Bol
Dabbles into Different Careers as he Tries to find Niche
After Life in the NBA
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Former
NBA Player Manute Bol
Article
by Ike A. Mgbatogu, MPA, Freelance Writer &
Editor of Onumba.com, based in Columbus, Ohio.
Ikeuzondu@onumba.com |
By
Ike Mgbatogu
<Posted
on November 26, 2002>
Picture
this, y'all: Manute Bol - the towering 7ft., 7 in. former
NBA player suiting up in a pair of fancy ice skaters,
zipping through back and forth on real ice chasing a
tiny hockey ball. Quite a picture, huh.
Really,
Manute Bol signed up to play ice hockey with the Indianapolis
Ice, the latest in a string of unsuccessful attempts
to establish a livelihood after life in the NBA.
When
Manute Bol arrived in the United States in 1984 to play
ball for the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut,
his towering 7ft., 7 in. lanky frame was distinctly
striking. For a man whose resume as a youth growing
up in the Turalie village of southern Sudan highlighted
only goat herding and cattle rearing dexterity, Bol's
dream of playing basketball was taken seriously largely
because of his height.
The
Dinka tribe indigene hails from a southern Sudanese
clan known to spin out some of the tallest people in
the world. Bol's grandfather Bol Chol, who lavished
himself with 40 wives, stood 7 ft, 10 in.; his father
measured 6 ft, 8 in. and his mother, one of seven wives
married to his father, stood 6ft, 10 in.
Bol
is so tall that the average man tilts his head considerably
backward to look at him while shaking his hands. Indeed,
for most people, failure to adhere to this basic ritual
aligns their eyes right at his ribs pack.
Bol
had to learn how to dunk a basketball. Obviously, it
was not because of his height limitations. Rather, it
was because of too much height that makes Bol's nearness
to the hoop an unmistakable oddity. The danger posed
by this hazardous proximity to the hoop played out vividly
when Bol attempted his first dunk. That first attempt
to dunk a ball ended up in an ugly mishap when he crashed
his face into the rim, with two of his teeth flying
out of his mouth. That incident taught Bol a quick lesson
that with his height, he didn't have to leap much to
dunk.
To
be sure, Bol's imposing presence drew far more attention
than his basketball talent. Yet after just one year
of playing collegiate basketball in the constitution
state, Bol entered the NBA to mix it up with the big
boys.
Initially,
many NBA analysts expressed profound misgivings about
whether Bol's 205 lanky body frame could hold up to
NBA's physical style, particularly at the center position
where the likes of Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem
Abdul Jabbar and David Robinson made their living. Such
reservations in the end didn't hold up as Bol went on
to play for the Washington Bullets, his first season,
and three other teams afterwards. Although, he bounced
back and forth and around the NBA searching for a stable
playing home, Bol's shot blocking skills helped him
sustain a ten-year NBA career that paid him millions
of dollars and earned the admirations of fans across
the world. And for a man with goat herding and cattle
rearing background, rather than basketball, it was an
impressive feat.
Meanwhile,
Bol and his agent shopped his one-dimensional skills
around the NBA to keep playing. But unfortunately, he
was unsuccessful; due largely to the drastic waning
of his basketball stock, particularly his short blocking
wizardry that once was in high demand. Rather, Bol was
tossed around through four different NBA teams that
included Washington Bullets, the team that drafted him,
and Philadelphia 76ers, Miami Heat and Golden State
Warriors. Subsequently, Bol's once impressive basketball
appeal took a sharp turn towards the NBA exit as more
and more scouts increasingly began to downplay his basketball
skills beyond shot blocking. Consequently in 1995, he
bounced out of the NBA when the Milwaukee Bucks opted
to cut him.
Bol
averaged 2.6 points and 4.2 rebounds in his ten years
NBA career.
Since
Bol bounced out of the NBA, he has been bouncing from
one short-lived career to another, giving it all he
got, and yet unable to plant a concrete foothold in
any. Failed business investments, the monumental burden
of fending for large extended families and his moral
and financial commitment to the raging civil war in
his native Sudan have brought Bol to the brink of financial
collapse.
When
the Milwaukee Bucks waived Bol, his professional basketball
career came to a screeching halt. And with his departure,
NBA lost a remarkable entertaining and engaging personality,
a crowd-pleasing character that wowed audiences only
by his sheer presence on the court.
For
a man who stood 7ft., 7 in tall, visibly much taller
that nearly everyone he would ever come in contact with,
the closed NBA door and the hefty salary lost as a result
left a dithering Bol with a deep snag trying to find
a comparable door to walk into, literally and figuratively.
Life
after NBA
Upon
leaving the NBA, Bol plunged back into the minor league
in an apparent attempt to revive his truncated basketball
career. Soon after that unsuccessful attempt, Bol returned
to Sudan in 1997 and dabbled into the precarious politics
of Sudan, briefly serving as minister of sports and
culture. The following year, Bol abandoned his esteemed
ministerial appointment and signed to play ball again
in Qatar. When that also flopped, Bol found himself
back in Sudan. When President Clinton ordered the bombing
of the Sudanese pharmaceutical plant in 1998 in retaliation
for the attacks on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania,
Bol, who stayed just a mile and half away from the epicenter
of the blast decided to return to the United States.
But
there were huge problems in his path.
In
the aftermath of the U.S. attack, the Government of
Sudan grew cynical of Bol's activities, even accusing
him of espionage. As a result, his 1999 attempt to leave
the country was blocked by the government. But subsequently,
he and his new wife and other relatives were able to
escape to Cairo where he had hoped to tie up plans for
his eventual return to the U.S.
Yet,
another problem stood in his path. Bol had lost his
green card during his stay in Sudan.
Bol
is now trapped in Egypt.
After
six months of torturing back and forth and up and down
quibbling with U.S. embassy officials in Cairo, Bol
departed for the U.S. with his entourage.
Back
in the U.S., Bol faced a daunting task of reestablishing
any semblance of the glory NBA days that offered him
luxurious lifestyle, commercial endorsements and adoring
fans. He tried boxing and various business ventures.
Yet none of these career endeavors endured long enough
to satisfy Bol's relentless search for a fitting niche
after life in professional basketball.
As
Bol drifted from one career attempt to another, he got
involved in his country's 18 -years old ghastly civil
war littered with casualties of over 2 million people,
mostly non-Moslems from the south. Initially, Bol threw
his support behind the Sudanese People's Liberation
Army, a southern-based rebel group made up largely of
rebels from his tribal clan toiling to overthrow the
government of Sudan. Towards that end, he established
the Ring True Foundation to raise money and draw attention
to the plight of southern Sudanese Christian minority
at the hands of the predominantly northern Arab-Moslem
majority. But despite his initial massive financial
support of over $3.5 million given to advance the rebel
cause, Bol now backs efforts aimed at bringing peace
to the war-torn nation of slightly over 37 million people.
"I
want peace in my country", he said in an interview
on NBC's dateline.
Apparently,
seeking peace in his war-torn country and looking out
for career opportunities in the entertainment world
are two sides of the same coin. On one side of the coin
is Bol's deep-seated hope to bring peace to his war
ravaged country. And on the other side is a string of
ill-advised career moves that offer visible clues into
Bol's professional desperation, particularly for a man
who dabbled into professional boxing without adequate
training. And now Bol is pursuing a career as an ice
hockey player (meaning skating on ice) with the Indianapolis
Ice of the Central Hockey League.
Although
Bol's boxing career lasted just as long as it took to
beat up former NFL Chicago Bears player William "The
Refrigerator" Perry, his hockey career look as
though it is a shrewd publicity stunt orchestrated to
boost ticket sales as well as draw attention to the
Indianapolis Ice hockey team.
"We're
in the business of selling tickets, the business of
entertainment", said the Ice general manager Larry
Linde. Arguably, Bol's entire entertainment career,
from his heydays on the basketball court to his brief
stint with boxing, and now as an aspiring ice hockey
player, has largely been about the business of selling
tickets. The circus-like atmosphere that Bol's height
instantly exudes, the leftovers of his celebrity status
from the heydays of his NBA career, his mirthful and
hilarious disposition and his easily riled up persona
expressed in deep African brogue still offer him access
to real opportunities for work, though in professions
that would be deemed odd for him.
He
had tried boxing, garnering a 1 - 0 record with the
defeat of former NFL lineman William "The Refrigerator"
Perry. He is giving ice Hockey a shot. Who knows what
else Bol's got up his sleeve?
Publicity
stunt or not, one thing is for sure. And that is the
undeniable fact that Bol is to be lauded for making
the most of his height to support his family and to
help ease the social hopelessness and economic despair
that is ravaging his homeland and annihilating families.
Bol
has explicitly stated that he is prepared to indulge
in a caricature of his extraordinary height as long
as it gives him the financial means to help his people.
Ike
Mgbatogu, MPA, is the principal political writer and
analyst for the Onumba.com - an on-line voice of the
nation located in Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A. He can be reached
at Ikeuzondu@onumba.com
or (614) 848-7747.
Copyright © 2002 Ike Mgbatogu / Onumba Communications.
All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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