I liked Manute Bol back in his NBA days- aside from being astonishingly tall and thin, he had a great attitude and was always willing to laugh at himself, like in this classic SNL skit and this prank by Charles Barkley. I was unaware of his humanitarian work in his native Sudan until I read What Is The What earlier this year (which is fantastic, by the way), and once I did a little more reading up on the man, I was thoroughly impressed. A Dinka tribesman, Bol spent the majority of his life raising money and working towards peace in his troubled homeland- some of his efforts are mentioned in this 2006 profile in Sports Illustrated. In a world where someone like Kobe Bryant can win a MVP trophy, it's men like Manute Bol who truly deserve to be lauded. Here's a nice obituary on Bol from the Philadelphia Inquirer.
3 comments:
I'm extremely sorry to hear of Mr. Bol's death. I once read a biography of him. Fascinating stuff. He was, from all accounts, a generous and peaceful man. That he had a sense of humor about himself is certain, and he was willing to do anything to help raise money for charity (including a hideous 'boxing match' with 'Refrigerator' Perry, wherein Manute's appeal to the crowd from his height and he was made to appear nothing but a freak. Shame, shame, shame.)
Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I will have to post something about him.
I've written something that will post tomorrow. It includes a link to a nice column by Bob Ryan, which I'm sure you'd like to read.
Thanks again.
Did you know that Manute Bol coined the phrase "my bad"? When he learned English he never learned to say "that was my fault" and instead said "my bad".
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