely any sports teams around. Also, because of village life, he had a lot of work he had to do to help the community sustain itself, such as working on the farm for many hours. Legend has it that he once had to kill a lion to protect his cattle sometime in his youth. Eventually, in his late teens, he finally had the opportunity to travel to northern Sudan to play basketball with a team there. He had the natural ability, and eventually a college scout named Feeley noticed him and recruited him for the college team. With not enough financial assistance and a limited ability to speak English, he never ended up playing a game for Cleveland State, the first college he was recruited to. He ended up transferring to the University of Bridgeport, where he actually played for a season and had incredible personal statistics, especially in shot-blocking. After the tough journey to get to this point, he finally was about to have the opportunity to turn basketball into a professional career, and to have a chance to make an impact. 

After his second college season, Bol indicated his intentions to play in the NBA, and declared for the draft. Almost everybody, including Bol himself, knew that he wasn't completely ready to play for an NBA team because his English skills were still limited, and he would barely be able to understand coaches. However, he did it anyway--not for himself, but for his sister. Sudan was a dangerous place with political corruption around the time that Bol was going into the NBA, and Bol just couldn't ignore that. Everybody back there was his family, and it's where he came from, so he wanted to help them in any way that he could. He knew that once he got money from playing professionally, he would be able to help his sister get out of the country, into a much safer place. At this point, it seemed as if being the best basketball player was not his primary goal, but rather it was to help his country, and he used basketball as an asset to do that. Still, becoming a better player would help him get bigger contracts, which meant he would have more opportunities to give back to his community, so he worked hard. Being 7'7" and 200 pounds, it isn't easy to maintain yourself. His body type made it almost impossible to get stronger, which made him injury-prone, so he just had to work with the advantages he was given. He attained many shot-blocking records over his 10 year career playing for different teams, although he wasn't exceptional at many other stats. Being able to stay in the NBA by only being good at shot-blocking was quite impressive, and shows just how good his skill for that was. In the end, he definitely had a successful overall career, playing for the Bullets, Warriors, 76ers, and the Heat. However, after gaining all his fame from the NBA, his plan was not to simply retire with the money he had earned. 

Bol was not required by any means to go back to his birth country of Sudan. It was very dangerous there at that point in time, and he could easily live a stress-free life in America. However, he never forgot about his people, and knew that the people there didn't have much power to make a change, but he did. He had the chance to be the hero and to do something about all the violence and corruption going on in Sudan, and he clearly capitalized on that opportunity. Bol always was an advocate for peace, and didn't want to take sides because that would encourage more fighting (Abbott). However, the killing continued, and he had to do something. Bol estimated that about 250 members of people within his extended family were killed during this conflict. The news didn't spread too rapidly, so Bol unfortunately did not find out about the situation until it had already been going on for a while, when a representative of the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement came to visit him in the US. Bol immediately knew he had to join the fight when he heard about the circumstances. Bol actually began to help the cause during his time in the NBA, holding frequent war strategy sessions in his basement, along with donating the money he was earning to the cause (Abbott). Reportedly, 3.5 million dollars were donated by Bol to the Ring True Foundation, which he had established himself. During the off-season, he would take secret trips to the war zone to see with his own eyes what needed to be done. It was clear that Bol was doing everything in his power to help the people, and that is heroic. After his career, he spent a lot more time in Sudan, desperately trying to help the cause. There are multiple cases where he used his publicity to raise even more money, such as signing with a hockey team or becoming a horse jockey briefly specifically for that cause. It is clear that Bol made sacrifices for others on numerous occasions, another one being that he had major health issues because of his height, but he ignored them because his people needed help at the moment. He went from village to village, and talked a lot with other activists, including the current president of South Sudan, on how to fix the issues. He also talked about the future of the country, and ways to improve after the conflict was inevitably solved: "My dream is to build schools across south Sudan because with education you can have a decent life, find a job and improve" said Bol (Gallagher). One event that contributed to his health problems was when he was involved in a car accident in a taxi and broke his neck. Having donated most of his money to Sudan, he had very little left to pay for treatment with a lack of health insurance. Unfortunately, his health problems eventually became very bad, and he had to fly back to the United States for treatment, where he passed away soon after. Before his death, he knew somewhat of his impact on Sudan, saying, "I did it, I did it" (Abbott), talking about the elections that were taking place. Even as he was about to die, Bol was thinking about how he was able to help a whole country of people, and that shows his selflessness and determination to help others. 

At Bol's funeral, many speakers said things such as, "he gave his life for his country" (Abbott), and that is just more proof of how impactful this man was. Charles Barkley, an NBA analyst, said, "If everyone in the world was a Manute Bol, it's a world I'd want to live in. He's smart. He reads The New York Times. He knows what's going on in a lot of subjects. He's not one of these just-basketball guys" (Garrity). If everybody used their talents to produce something good for other people, then our society would be improved vastly. Unfortunately, too many people are unlike Bol, and are selfish with their fame, talents, or riches. Most people only know Manute Bol as the tallest person to ever play in the NBA, but after looking at everything he did in his life, from his childhood to after his retirement from basketball, he is much more than a basketball player. He sacrificed for others out of his kindness, and the results of this can clearly be seen today with the current improved state of South Sudan, especially with the split from the northern part of the country. He didn't have any obligation to do a lot of the deeds he did, but out of his natural mindset of good will, he did those things and became a hero. 

Works Cited

Abbott, Henry. “The Real Story of Manute Bol.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 5 Aug. 2011, www.espn.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/31423/the-real-story-of-manute-bol.

Conn, Jordan. “The Defender.” The Atavist Magazine, 21 Oct. 2016, https://magazine.atavist.com/the-defender.

Gallagher, Brendan. “NBA Great Manute Bol Returns Home to Help War-Torn Sudan.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 24 Mar. 2009, www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/basketball/5043190/NBA-great-Manute-Bol-returns-home-to-help-war-torn-Sudan.html.

Garrity, John, et al. “A TALL STORY.” Vault, 17 Dec. 1990, www.si.com/vault/1990/12/17/123285/a-tall-story-manute-bol-the-sixers-7-ft7-in-center-views-life-from-a-unique-perspective.

Kristof, Nicholas. “Most Valuable Helper.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 24 June 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/06/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=2&ref=nicholasdkristof. 

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Dinka.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 30 May 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Dinka.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Manute Bol.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Oct. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Manute-Bol.