A Giant, in the Sky - Dikembe Mutombo, in his own words

“There are giants in the sky!
There are big, tall, terrible giants in the sky!

When you’re way up high
And you look below
At the world you’ve left
And the things you know
Little more than a glance
Is enough to show
You just how small you are

When you’re way up high
And you’re on your own
In a world like none
That you’ve ever known
Where the sky is lead
And the earth is stone
You’re free to do
Whatever pleases you
Exploring things you’d never dare
‘Cause you don’t care
When suddenly there’s…”

Giants In The Sky, Into The Woods, Stephen Sondheim

When former Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri called Dikembe Mutombo “a giant” through the nearly-giant tears he was shedding, I’d not yet understood the further meaning Africans attach to the word, someone maybe (or maybe not) large in stature, but someone whose impact was massive upon the people. Mutombo was exactly that. Ujiri and Mutombo were key players in the now decades-long effort to make basketball a more important part and resource of the African continent, something Ujiri spent several of his offseasons in Denver pursuing alongside Mutombo. How far those goals have come are much like many of the rest of Mutombo’s dreams. Far-fetched at the start, and not big enough to actually capture what he fully achieved by the finish.

I’d originally thought I wanted to write a column about how much Mutombo had meant to me, a key player in converting me to Nuggets fandom with his amazingly rare combination of talent, intellect, kindness, and philanthropy. But then I read more than a dozen such articles this week, each written by someone closer to Deke and more attuned to his life than I had ever hoped to be. Each declaring him an even better human than the remarkable player he was. Still, a tribute of some sort kept pulling at me. In looking for inspiration amongst his many words, writings, and interviews, I realized that while I didn’t have anything more meaningful or inspirational to say about this great man, he sure had plenty to say about his life and philosophies himself, and with a lot more wit and wisdom than I might ever muster. I thought I’d just get out of the way with much better words from the giant himself.

Those big dreams started small. When Woody Paige asked then-Nugget Mutombo if he could have ever dreamt of being in the NBA, Dikembe responded,

“I didn’t know of the NBA, and I couldn’t dream of anything beyond the dirt road where I lived.”

“When I was a rookie in the NBA, I could have never dreamt this moment would come.” – Mutombo in his NBA Hall of Fame speech

Nor was Mutombo a child his family though might move on to athletic success…

“I was not very strong growing up, and my uncle used to look at me, like, ‘This kid is not growing up, he is growing tall but he can be broken like a banana.’ The banana in Congo is called ‘Dikembe.’ So my uncle start calling me, ‘Dikembe, Dikembe, look at you Dikembe, you cannot even stand up.’ It took a long time for me to walk.”

That name, and all of the rest attached to Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo are also a part of that tight-knit family and tradition:

“When I was born, my dad and my mom gave me names, but in Africa, when your child is born, especially close family members can suggest names they want to add on. Maybe your grandmom and your grandpop have something to add to the name of the child.”

His tough childhood also was formative in how he sees children, his ability to influence, and their needs…

“As a kid, I grew up in a poor country with a poor family that had nothing. I loved anyone who could come into my life, in from the outside, and give me advice that could help me succeed. I believe that there are a lot of people who came into my life that made me Dikembe Mutombo.”

“My mother taught us to sell food in the market so we could pay for school. I would get up at 4:30 A.M. and start selling bread and cheese before going to class. School cost $65. The average salary was $125 a year, and with 10 kids, how are you going to pay for that?”

With his desire to be of help to his country, Mutombo originally attended Georgetown on a USAID scholarship to become a doctor. But when coach John Thompson saw him, he saw a kid he hoped to mold after Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning. Mutombo felt blessed an thrilled for the opportunity, but told of how seriously he took it in The Player’s Tribune…

“Under Coach Thompson’s leadership, you couldn’t be a basketball player unless you cared about school, too. I learned that lesson in my sophomore year. I only missed one day of class at Georgetown. But even one day was a mistake. I woke up that day with a toothache and decided to skip all of my classes. I went straight to the dentist and I forgot to call the basketball office to let them know. When I showed up to practice that afternoon, there was a piece of paper in my locker: It was a one-way plane ticket back to Congo. This was not a fake ticket. Coach Thompson really bought a one-way ticket with my name on it.

Today, he will laugh about it. But it was not funny to me that day. I started to cry at my locker. I had already seen two friends get kicked out of school for academic reasons. I was not going to be the third. Coach Thompson liked to play jokes, but he was serious underneath.

I never missed another class again.”

Thompson also instilled a sense of post-career inspiration in the young Mutombo:

“(coach Thompson’s) philosophy was, ‘The ball will stop bouncing one day. You can be as great as you can be on the basketball court, but one day it will stop. Then what will you do?’ “

Drafted in 1991, that idea lit a fire under Mutombo that would fully come to fruition only six years into his playing career.

“I created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation back in 1997 for the purpose of going in and improving the living conditions of my people on the African continent, especially in the Democratic Republic of Congo where I came from. Out first mission was to go and build a new hospital. Our next mission was to build a school.”

Being as smart as he was, Deke saw his ability to leverage changes in the conditions back home that most first-world folk could hardly imagine…

“I always felt that I had to leave a legacy on the African continent. As I was only the third player to come to the NBA from Africa, I felt I had to do my best to recruit more young Africans to come and play in the NBA – and also find a way to bring the NBA to Africa.”

“Africa needs more funding to continue to fight all of those diseases. We are losing more than 1.3 million young children under the age of five every year because of malaria. We’ve already lost 25 million people to the pandemic of HIV-AIDS. More people are dying now from typhoid fever. Diabetes is on the rise.”

“I cannot forget the place that I come from. The Congo is much in need.”

But even as big as that dream was, Dikembe didn’t just want to touch the Congo…

“My foundation was created so I can find a way to improve the living conditions of my people in the African continent, not just in Congo.”

And improve it he has, in a variety of ways. The hospital he built – named for his mother – has now helped over a million patients in Kinshasa. Even then, Dikembe realized that the help of only one man was limited, and being one of so very few to come to the NBA from Africa meant that the help could one day die with him. That spurred him (and Ujiri and so many others) to start fostering better and closer relations between the NBA and Africa, and eventually the NBA and several other countries who now figure so massively into the league’s global domination plans. Not only have those efforts gone from camps and workshops to a full-blown league in Africa, but Dikembe was also influential to a certain someone who helped popularize the game in China…

“My good friend Yao Ming was the first big player in the NBA to come from China. He gave himself to the game and was successful. That inspired the NBA to invest more and do more for the game of basketball. We’re building academies not just in China, but in India, Africa, Europe and South America as well.”

“When I go to China, people call me ‘Uncle Mo’ because they refer me as Yao Ming’s uncle. I’m pleased to be his uncle as long as he listens to me!”

“The NBA is becoming a global game.”

“Basketball Without Borders is a leadership camp that takes basketball to different places around the world, to Africa, Europe, America and Asia. It’s a camp that brings players from different parts of the continent to one city that’s been assigned as the host city. We’ve been going to a different city every year.”

No wonder that Mutombo became the NBA’s first global ambassador. His easy personality, intellect, and drive to promote the game made him a brilliant choice for the role. And still he kept fond feelings for his first professional home…

“My favorite memory is my five years with the Nuggets. From my first day to my last day is a great memory. There wasn’t a year that I was a Nugget that I didn’t think we succeeded.”

“Every day, the sun comes out and the sky’s always blue. That’s what I miss about Denver.”

In a chat with his former Nuggets and Hawks teammate, LaPhonso Ellis, Phonz well stated the way Mutombo made so many people feel…

“He was a great teammate. Funny. An unquenchable competitive spirit. Always so good to me and to my family. His kids still call me Uncle Phonz, and my kids still call him Uncle Deke… On the floor, I wasn’t a great post defender. But in my mind, with Dikembe on the floor, I always thought I was a First Team All-Defensive guy. Any mistakes that I would make, he would always clean it up.”

Deke was that person to all the lives he touched. In the long run, even he was amazed and satisfied by all that had come to pass through his efforts.

“I’m so glad I didn’t become a doctor, because I do more than any doctor can do. I am an administrator, a CEO, doctor, psychiatrist, an activist, a campaign funder. I think I did well.”

“I’ve always had a passion for giving back. It’s a family tradition that comes from my devout parents. They were always giving back and serving the community. So when I became fortunate enough and blessed to play the game of basketball, I was also fortunate enough to follow in my parents’ footsteps and give back like the way they did.”

“I’ve always felt obligated to help those less fortunate than me. It’s an obligation that anyone who has a chance to be in the NBA should feel and act upon.”

For the last two years, Mutombo has been fighting the brain cancer that eventually took him, and his earlier perspective on his time and his faith seemed to be in a place that they would carry him on to this next step…

“The Almighty has plans for us to make a place so we can go on and make a difference. It all has to do with my faith; I am deeply religious. It goes back to my roots, to my mom and my dad.”

“There are people out there dying every day, so when you wake up, you just have to thank the Man Upstairs for another day on this planet. There’s not much else we can ask for.”

Not much else indeed. Thanks for how well you used your days on this planet, Dikembe. For the millions and millions of lives you touched. A monolith of a man, Mount Mutombo, has taken another giant step. Our world is a little paler, but for those angels, there are big, gravelly-voiced giants in the sky.