Free Republic

One of the giants of the sports world passed away yesterday. Dikembe Mutombo was an impressive basketball player with an 18-year NBA career, and at 7-foot-2-inches tall, he towered over mere mortals as well as some of his teammates and competitors. Born in 1966 in what is now the Republic of the Congo, Mutombo was one of 10 children of a principal and his wife. At age 21, he came to the U.S. to play basketball at Georgetown University, and he parlayed his college success into the NBA. Mutombo played in the big leagues for nearly two decades, including five-year...

Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo has died at 58 years old after a battle with brain cancer. Mutombo’s career spanned from 1992-2009, and featured eight All-Star appearances and four Defensive Player of the Year awards. “Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

A private jet owned by a North Texas company has been impounded for the past 2 1/2 weeks and its passengers and crew detained by the Congolese government in central Africa, where officials say it was used to smuggle gold from rebel territories in the nation's eastern provinces. The plane was leased by Southlake Aviation, based in suburban Dallas-Fort Worth, to a subsidiary of CAMAC International, The Dallas Morning News reported in its Sunday editions. CAMAC company is owned by Kase Lawal, a Nigerian-born Houston oil tycoon an appointee of President Barack Obama to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy...

The NBA and the Orlando Magic on Monday banned for the season the fan whose alleged racial slur incited Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo at a preseason game last week. Season-ticket holder Hooman Hamzehloui allegedly called Mutombo a "monkey" Thursday in the third quarter of the Rockets-Magic game. Mutombo yelled back at Hamzehloui and gestured from the court.