Former NBA Player Manute Bol Dies
Written by playerpress.com, Saturday June 19 2010
Manute Bol, one of the two tallest players in NBA history who became a basketball sensation in the 1980s with the Washington Bullets and other professional teams, died on Saturday at the University of Virginia Medical Center in
When the Bullets, renamed the Washington Wizards in 1997, drafted the skeletal giant in the second round in 1985, he stood at 7 feet, 6¾ inches in his bare feet and he weighed a mere 190 pounds.
The Bullets had the distinction of being the NBA team with both the tallest and the shortest player in the NBA with Bol and 5 foot 3 inch Muggsy Bogues.
Bol had limited basketball skills, but with a fingertip-to-fingertip wingspan of 8 feet, 6 inches, he proved to be excellent at blocking opponents' shots. Without jumping and standing flat-footed, he could extend his hands above the rim of the basket 10 feet off the floor. He could practically dunk a basketball without jumping.
In his rookie season, even though he only played 25 minutes a game, he led the NBA with 397 blocked shots, still the second-highest total in the NBA history books.
His exceptional height and shot-blocking talent made Bol an instant phenomenon. Fans and players alike were drawn to him because of his extremely pleasant personality. Attendance shot up in NBA cities whenever the Bullets came to town.
Bol later played with the
He is the only player in NBA history with more blocked shots than points scored.
Bol never lost his positive spirit or his gratitude toward basketball, a game that had taken him so far in the world.
"I had a good time with the American people," he said in 2001. "I hope they remember me as a good guy who played hard. I wasn't Michael Jordan, but I was somebody called Manute Bol."
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