Dikembe Mutombo is one of the most beloved basketball players and humanitarians on the planet. Recognized as the NBA’s first global ambassador, the NBA Hall of Famer succumbed to brain cancer on Monday at the age of 58. Mutombo led the NBA in blocked shots for five consecutive seasons and blocks per game for a record three straight seasons.
When the world discovered that the former center, known for his now-outlawed finger wagging after rejecting shots in the paint, had a brain tumor, it was devastating.
His death naturally brought an outpouring of sympathy and support from the sports, entertainment and world humanitarian-based community.
The NBA released a statement:
“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life. On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the court, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”
Dikembe Mutombo Helped Spark NBA International Explosion
Born to a family of eight children in a middle-class section of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mutombo attended the Jesuit-run Institut Boboto to receive his high school diploma. He joined his older brother Ilo on the then-Zairean junior national basketball team in 1986, capturing the attention of U.S. development officer Herman Henning, who forwarded a videotape to Georgetown on the 7-2 center.
Mutombo’s success and celebrity as an international NBA player influenced the influx of African players into the NBA. In the 2022-2023 season, there were 16 players born in Africa, and the 2023-24 season began with 15 African players. Additionally, there are between 40-50 players and coaches with African connections, either born on the continent or having one parent born there. The NBA-infused Basketball Africa League is also producing talent at a rapid rate.
He not only succeeded on the court, but he crossed over as an international force. He had his serious side, but was also very cordial and comical, which lent itself to the camera.
One X user posted Dikembe’s most legendary Geico commercial, which introduced the ’90s OG and his “No, No, No” finger wag to today’s generation of basketball fans.
None of this success would have been possible without the tutelage of legendary Georgetown coach and hoops icon John Thompson.
Dikembe Mutombo: Another Georgetown Legend
When Mutombo arrived in Washington in 1987, he sat out his freshman season. Following Patrick Ewing‘s graduation in 1985, Georgetown had not secured a suitable replacement at the center. Mutombo’s height, attentiveness to defense, and solid fundamentals were a perfect fit, especially when top recruit Alonzo Mourning chose to join him at Georgetown in the fall of 1987. The two found success under legendary Georgetown University coach John Thompson as athletes and men.
“Under coach Thompson, I learned a lot about the game of basketball, but, most importantly, I learned how to be a man in society,” Mutombo said to the media when Thompson passed away in 2020.
Selected fourth in the first round of the 1991 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets, Mutombo went on to become a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and an eight-time All-Star. He played 18 seasons, including stints for Denver, the Atlanta Hawks, the Philadelphia 76ers, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, and Houston Rockets.
He’s still second on the league’s career blocked shots list with 3,289, trailing only another African player, Hakeem Olajuwon (3,830).
However, off the hardwood, he is known for his humanitarian work. In 1997, two years before retiring from the NBA, Mutombo established the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation with a mission to improve education and quality of life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition to his humanitarian work, Mutombo tried to line up a team of heavy hitters to invest in purchasing the Houston Rockets in 2017.
Mutombo Stepped Up During COVID Pandemic To Help Women Farmers In Congo
In 2021, after seeing many injustices firsthand in his native homeland; a country swamped with political instability and armed clashes and new COVID-19 Delta variants spreading through the area which compounded the many levels of problems the area was already experiencing, Mutombo stepped up again to help the farmers there who have little to no input on the distribution and sale of its valuable coffee beans, which continues a system of oppression.
Mutombo wanted to improve trade practices regarding coffee, and he had an admiration of coffee, which prompted him to launch his company, Mutombo Coffee.
This move was made in hopes of providing economic sustainability to farming communities in Africa, especially women farmers, who must climb many miles to pick the most valuable beans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“I love to drink coffee and my country produces some of the best coffee, but the world doesn’t know about it. Coffee has historically been an important crop in Congo, but production has plummeted in the past 20 years as violence and civil unrest have racked the country. It almost destroyed the fabric of our society,” Mutombo said. “It destroyed our history and the way we are portrayed.”
Mutombo also partnered with the International Women’s Coffee Alliance (IWCA) to benefit women coffee producers who are IWCA members in parts of eastern and southern Africa while driving forward Mutombo Coffee’s mission of supporting coffee producers throughout Africa.
Mutombo was always dedicated to shining a positive light on his homeland, something he did often during his playing days when he twice won the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2001 and 2009.
The Hawks retired the 56-year-old’s No. 55 in 2015, the same year Mutombo was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Nuggets did the same the following year.
Dikembe Mutombo Was A Part of NBA History: First 8th Seed To Beat 1 Seed In Playoffs
In addition to his defensive prowess and transcending celebrity, Mutombo was part of NBA history in 1994 when he helped lead the Denver Nuggets to a shocking upset over the Seattle Super Sonics in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs.
Denver shocked the basketball world by coming back from a 2-0 series deficit to defeat the top-seeded Sonics on their home court in Game 5. The victory marked the first time a No. 8 seed had won a series against a No. 1 seed in the NBA playoffs.
The clinching game was a riveting 98-94 OT win by Denver and the lasting image of Mutombo on his back on the floor and clutching the basketball is forever engrained in the minds of NBA fans from that era.
Last mention of Dikembe Mutombo in a sports-related arena was a serious “You played ya self” moment for former NFL running back LeSean McCoy. During a podcast, he may have inadvertently outed the NBA legend cheating on his wife.
They don’t call him Shady for nothing.
Mutombo met his current wife Rose in 1995 and married her shortly afterward in 1996. They have two children, a girl and a boy.
Back in May of 2024, McCoy told a story about an Instagram model he met in Atlanta about eight years ago. McCoy, who didn’t need to drop names to tell a personal story about his jock exploits back in the day, said the woman claimed she was hooking up with Mutombo and revealed that Mutombo would take her on lavish shopping trips to France.
“‘You know he takes good care of me. … He doesn’t take me shopping; he takes me to France. I was like who is the dude? Guess what she said his name was? Dikembe Mutombo,’” McCoy explained the woman told him. “I was like you’re taking him over me? But I get it, yeah, he’s taking you shopping from PJ to France, I said, babe, keep him.”
Dikembe Mutombo and Wife Rose Happily Married Since 1996: Social Media Says McCoy Violated “Man Code”
Social media didn’t take too kind to McCoy throwing such a respected figure under the bus. It reeked Of jealousy and hate. Plus he broke the man code among athletes.
One social media user said: “Well I’ll be damned. If this ain’t some sucker shi-t, so basically you was mad that she picked him over you and so mad that you remember that sh-t from so long ago and wanna open your goofy ass mouth talking about another man and his business. I lost all respect for Clown ass McCoy.”
“That’s why his name is Shady McCoy!!!! Typical man when a woman chooses someone better, wanna get mad and start name droppin!!! Snitch as B-tch!!!!” said another Newsbreak user named Wayne Carroll.”
Dikembe Mutombo is one of the most influential characters in NBA history as a pioneer, ambassador and humanitarian. We can safely chalk that up, if true, to the perks of the game.
Related: Dikembe Mutombo Eyeing A Bid To Purchase The Rockets (theshadowleague.com)
Before his transition, Dikembe fulfilled a lifelong dream by contributing $15 million and opening the doors to the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center. The 300-bed hospital provides health care to people in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He will be missed.
