{"id":1182567,"date":"2020-06-15T05:31:57","date_gmt":"2020-06-15T09:31:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1182567"},"modified":"2020-06-15T05:32:01","modified_gmt":"2020-06-15T09:32:01","slug":"manute-bol-donated-all-of-his-nba-earnings-to-sudanese-charities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/manute-bol-donated-all-of-his-nba-earnings-to-sudanese-charities\/","title":{"rendered":"Manute Bol Donated All of His NBA Earnings to Sudanese Charities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>There might not be a more unique NBA story than\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/larry-bird-organized-a-10000-bet-in-1985-for-any-celtics-players-to-dunk-on-manute-bol\/\" >Manute Bol's<\/a>. Known for his enormous height, the 7-foot-7 Sudanese athlete was a sight to behold during the decade <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/tag\/philadelphia-76ers\/\">he played in the NBA<\/a>. Lost in the tale, however, is the story of a man who worked his way out of poverty and never forgot where he came from. Ten years after\u00a0Bol's\u00a0death, we remember one of the NBA's most generous souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Manute Bol's basketball story<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Story of Manute Bol\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uHVOMOItw9U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wingspan-and-vertical-giannis-antetokounmpo\/\"><strong>What Are the Wingspan and Vertical of NBA Star Giannis Antetokounmpo?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Born to parents who were both just under seven feet tall,\u00a0details <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Manute-Bol\">Britannica<\/a>, Bol grew up\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-do-nba-players-get-so-tall\/\">in a family full of giants<\/a>. While basketball seems the likely path for Bol to pursue, his first love was soccer. As Bol grew up, there were few stories of people coming out of Africa to become NBA stars. But in the late '70s and early '80s, the basketball world began to <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/luol-deng-from-a-war-refugee-to-nba-success-story\/\">focus on African talent<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bol first played basketball in his late teens after meeting Don Feeley, the Sudanese player's coach. Unable to provide proof of his age, Bol was questioned about it. Eventually, he found a home at Cleveland State University despite age issues. However, Bol never played for the team. The school was later punished for providing illegal financial assistance to Bol and two teammates from Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite limited experience in the sport\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/10-great-nba-centers-in-history-2\/\">Bol\u00a0was drafted<\/a> by the LA Clippers. Bol was later declared ineligible for that draft because he didn't declare in time. Bol passed the time by enrolling at the University of Bridgeport, where his eligibility was no longer in question. In 1985, he left school to sign with the Rhode Island Gulls of the USBL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bol <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/nba-record-the-tallest-player-in-league-history\/\">declared for the 1985 NBA Draft<\/a> with the hopes that it would earn him enough money to bring his sister over from Sudan. He was selected 31st overall in 1985 by the Washington Bullets. He spent the next 10 years in the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Welcome to the NBA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=7crlHC0jcF0\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RELATED: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/matt-barnes-wont-pick-up-his-nba-championship-ring-because-he-feels-he-doesnt-deserve-it\/\"><strong>Matt Barnes Won\u2019t Pick up His NBA Championship Ring Because He Feels He Doesn\u2019t Deserve It<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bol was never an offensive threat in the\u00a0NBA, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bolma01.html\">Basketball-Reference<\/a>. He was too long to be a reliable shooter and too skinny to pound the ball down low. Despite this, he forged a path to recognition thanks to his work on defense. As a rookie, Bol averaged an <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/lebron-james-vertical-jump-is-impressive-but-not-the-highest\/\">astounding f<a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/lebron-james-vertical-jump-is-impressive-but-not-the-highest\/\">ive block<\/a><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/lebron-james-vertical-jump-is-impressive-but-not-the-highest\/\">s<\/a> a game. It was this type of defense that gave him a decade-long career.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bol spent most of his career coming off the bench with Washington, the Golden State Warriors, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Miami Heat. His size made him an asset even if he never played more than 20 minutes per game.\u00a0Bol\u00a0made his millions in the NBA, but despite this type of money, he did not use it to buy cars and mansions.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite making over a million dollars a year at his peak, Bol led an average lifestyle. He never wanted to be a basketball player for riches. He tried to make money to give back to his country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A generous soul<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"705\" src=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Former-NBA-star-Manute-Bol.jpg?strip=all&#038;quality=89\" alt=\"Former NBA star, Manute Bol, speaks as he and other Sudanese natives participate in a 2006 rally for action to end the violence in Sudan\" class=\"wp-image-1182616\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Former-NBA-star-Manute-Bol.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Former-NBA-star-Manute-Bol.jpg?w=300&amp;h=207 300w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Former-NBA-star-Manute-Bol.jpg?w=768&amp;h=529 768w, https:\/\/sports7.us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Former-NBA-star-Manute-Bol.jpg?w=87&amp;h=60 87w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>Former NBA star, Manute Bol, speaks during a 2006 rally to end violence in Sudan | William Thomas Cain\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Bol lamented the fact that he could not give his country more money in a 1990\u00a0interview with the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baltimoresun.com\/news\/bs-xpm-1990-11-18-1990322158-story.html\" target=\"_blank\">Baltimore Sun<\/a>. While he gave the vast majority of his salary away, he always wished that he could give his country more.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;I love to help,&#8221; he told the paper, &#8220;but my money is not enough. Food is very expensive. Sometimes, even if you have money for food you cannot buy it. The Red Cross will give them some food and blankets, but it is not enough. My people just sit there. There are no jobs.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bol kept his family fed and housed as the country fell into dire straits. Until the end of his life,\u00a0Bol\u00a0always gave as much as he could to his home country. He may have earned over\u00a0$7 million\u00a0over his career, reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.celebritynetworth.com\/richest-athletes\/nba\/manute-bol-net-worth\/\">Celebrity Net Worth<\/a>, but he didn't live much differently than the average person does. A\u00a0foundation bearing his name\u00a0continues raising money for the people of Sudan to this day, as <a href=\"https:\/\/bluemanhoop.com\/2015\/01\/27\/remembering-manute-bol-bigger-basketball\/\">Fansided<\/a> explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ten years removed from Bol's death, his son, Bol Bol, is now making his name in the NBA. Hopefully, he can continue the generous tradition that his father laid down 30 years ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There may not be a more unique NBA story than Manute Bol's. Known for his height, the Sudanese athlete never forgot where he came from.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":231,"featured_media":1182616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Manute Bol Donated All of His NBA Earnings to Sudanese Charities - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"There may not be a more unique NBA story than Manute Bol&#039;s. Known for his height, the Sudanese athlete never forgot where he came from.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/manute-bol-donated-all-of-his-nba-earnings-to-sudanese-charities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Manute Bol Donated All of His NBA Earnings to Sudanese Charities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There may not be a more unique NBA story than Manute Bol&#039;s. 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