Charles P. Pierce tribute to Congolese American Dikembe Mutombo
On a low-sky August day in Washington, they held the funeral for Senator John McCain. The skies were the color of the Indiana limestone of the National Cathedral as the political world gathered in the shawl-like humidity. There were presidents and senators, pundits and personalities, and famous people who were both, and neither. But the first person I saw was Dikembe Mutombo. He was hard to miss. None of the other famous people were seven-feet, three-inches tall.
McCain and his wife, Cindy, had met Mutombo 30 years earlier when the NBA star was working on relief of the refugee crisis in Somalia. Because what marked Mutombo's life was not his unsurpassed ability to block shots, nor was it the iconic finger wave that he gave to the unfortunate victims of his hijacks. It was that Dikembe Mutombo was a man of his place, and also a man of the world. His charitable efforts in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo, and all over the continent, were as vast as his work in spreading the sport of basketball in Africa. Both he and Hakeem Olajuwon, born in Nigeria, opened the continent to the NBA and to the world. Now African stars are all over the Association, from Pascal Siakam to Joel Embiid.
I first encountered him during my last years of covering college basketball, when Mutombo was a mystery recruit at Georgetown whom John Thompson had paired with established star Alonzo Mourning. Thompson kept all of his players under wraps, but he was especially stringent with Mutombo. But even with the limitations on access to him, Mutombo's intellect and humor shone through. This all blossomed as his career went along. This great tower of a man was obviously brilliant -- he spoke nine languages, including five African ones -- but he could be positively impish. There were very few NBA players who were both as respected and as liked as he was. He became the NBA's first Global Ambassador.
Meanwhile, Mutombo's efforts in his home country were legendary. He built a hospital in Kinshasa that has treated over half a million people since it opened. He worked constantly to improve education and health care in his embattled homeland. And, in a week in which the former president* went out of his way to scare people with his lie about Congolese convicts flooding into America, Mutombo's pride in his country and his people stands out as hope for a better, more empathetic world. His life was a celebration of life and a celebration of hope. Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo died on Monday at 58 of brain cancer. May his memory be the blessing that his life was.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a62454504/dikembe-mutombo-death-memorial/
McCain Institute Statement
WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 30, 2024) - The McCain Institute joins the world in mourning the loss of Dikembe Mutombo. A longtime friend of the McCain family, Mutombo was honored with the McCain Institute's Award for Courage and Leadership in 2016 and joined the McCain Institute's McCain Global Leaders Advisory Council in 2021 after supporting the McCain Institute since its beginning.
"Dikembe was a shining example of a leader who used his humanity foremost in everything he sought to build, those works being so numerous that they are difficult to name in their entirety. In all he did he also brought his humility and character, whether in sports, bringing healthcare to those in need, or leading aid and development in his home nation of Congo. The world is a lesser place without him, and our family will miss him dearly," said McCain Institute Board of Trustees Member Jack McCain.
"Dikembe Mutombo's passing is a profound loss. A close friend and early supporter of the McCain Institute, Dikembe was a true humanitarian with a heart of gold. He leveraged his celebrity status to advocate for the underserved in Africa, especially in his home country the Democratic Republic of Congo. We are grateful for his counsel on our McCain Global Leaders Advisory Council and his many years of support of the Institute and its work. We extend our deepest sympathies to Dikembe's wife Rose, their children, and all his family, friends, and teammates who are mourning this enormous loss.
https://www.mccaininstitute.org/resources/press-releases/mccain-institute-mourns-the-passing-of-dikembe-mutombo/