Dikembe Mutombo, NBA Center Legend, Dead at 58 After Cancer Battle

The sporting community is mourning the loss of a legend.

Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo died Sept. 30 after a battle with brain cancer, the National Basketball Association confirmed in a statement. He was 58.

“Dikembe Mutombo was simply larger than life,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver wrote alongside the statement. “On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA. Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”

And on Mutombo’s role as the first NBA Global Ambassador, Silver continued of the Congolese native, “He was a humanitarian at his core. He loved what the game of basketball could do to make a positive impact on communities, especially in his native Democratic Republic of the Congo and across the continent of Africa. I had the privilege of traveling the world with Dikembe and seeing first-hand how his generosity and compassion uplifted people.”

Silver also shared his condolences to Mutombo’s wife Rose and their seven children, whom he said were by the former athlete’s side when he passed, adding, “Dikembe's indomitable spirit continues on in those who he helped and inspired throughout his extraordinary life.”

Throughout his 18 seasons in the NBA, Mutombo’s ability to block shots caused him to be regarded as one of the best defensive players of all time. In fact, at the time of his retirement in 2009, he’d blocked 3,289 shots—second only to Hakeem Olajuwon.

On his prowess in protecting the basket, Mutombo told GQ following his retirement, “I would shake my head and tell the people, ‘Man cannot fly in the house of Mutombo.’ I felt I was a chief, I was the boss, and nobody could come into the paint unless they knocked on the door and asked permission to come in.”

In addition to his work on the court, Mutombo became equally regarded for his humanitarian work outside the basketball arena.

The only player to receive the NBA’s J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award for community service twice, he also served as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations and was a member of the Special Olympics board of directors. But much of his work was within the Democratic Republic of Congo—including the construction of a hospital in the capital city of Kinshasa in 2007, which Congolese ambassador to the United States Faida Mitifu described to USA Today at the time as “a godsend.”

On why he put so much of his time, energy and money into his humanitarian work, Mutombo told the New York Times in 2002, ''I like to be loved; I like to love others.”

“I am just a strong believer that I look at the world in one way that we are all put on this planet to fulfill something,'' he continued. ''I'm trying to inspire the next generation; I think that's why we're here. We all were put on this planet to prepare this place for the next generation that comes after that. How can we make sure our grandkids live in a better world today?''

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