Posted on 06/19/2010 2:59:55 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
Packed small college gym on a cold winter night in ’85, and a friend’s father had driven us to campus to see Manute Bol for ourselves. No one had ever seen such a sight on the basketball court, arms and legs that went on forever, rising and rising until they reached a narrow face with such uncertain eyes. Plopped across the world, here was Bol, a 7-foot-7 center out of the Sudan, out of your wildest imagination.
Near the end of the night, Bol had obliterated a muscular, undersized Division II center who had spent the night throwing elbows into his kidneys and chest. As Bol watched the final minute, we walked slowly behind the University of Bridgeport’s bench and some kid stopped a few feet from him and said loudly enough for Bol to hear: “Is he real? Can I touch him?” More From Adrian Wojnarowski
I’ll never forget Bol glancing back toward him, his sad, soft eyes delivering an answer to a question that no one ever needed to ask. Basketball has never had a truer humanitarian, a most gregarious and generous gentleman. His life was an inspiration, heroic and ultimately tragic. Bol died on Saturday at age 47 in a Virginia hospital, and the wire report says he lost out to kidney disease and a painful skin condition.
“A beautiful man, someone you would never stop laughing with,” Jeff Ruland said by phone Saturday afternoon. Ruland had been a veteran when Bol arrived as a rookie with the Washington Bullets in ’85, and they had stayed in close contact through the years. “He always talked about how he had killed a lion with a spear in the Sudan, but I was always pretty sure he had done it with one of his free throws,”
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
RIP to a very generous and awkwardly talented individual. So many sports icons from my youth dying off so fast. He was always a sight to see live.
Very sad such a good person passes.
Perry had gained up to about 500 pounds and looked like he
was going to die as he shuffled across the ring towards Bol.
Bol was 47. In a matter of weeks, Obama will turn 49.
Seems to me that Bol did more genuine good for people in his shorter life than Obama will as President of the United States.
Plus, nobody questions where Bol was really born.
The NBA needs more like you Mr. Bol.....GRIP!
Amen to that.
Here's some video of him in action;
“Seems to me that Bol did more genuine good for people in his shorter life than Obama will as President of the United States.”
Can’t argue with that!
Thanks.
Or when? If we don’t know where we also don’t know when. The guy could be 30 or 50.
Actually no one knows where or when he was born. I’m not kidding. His family did not keep track. They have his birth place narrowed down to two places, however.
From all I heard over the years, he seemed like a nice guy.
RIP Manute Bol. You always seemed to share a smile in every arena.
“Seems to me that Bol did more genuine good for people in his shorter life than Obama will “
You could probably say that about most 47 year olds. Obama is busily destroying the framework of what was a great nation.
RIP Manute.....I enjoyed his SNL skit Manute Bol cruises..
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6ba60c4136/manute-bol-cruises
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