Manute Bol was a Sudanese-born basketball player and political activist. At 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) tall, he was one of the tallest men ever to play in the National Basketball Association, along with Gheorghe Mureşan.He was officially measured and listed at 7 feet, 6 3/4 inches tall in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Background
Manute Bol was born to Madut and Okwok Bol in Turalei (or Gogrial) and raised near Gogrial. He came from a family of extraordinarily tall men and women. His mother was 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), father 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), and sister is 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m).
Education
He was invited to Cleveland by Cleveland State University head basketball coach Kevin Mackey, but he didn't speak or write English very well at the time. He was unable to improve his English-language skills after months of classes at ELS Language Centers on the Case Western Reserve University campus, and never played a game for Cleveland State.
He enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, a Division II basketball school, and played college basketball for the Purple Knights there in the 1984-1985 season, followed by a short stint with the Rhode Island Gulls of the USBL.
Career
He played in the NBA for ten years, from 1985–1995, spending parts of four seasons with the Bullets,parts of three with the Golden State Warriors.
Bol's first tenure with the Golden State Warriors lasted for two seasons, from 1988 to 1990. It was in his first season with Golden State that he first attempted three-point shots with regularity. In that season, he shot a career-high 91 three-pointers and made 20 of them.
Bol's first tenure with the Philadelphia 76ers lasted for three seasons, from 1990 to 1993. Although he played in a career-high 82 games in his first season as a 76er, his production began to decline afterward (in both games played and per-game statistics). After playing in all 82 games in 1990-1991, he played in 71 games the next season, and in 58 (a career low at the time) games the following season. Bol was very active in charitable causes throughout his career. In fact, he said he spent much of the money he made during a 10-year NBA career supporting various causes related to the war-ravaged nation of his birth, Sudan.
In 2001 Bol was offered a post as minister of sport by the Sudanese government.