My dad tells a story about when Manute Bol played for the 76ers. The local basketball team wasn’t so hot in the early 1990s, and in a half-empty Spectrum one game, somebody screamed out, “Let ‘Nute bring it up!”
You might think it was kind of a shame that Manute Bol, 7-foot-7 basketball player and great humanitarian, was kind of a freak show. But I don’t know. From all accounts, all he did was use his freak show status to help people in his native Sudan. And whether it was defeating William “Refrigerator” Perry in a boxing match, joining a minor league ice hockey team or appearing in that absolutely amazing Saturday Night Live sketch above, I don’t know if Manute Bol ever really embarrassed himself. Because when you do those things for the reasons he did, how can you ever feel embarrassed?
And, finally, Charles Barkley on Manute Bol: “Me, him and Rick Mahorn were like three peas in a pod. He was hilarious. Anytime anything would happen, a plane would be late, luggage would be lost, whatever, he would say ‘You fuckin’ Americans,’ It cracked me up every time.”
1 year ago