The 2.18 meter Hercules, Dikembe Mutombonicknamed “Mount Mutombo“, died Monday, September 30. The former NBA superstar was suffering from brain cancer. The tumor had appeared two years earlier, according to his family. The NBA confided that the Congolese basketball player was surrounded by his family at the time of his death.
As a student, the young Dikembe Mutombo was destined for a career as a doctor. At the age of 21, he obtained a university scholarship from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He then took off for Washington DC in 1987 and continued his education at Georgetown University. Dikembe Mutombo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombohis full name, is encouraged by the famous trainer John Thompson to join his team, the NCAA Georgetown Hoyas. Despite good academic results, university basketball appealed to him more than the white coat.
An All-Star Game regular
In 1991, he was chosen at the age of 25, in fourth position in the draft (selection of new players) as a pivot by the Denver Nuggets. Mutombo becomes the third African athlete to enter the NBA, after the Nigerian Hakeem Olajuwon and the Sudanese Manute Bol. He spent 18 seasons in the NBA and played for the Atlanta Hawks, the Houston Rockets and the New York Knicks.
The Congolese was named best defensive player in the NBA four times and was selected eight times for the NBA All-Star Game. His career ended in 2009 with the Houston Rockets, after a serious left knee injury, at the age of 43. He joins the Pantheon of the orange ball, the “Hall of Fame” of the NBA, in 2015. He is a basketball player who “put all his heart and soul into helping others”, describes the NBA commissioner, Adam Silverupon the announcement of his death.
The giant with a big heart
The giant with a big heart created the Dikembe foundation in 1997, with the aim of improving the health, education and quality of life of the Congolese and, more broadly, of Africans and Americans. Ten years later, his hospital project came to fruition in Kinshasa. He will be named after his mother, Biamba Marie Mutombo. The basketball player invested $15 million in its construction. The former player also launched the construction of the Samuel Mutombo Institute of Science and Entrepreneurship. The NBA superstar has also held positions as an advisor to the National Constitution Center and on the National Council of the United States Fund for UNICEF.
