Dikembe Mutombo 55
Team: Philadelphia 76ers
Position: C
Born: 06/25/66
Height: 7-2 / 2,18
Weight: 265 lbs. / 120,2 kg.
College - Georgetown '91
*Full name is Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo
*Speaks English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and five African dialects
*Earned bachelor's degrees in Linguistics and Diplomacy from Georgetown
*Named as one of The Sporting News' top 100 "Good Guys in Sports" in 2000 and 1999
*Also recognized in June, 1999, as one of the 20 winners of the President's Service Awards, the nation's highest honor for volunteer service, sponsored by the Points of Light Foundation
*Created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation three years ago to assist with efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to his homeland (Congo, formerly known as Zaire)
*Travelled to the Congo in the summer of 2000 as part of his ongoing efforts to build a medcal facility in his homeland
*In 1999, he donated $3 million to start construction on a $44 million hospital, and also shipped $250,000 worth of medical and pharmaceutical supplies and 40 beds to existing hospitals
*Toured Africa twice in the offseason as an international spokesman for CARE
*In 1999, won the seventh annual Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Award, presented to athletes who excel and help others
*Paid for uniforms and expenses for the Zaire women's basketball team during the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games in Atlanta
*Wears size 22 basketball shoes, the largest in the NBA (Shaquille O'Neal also wears the same size)
*Dikembe and his wife, Rose, have one daughter, Carrie Biamba Wamutombo, and also serve as adoptive parents to four children (two girls and two boys) |