Manute Bol

Manute Bol is a Sudanese/American basketball player and activist. Bol is 7'7" (2.31 m) tall. Until the debut of the Gheorghe Muresan (who was a few millimeters taller), Manute was the tallest player ever to appear in the National Basketball Association. He blocked 397 shots during the 1985-1986 season, a rookie record. At 15, the Dinka herdsman killed a marauding lion with his spear while it lay sleeping --a feat his agent noted during his contract negotiations.

Career after basketball

Bol was very active in charitable causes throughout his career. He frequently visited Sudanese refugee camps, where he was treated like royalty. In 2001, however, he was held against his will by the ruling Islamic government because of his support of the Dinka-led Christian rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army. The Sudanese government refused to grant him an exit visa. Through intervention by friends in the United States, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Manute was finally able to return to the United States.

Related Topics:
United States - Joseph Lieberman

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He established the Ring True Foundation in order to continue fundraising for Sudanese refugees. He has given most of his fortune (an estimated $3.5 million) to their cause. In 2002, Fox TV agreed to broadcast the telephone number of his Ring True Foundation in exchange for Bol's agreement to appear on their Celebrity Boxing show. He scored a third-round victory over former football player William "The Refrigerator" Perry. Later that year, Bol signed a one-day contract with the Indianapolis Ice of the Central Hockey League to raise money for the Sudanese, and also had a brief stint as a horse jockey for similar reasons.

Related Topics:
Ring True Foundation - Fox TV - Football - Indianapolis Ice - Central Hockey League

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Bol was arrested on February 13, 2004 and charged with hitting his daughter. On June 30 of the same year, he was seriously injured when the taxi he was riding in flipped and crashed in Connecticut. The driver was killed; it was later determined that he had been driving under the influence. Bol was thrown from the taxi and suffered major injuries, the most severe of which were three broken vertebrae in his neck. However, after a grueling rehab and with support from several friends and former teammates, he is now able to walk with a cane. He appeared for a ceremonial tip-off at a Chicago Bulls game in April 2005.

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During his time in Egypt, Bol ran a basketball school in Cairo. One of his pupils was fellow Sudanese refugee Luol Deng, the son of a former Sudanese cabinet minister. Deng's family eventually received political asylum in the United Kingdom; Luol later moved to the United States to further his basketball career, continuing a close relationship with Manute. After an All-American freshman season at Duke University, Deng became the seventh overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft and was selected to the 2004-05 All-Rookie First Team.

Related Topics:
Egypt - Cairo - Luol Deng

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Manute Bol currently lives in West Hartford, Connecticut. The Ring True Foundation can be reached at 866-547-8326 (in the United States).

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