The Game-Changer: Dikembe Mutombo's Hall of Fame Legacy Goes Beyond Basketball

"Your beautiful government gave me a scholarship," Dikembe Mutombo told me, "because they felt I was a good student in math and science." When Mutombo came to Georgetown University from his native Congo, his plan was to become a doctor. There are a number of reasons why that didn't happen, the foremost being the most obvious: Dikembe Mutombo is huge, seemingly custom-built to swat shots on a basketball court. Mutombo's combination of size and talent led to an 18-year career that included 3,289 blocked shots and four Defensive Player of the Year awards, and earned him induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last weekend.

While bringing all eighty-six inches of finger-wagging intimidation to bear on the court was Mutombo's job, it was never his calling. Mutombo never did become a doctor, but he took the empathy that initially made him want to study medicine and combined it with basketball to do the most good he could for the greatest number of people. His long list of humanitarian efforts probably deserves recognition in some separate Hall of Fame for good human beings.

In 2007, two years before he retired from the NBA, Mutombo's foundation opened a hospital in Kinshasa, the capital city of Congo. This facility has since treated more than 140,000 patients. Speaking before the induction ceremonies last weekend, Mutombo was plainly—and, as always, playfully—aware of the connection between his athletic career and the opportunities to actually change lives. "I would not have the impact I'm having today if I didn't play the game," he told me. "How many doctors do you know who have gone out and built a hospital? First they worry about their own medical malpractice insurance… I'm treating more people than any doctor could have done over his lifetime."

Mutombo has served as the NBA's Global Ambassador since 2009, working to expand the international impact of the game and of the league's NBA Cares outreach programs. Earlier this summer, he briefly stepped out of retirement to take the floor with Hakeem Olajuwon in the NBA's first ever exhibition game on the African continent, an event that Mutombo had a huge hand in bringing to life behind the scenes. The game was an exclamation point on the 13th Basketball Without Borders developmental camp, a collaboration between the NBA and FIBA that has hosted over a thousand participants to date.

"I was the third African player to play in the NBA," Mutombo said. "There was not enough basketball courts in Africa. Today, we are talking about hundreds of basketball courts that have been built in the continent by the NBA. We have built more learning centers, libraries, schools, computer centers, after-school programs." If you remember one thing about Dikembe Mutombo, it should probably be this: how much bigger his ambitions were than the game, and how he achieved them.

If you can only remember two things about Mutombo, let it be his humanitarian work and his gratitude. Mutombo has plenty to be thankful for, and even before his speech at the induction ceremony he was eager to credit others for his life on and off the basketball court.

There was his collegiate coach, John Thompson, a fellow Hall of Famer who was on hand to present Mutombo for induction—"a wonderful man, I can't wait to see him there standing for me. It means a lot to me and my family."

There was also former commissioner David Stern, who also stood for Mutombo at his induction. Stern created the Global Ambassador role for him and helped support his mission to use basketball as a tool for spreading opportunity and social justice. "We bonded, it happened just the day after the draft in '91," Mutombo remembered. "We connected so well. He asked me what was my vision, what was I thinking about the game, being the third African player to come to the NBA. I said I don't want to be the last one. I want to see more generations of young people playing the game of basketball at different levels and I want to maybe one day see the game of NBA be played in Africa."

Mutombo even gave thanks to his notable opponents. Asked if any of his 3,289 career blocks stuck out in his memory, Mutombo gave credit again, this time with a side of good-natured ribbing.

"One, maybe, in an overtime against the Seattle Supersonics," Mutombo smiled. "Against Shawn Kemp, who is one of my favorite guys. Very respectful. He helped me to become one of the greatest shot blockers. I still hold the NBA playoff record, and I think most of the blocked shots came from him. I always thanked him so much for challenging me at the basket."

If you can only remember three things about Mutombo, let it be his humanitarian efforts, his deep gratitude, and what is probably the most dramatic image of pure joy ever expressed on a basketball court. That would be Mutombo on his back, clutching the ball with both hands after his Denver Nuggets eliminated the Seattle Supersonics. It was the first time in NBA playoff history that an eight seed had knocked out a top seed in the first round.

This moment came in Mutombo's third season in the league, after two seasons of individual excellence, including an All-Star nod as a rookie, on less than mediocre teams. But it almost didn't happen like that. "As soon as I got my degree, I was supposed to go back to Congo," Mutombo said. In return for a scholarship to Georgetown from the United States Agency for International Development, he had pledged to return home after getting his degree. "That's why, when I graduated from Georgetown, I couldn't go to training camp right away in Denver, even though my contract was signed, because there were so many legal issues." The image of Mutombo exulting in victory against the Sonics is a vision of arrival, of Mutombo making a home in a league he wouldn't leave for another 15 seasons.

"It's been great for me, for the country that I came from, and also for the State Department," Mutombo said of his journey. "To put me up there in front of so many young people and say, Hey, look what we did with Mutombo. Look where he is today. Look at what he's been able to accomplish with the education that we gave to him."

So look at Mutombo's remarkable life of athletic and human achievement, of selfless charity and ruthless defense, of serial intimidation and unstinting good humor. Look at him there, sprawled out and triumphant on the court, someone at the start of a life spent putting blood, sweat, and tears into a dream much larger than himself, and then seeing that dream through to the end.