Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo, aka Dikembe Mutombo, a famous Congolese American NBA basketball player and humanitarian has passed away. His death, following a period of a cancer has raised praises and recognitions from several famous people around the World, including the United States of America, Africa, especially his birth country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Europe, and Asia. Known for his almost unmatched shot-blocking and rebounding power, followed by his defensive trademark gesture of finger-wagging when he was an NBA player, he was later often celebrated for his unwavering dedication to humanitarian causes after his retirement.
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo was bon in Kinshasa, then Leopoldville, Republic of the Congo, in 1966. His father Samuel was a school principal who then became a senior government education official. A brilliant student, Dikembe Mutombo, then 21 years old, was offered a scholarship by the US government to study medecine at the Georgetown University, in Washington DC, USA, with the the plan to return to DRC as a medical doctor. Once in the USA, given his height and his basketball skills, John Thompson, a famous coach of the Georgetown university basketball team, convinced Dikembe Mutombo to join the team. Hence, he later decided to abandon his plan to become a medical doctor and to devote himself to the university basketball while pursuing a major in linguistics and diplomacy. In 1991, he graduated with bachelor's degrees in linguistics and diplomacy.
With his size of 7ft 2in (2.18m), Mutombo certainly stood out. In 1991, the Denver Nuggets chose him as the fourth overall pick of the NBA draft. During his NBA career he played for six NBA teams. After the Denver Nuggets he joined Atlanta Hawks and later played for the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks and Houston Rockets. Mutombo eventually became a naturalized American citizen.
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Dikembe Mutombo was praised for his achievements as a defensive prayer with almost unmatched shot-blocking and rebounding power. He was well known for his index finger-wagging gesture to celebrate his successful blocks and taunting his opponents, like a parent reproaching a disobedient child. The gesture was later banned in NBA rules as a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct.
He retired in 2009, following the NBA playoffs. His number 55 jersey was retired by Denver Nuggets and Atlanta Hawks. In 2015, he was inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. His NBA performance and achievements include eight-time All-Star, a member of three All-NBA, the 20th-most-prolific rebounder, and six All-Defensive Teams, and an average 2.8 blocks and 10.3 rebounds per game.
After his retirement, he dedicated himself to humanitarian causes. Meanwhile, he had started these even as he played in NBA, including the formation of the foundation bearing his name in Atlanta in 1997.
In 2007, he helped to build and equip a hospital, investing around $15m of his own money out of the total cost of $29m. The hospital, known as the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and named after his late mother, opened in Kinshasa in 2007. In 2020, He also invested in an educational institute Samuel Mutombo Institute of Science & Entrepreneurship named after his father Samuel who died in 2003, in the city of Mbuji-Mayi, with modern pre-K through 6th-grade in which students learn both French and English.
Dikembe Mutombo also helped fund a dormitory for an orphanage in Johannesburg, South Africa.
@AfroAmerica Network 2024
