When Dikembe Mutombo drove up for lunch, among the first things I said to him was, “that’s quite a car you have!”
“Yes,” the 7-foot-2-inch NBA Hall of Fame great said, “I had to have one with a special front seat. More leg room!”
Credit: contributed
Credit: contributed
I was meeting him because he was to be the seventh recipient of the John Wooden Citizenship Cup, given to the athlete who makes the greatest difference in the lives of others.
When I learned that Mutombo died this week, a part of me died as well. But another part knew I needed to tell his story.
And his is an extraordinary story: He was born the seventh of 10 children in Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutombo grew up aware of the needs of his country and decided to become a doctor. In his second year of studying premed at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., he was spotted walking across campus by Georgetown basketball coach John Thompson. Mutombo was given a tryout and then a scholarship to play on the team.
He told me, “I soon realized that as a basketball player, I could do more good for my country than as a doctor.” How? He raised more than $30 million and built the first hospital in Kinshasa in 40 years and named it for his mother. But that was only the greatest of his countess charitable gifts. He took any opportunity to use sports to make the world a better place. He became the NBA’s first global ambassador and was recognized for his service by U.S. presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama and by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. His list of awards and recognition is long.
At lunch that day, I asked him about raising money. I thought it would be easy for him with NBA players, all with seemingly a lot of money. He shocked me when he said, “No, it’s not easy.” He told a few stories about players who would carry $100,000 in gambling money on road trips and not give “a dime” for his hospital. Why? “Because,” he said, “they haven’t grown up in a culture of giving. They do not have a sense of responsibility. It’s not just inner-city kids who grew up without role models for whom this is true.”
His commitment to a life of service and responsibility, reflected in virtually every day of his life off the court, touched countless people, as it did me. Mutombo was warm and gracious with a welcoming smile and a ready laugh. The last time I saw him, at one of his annual fundraisers, he greeted me as a friend, as a fellow human being and a person of worth, just as he greeted everyone.
Dikembe Mutombo was famous for blocking shots and getting rebounds. Far greater, however, was his example as a servant for others. I hope people don’t just remember him as that great humanitarian; I hope they let his life inspire theirs. It did mine.
Fred Northup is the founder of Athletes for a Better World.
