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Bol dies as basketball’s gentle giant (Manute Bol Dead at 47)
Yahoo News ^ | 6-19-10

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 ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Maryland; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: dead; legend; manutebol; nba; obituary
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1 posted on 06/19/2010 2:59:55 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
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To: My Favorite Headache

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.


2 posted on 06/19/2010 3:02:33 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache (Obama is Dangerclown The Manchild)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Very sad such a good person passes.


3 posted on 06/19/2010 3:05:00 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: My Favorite Headache
The last time I saw him was in an Exhibition boxing match
with Perry “The Refrigerator”.

Perry had gained up to about 500 pounds and looked like he
was going to die as he shuffled across the ring towards Bol.

4 posted on 06/19/2010 3:07:19 PM PDT by HuntsvilleTxVeteran ((B.?) Hussein (Obama?Soetoro?Dunham?) Change America Will Die From.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

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.


5 posted on 06/19/2010 3:08:06 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: vladimir998

Plus, nobody questions where Bol was really born.


6 posted on 06/19/2010 3:10:26 PM PDT by johnthebaptistmoore (If leftist legislation that's already in place really can't be ended by non-leftists, then what?)
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To: My Favorite Headache
After reading the entire story all I can say is wow........Whan an unfortunate but generous human being.

The NBA needs more like you Mr. Bol.....GRIP!

7 posted on 06/19/2010 3:11:32 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco (Peanut butter was just peanut butter until I found Free Republic.........)
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To: freekitty

GREAT tribute to his life here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gpya5OTOnM


8 posted on 06/19/2010 3:15:04 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache (Obama is Dangerclown The Manchild)
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To: vladimir998

Amen to that.


9 posted on 06/19/2010 3:15:27 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache (Obama is Dangerclown The Manchild)
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To: My Favorite Headache
RIP. What a great guy. He even had an appearance ( playing himself ) on Saturday Night Live in a video parody of cruise ship commercials.

Here's some video of him in action;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gpya5OTOnM

10 posted on 06/19/2010 3:15:49 PM PDT by Hillarys Gate Cult
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To: vladimir998

“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!


11 posted on 06/19/2010 3:16:01 PM PDT by Howie66 (I can see November from my house.)
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To: My Favorite Headache

Thanks.


12 posted on 06/19/2010 3:21:26 PM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: johnthebaptistmoore

Or when? If we don’t know where we also don’t know when. The guy could be 30 or 50.


13 posted on 06/19/2010 3:21:34 PM PDT by liberty or death
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To: johnthebaptistmoore

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.


14 posted on 06/19/2010 3:30:15 PM PDT by vladimir998 (Part of the Vast Catholic Conspiracy (hat tip to Kells))
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To: My Favorite Headache

From all I heard over the years, he seemed like a nice guy.


15 posted on 06/19/2010 3:49:55 PM PDT by rlmorel (We are traveling "The Road to Serfdom".)
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To: My Favorite Headache
Bol once killed a lion because it was his tribes tradition in order to enter manhood. Could you image the lion’s eyes seeing him coming across the grasslands.
16 posted on 06/19/2010 3:54:33 PM PDT by Thor1966
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To: My Favorite Headache

RIP Manute Bol. You always seemed to share a smile in every arena.


17 posted on 06/19/2010 4:03:01 PM PDT by eyedigress ((Old storm chaser from the west)?)
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To: vladimir998

“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.


18 posted on 06/19/2010 4:10:50 PM PDT by Persevero (Replace Howard Dean with Alvin Greene! And name Alvin Man of the Year!)
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To: HuntsvilleTxVeteran
I remember him playing alongside 5' 3" Muggsy Bogues in Wahington back in the late 80's.




19 posted on 06/19/2010 4:13:15 PM PDT by BobP (The piss-stream media - Never to be watched again in my house)
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To: My Favorite Headache

RIP Manute.....I enjoyed his SNL skit Manute Bol cruises..

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/6ba60c4136/manute-bol-cruises


20 posted on 06/19/2010 4:33:37 PM PDT by jakerobins
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