Obama-Mutombo 2008

Throughout his career, Dikembe Mutombo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo has excelled off the court as well as any player in the history of the National Basketball Association. In fact, ascribing the colloquialism of “off the court” to his significant contributions to the betterment of the human condition is like calling Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook an “on the court” achievement.

Mutombo has long been the NBA’s gregarious African ambassador, defined on the court by his mildly over mechanical basketball idiosyncrasies and his towering Congolese defense of the paint. And while Mutombo’s legacy in the game of basketball will likely be a defensive one (an unfortunate typecast—during the early to mid 90’s Dikembe was a highly productive offensive player) he is a progressive, proactive agent of change in his humanitarian/diplomatic efforts in the continent of Africa (mostly in his native DRC) and elsewhere both domestically and internationally.

He started the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation to aid the Democratic Republic of Congo. He funded the 1996 Zaire Women’s national basketball team in their trip to the Olympic Games in Atlanta...is a spokesperson for CARE and works under the United Nations development program. But Mutombo’s magnum opus is the Biamba Marie Mutombo hospital to which he has donated a total of $18 million of his own money towards the construction of the $29 million hospital in the DEC. The hospital opened in Feburary of 2007.

Additionally, Mutombo was a double major with degrees in Linguistics and Diplomacy from Georgetown University, one of the finest institutions of higher learning in the country and the world.

Mr. Mutombo's body of work is enough to fill even his giant 7'2" frame. Both on, and off the court. So as the Houston Rockets soar to incredible heights, and Mutombo is able to contribute to the Rockets' quest for an unthinkable playoff run without the great Yao Ming--remember, that Dikembe Mutombo's career is far from over. He has been a faithful steward to the human condition--a man that exemplifies excellence, kindness and the best humans can be.

After watching the series finale of a show, so real in its ability to capture the day-in, day-out struggle that plauges our American world, and that beyond--I can only hope, that the campaign that prides itself on hope, might actually deliver some of it. Even if it costs us a technical.