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 "It was his second or third day here and the team was doing a
jumping exercise, like this," laughed Albert Dinabena, the former
equipment manager, mimicking a frog hopping across the court. "And
he fell square on his chin! It left a huge gash!"
Within a few years, Mutombo was off to Georgetown University in the
United States, where he became one of the nation's top collegiate
players.
After being selected fourth in the 1991 NBA draft, Mutombo would be
named to the all-star team eight times. He emerged as a fixture of
American popular culture for his trademark finger-wag after blocked
shots, of which he registered the second-most in league history.
Mutombo retired in 2009 after 18 professional seasons but he
received his highest honor on Monday when he was named to the Hall
of Fame.
In Kauka, in the shadows of the decaying stadium where Muhammad Ali
and George Foreman fought the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974, people
recalled toughness as one quality that helped elevate Mutombo to
international celebrity.
After busting open his chin, Mutombo went for stitches, Dinabena
said, pausing for effect before adding: "Without anaesthesia!"
His more than 7 foot frame marked him out. At the end of training,
it was Mutombo's job to stow the ball for safekeeping atop a
corrugated roof three metres off the ground that only he could
reach.
With Mutombo guarding the rim, Kauka racked up a series of national
championships in the former Zaire - renamed Democratic Republic of
Congo after the fall of autocratic leader Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997.
In this troubled central African country, Mutombo has earned a
reputation as a celebrated philanthropist.
In 2007, Mutombo's foundation opened the $30 million Biamba Marie
Mutombo hospital, named after his mother, in Kinshasa's Masina
neighborhood. A shiny modern facility that offers subsidised care to
residents, it has treated more than 100,000 people.
Shortly after his retirement in 2009, Mutombo was appointed the
NBA's first global ambassador in recognition of his years of
charitable efforts around the world. One newspaper in his adopted
United States anointed him "The Giver."
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But Mutombo's activities have not been without blemishes. In 2011, a
U.N. panel of experts detailed Mutombo's participation in an
apparent botched gold smuggling deal, worth $10 million, involving a
Congolese warlord, Bosco Ntaganda.
In Kauka, Mutombo elicits mixed emotions, as locals' pride mixes
with regret at his not having given more to the community.
Residents say Mutombo visited Kauka just once since leaving in 1987:
in 1995, flanked by bodyguards, he came bearing new sports shoes for
the players.
They say they wish he would invest in the club, whose playing
surface these days is cracked and uneven. Trash collects in the
unkempt grass around the court.
"If he's something today, it's because of this court," said coach
Ali Pombo, pointing to Mutombo's support for basketball in South
Africa. "Why not do that here in Congo?"
Mutombo left Congo before the wars of the 1990s, which left millions
dead. Residents say back then local basketball teams were backed by
sponsorship deals.
Dinabena said life has become too hard for Congolese players to
thrive. "They aren't financed. It's difficult to get transport," he
said. "They come to training and they haven't even had a Coca Cola."
(Editing by Daniel Flynn)
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