If we told you the late Manute Bol had a son in seventh grade who was six-foot-five-inches tall, you wouldn't be surprised. But if we told you Manute's son has been described as having "amazing agility" with "great hands" and "runs the court well," that would be surprising, and definitely a departure from his old man's skills.
Bol Bol is a seventh grader in Kansas City, MO who isn't yet his dad's size (7'-7"), but he could be on his way.
Bol is one of 10 children fathered by his dad Manute, who died of kidney failure in 2010 at age 47.
Manute played in the NBA for 12 seasons with the Warriors, Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat. He and Gheorge Muresan are tied for being the tallest players in NBA history.
Old-school Warriors fans may remember one of the most bizarre sights in the history of basketball, when head coach Don Nelson, always in search of an advantageous matchup, would occasionally bring the 7-foot-7 Sudanese Tribesman outside the arc to shoot threes. Manute hit 20 of 91 attempts in the 1988-89 season. What a sight.
What Manute did very well, of course, was block shots. He swatted away 2,086 in his career, and none more than his rookie season when he blocked 397 in 80 games for the Bullets. That's almost five blocks a game.
The younger Bol seems like he might be a bit more capable from beyond the arc, however, based on a few highights here. The behind-the-back dish to the kid for a baseline three illustrates some of his athleticism:
Here's what iHigh.com (via yardbarker.com) had to say about Bol Bol:
"...Appears to be out of the same mold as his late father (Manute Bol) in that heโs a long, lanky, athletic shot blocker with amazing agility and coordination for somebody so big and so young. He also has great hands and excellent skills, plays with a lot of energy and runs the court extremely well, and, with his genes and pedigree, itโs only a matter of time before he becomes a 7-footer. In other words, weโre talking about a guy with super star written all over him and, based on his projected size, athleticism, and incredible upside and potential, itโs easy to see why we will have ranked among the top five players nationally in his class when later this week we publish our Ranking of the Top Player Nationally in the Class of 2018."
He had been part of our lives for a very long time. I still remember him carrying me on his back; accompanying me to the shop and the youth club near the house. Out of my motherโs 17 siblings, Manoute was the only person my age in my grandmotherโs house where we spent our summer vacation every year in Omdurman, a city west of Khartoum.
As the days passed, my friendship with Manoute grew rapidly. During my holidays he used to show me all around the city. Manoute was a fervent admirer of the art of basketball. I was touched by his passion; he, therefore, started teaching me the rules and fundamentals of the game in the rusty neighborhood court. His passion for the game was driven by his spiritual, superlative model: his uncle Manoute Bol, the famous Sudanese American basketball player. He was proud to be named after him, and to look so much like him. He dreamed of one day being able to travel to America.
From both Manoute and my uncle Osman I learned that Manoute originated from an area where there was civil war and tribal unrest in the southern part of Sudan. He was found in a refugee camp in Abyea by my uncle Osman while working for UNICEF at that time. He described the camp as an area largely affected by famine, which held more than 5000 child refugees who lived in hunger and suffered from malnutrition and various other deficiencies. He also stated that there was hardly any place to sleep in the camp, and that the corpses of children attracted stray dogs which fed on the little meat on the corpses. The bond between Manoute and my uncle during his stay in the refugee camp grew strong, and at the age of 8, Manoute was taken to Khartoum to live with my family. From that time on, he was considered a member of the family. My grandfather took him to school where he began his studies. He showed a great desire to learn and succeeded to be the top of his class. During my last summer vacation in Sudan, I greatly missed Manoute. His shadow was following me around the big house, and it was then that I remembered how sad his glance was. His story always reminded me of many fictitious tales narrated in places all over the globe about lost children; stories about an unhappy childhood, separation from family, friends, culture and oneโs own people and race. This story relates to the suffering of children and disintegration of families during war, and the intolerable conditions these children face due to political issues. Many children around the world live in a condition similar to Manouteโs due to invasions and unrest in their countries. Warfare everywhere has transformed into a brutal act of genocide, no longer following any of the rules set by international law. Consequently, intelligent children with great expectations like Manoute may end up in a refugee camp with a life expectancy that does not exceed 15 years. Later I found out that despite all the effort made by our family, Manoute had to be evacuated from Omdurman and sent to the South due to the recent separation of North and South Sudan.
