Shruti Sneha, Pune
Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA Dikembe Mutombo, died on Monday due to brain cancer. He was 58 years old. He was well known for his intimidating defense on the court as well as a global ambassador to the game.
Two years ago, his family disclosed that he was receiving treatment for a brain tumor in Atlanta.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver described Dikembe Mutombo as being truly larger than life and the best shot blockers and defensive players in NBA history when playing on the court. He dedicated himself completely to assisting others, giving it his all.
Mutombo stood out for various reasons – his playful finger wag at opponents after blocking shots, his tall stature, his deep and gravelly voice, his huge smile. Members of this era consistently gravitated towards him, and Philadelphia 76ers standout Joel Embiid, hailing from Cameroon, viewed Mutombo as a source of motivation.
“Today is a somber day, particularly for us Africans, and indeed the entire world,” stated Embiid on Monday. Apart from his achievements in basketball, I believe he excelled even more outside the court. He’s someone I admire for the influence he has both on and off the court. He has accomplished many excellent feats. He performed numerous excellent deeds for many individuals. He was someone I looked up to. This day is filled with sadness.
Mutombo played a long career of about 18 seasons in NBA with the franchises of Denver, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia, New York and then New Jersey Nets. He is a towering player at 7-foot-2 from Georgetown who even went on to be named an All Star eight times. He was three times inducted into the All-NBA and enshrined into the Hall of fame, which was in the year 2015.
Masai Ujiri, the President of Toronto had some difficulty processing and became very emotional when he received reports of the death of Mutombo, and didn’t get himself on Monday still doing it quite a few times. It’s unusual to be away from that man. I don’t think I can start to explain how great a man and a player Dikembe Mutombo has been for me. That man, that man, that man defined the way we defined ourselves. That man is tremendous, there isn’t a better word, he is a wonderful person.”
Mutombo left the sport for good in 2009. However, even to this day he remains an athlete for charity activities. He could speak nine languages and then founded the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation in 1997 whose aim was to help improve health care, education, and quality of life in his native Congo.
Ryan Mutombo, the son of the Hall of Famer, expressed in a social media post that his father is his hero simply because he showed care. “My dad is still the most innocent soul I have ever come across in my life.”
Mutombo was a member of the board for various organizations such as Special Olympics International, the CDC Foundation, and the National Board for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF.
Silver said “ I never encountered anyone who was as qualified as Dikembe to be the NBA’s inaugural Global Ambassador”. At his essence, he was a person who cared deeply about others.
He thinks that basketball sports have an upraising influence upon the communities in general and his mother country Democratic Republic of the Congo and Africa as a whole.
Mutombo is amongst a trio of players who have been awarded the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award four times.