October 14, 2024
Much has been written and said about Dikembe Mutombo since his untimely death on Sept. 30, 2024. To me he always seemed larger than life, and although he valiantly fought a maleficent brain cancer, he succumbed to the disease at the all too early age of 58. My wife and I were on our way to Pennsylvania when we heard the news. Within only minutes of the announcement, I received multiple calls about Dikembe’s demise.
He was a man who loved his family. I called Dikembe’s wife, Rose, immediately after hearing of his death, and she kept saying, “I loved my husband! I loved my husband! I loved my husband!” I am certain the feeling was mutual, and I am confident their three biological children constituted a family characterized by a great affection for one another.
People all over the world knew of this unique and marvelous man because of his prowess as an NBA basketball player. His finger wag after blocking a shot on the court became his signature response after preventing a score from the opponent. At his funeral service, we were all told that his finger wag was never a taunting gesture, but a gentle reminder that he was quite competent at keeping basketballs from going into the hoop. In fact, he was one of the greatest defensive players of all time, named to eight All-Star teams, and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015.
Dikembe was not only a superior athlete, but he also had a winsome personality and a brilliant mind. He attended Georgetown University with the intention of earning a medical degree. He could speak nine languages and taught himself English after arriving on the Georgetown campus. He was selected as the first Global Ambassador for the National Basketball Association.
Dikembe’s philanthropic and benevolent persona has been and will continue to be of incalculable worth to countless people. More than 200,000 people have benefited from the hospital he built in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This 7’ 2” giant of a man has his life and career well documented in practically every communication venue known to mankind because his phenomenal accomplishments are legendary.
I would like to give you my perspective about this gentle giant, because I came to know him as his pastor.
Fellow Georgia Baptist pastor Randy Kennedy was the chaplain of the Atlanta Hawks and on several occasions, he invited me to go downtown to the basketball arena in Atlanta and provide a devotional message for the team and on several occasions the competing team would also attend the chapel service.
The first time I led the team chapel service I met Dikembe and found out that he did not live far from the church I served as pastor, so I invited him to come to worship with us at Eastside Baptist Church in Marietta.
It was only about two Sundays later that I saw Dikembe and Rose come into the church about 20 minutes after the service had started. His height made them hard to miss, but I was thrilled that they came. They even filled out a connection/guest card and added their address.
I made an appointment to go see them and they agreed for me to come to their house for a visit. They were warm and very congenial. I could immediately tell that Rose was a deeply spiritual woman and Dikembe was warm-hearted and had an infectious laugh.
They continued to visit our church. One Sunday we had the Mutombos, Newt Gingrich and Lester Maddox in the same service – an apt reminder that the ground is level at the foot of the cross.
The Mutombos were characteristically late for the service, but I was amazed that they were there at all because the Hawks had an away game with the Detroit Pistons the night before. As the Mutombos made their exit after the worship service, I asked Dikembe when he got home after flying in from Detroit and he said, “I think it was just after four o’clock.” To me that earned him the right to come late any time.
One Sunday, Dikembe came early and came down front and sat with me on the front row. One of our staff members baptized several new converts at the beginning of the service. Dikembe thought the baptismal part of the service was fascinating. I asked him if he had ever been baptized; and he said, “No, but I think I would like to know more about it.”
That week, I went to the Mutombo home and reviewed the plan of salvation as outlined in the book of Romans. Dikembe acknowledged Christ as his Savior. When we started talking about baptism, he said he wanted to be baptized at our Christmas Eve service, because he was making plans to have a host of family members come from Kinshasa come to Atlanta for Christmas and he wanted them to see him baptized.
We had two Christmas Eve services to accommodate those who wanted to come to worship with us during that special time of the year, so we scheduled the baptism for the later service. Dikembe was there with an impressive contingent of family members, and I baptized him at the conclusion of the service and have since quipped that he was so tall I started baptizing him on Christmas Eve and finished on Christmas Day.
On at least two occasions Dikembe traveled with me to churches where he gave his testimony, and I preached. He mesmerized the congregation with his presence, his deep, raspy voice and clear salvation testimony.
I was privileged to go to Washington, D.C. in 1997 to be present when the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation was founded, created by Dikembe as a charitable organization to improve the health, education, and quality of life for the people in Kinshasa.
One day when I was in the Dikembe home, he gave me a pair of his size 22 basketball shoes which he had worn on the court in NBA games. When I got home, I heard a strange ringing sound and looked in one of the shoes and found that my basketball hero and faithful friend had left his cell phone there.
Martha Jean and I accompanied the Mutombos to one of Buckhead’s finest restaurants on one occasion and I was impressed with the generosity of Dikembe when he tipped the valet with a one hundred bill, but I realized that was just a small token of his grace and generosity.
The memorial service for Dikembe was held Saturday, Oct. 12th at Eastside Baptist Church where the Mutombos had been members for almost three decades. William J. Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, spoke of Dikembe’s compassion and generosity. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the National Basketball Association spoke of him as the NBA’s first Global Ambassador, touching the lives of people around the world with kindness and benevolence, and saluted Dikembe as a great basketball player who won the hearts of people in arenas all over the nation and around the world with his winsome personality and effervescent smile.
Mrs. John (Cindy) McCain, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme, hailed Mutombo for his help with the impoverished people of this world. Masai Ujiri, raised in Nigeria and current President of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, told the crowded worship center about Dikembe’s extensive help to untold multitudes of people in his native Africa.
Dr. Groesbeck Parham, Gynecologic Cancer Surgeon from Lusaka, Zambia, related to the audience how Dikembe had provided millions of dollars to establish a state of the arts hospital in Kinshasa, and of his resolve to provide the most modern and efficient means of meeting the health needs of tens of thousands of people in central Africa.
Alonzo Mourning, who along with Mutombo, is a member of the NBA’s Hall of Fame, spoke of the positive influence Dikembe has had on professional basketball, its players and fans.
Dr. John Hull, the senior pastor of Marietta’s Eastside Baptist Church, concluded the celebration of Dikembe Mutombo’s life by presenting the Gospel, using the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 1:21: “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” as his text. He explained, “We have heard our guest speakers talk about what Dikembe did with his life and I want to tell you why he did it.” He explained that his motivation was born out of a devotion to Jesus Christ.
Dikembe’s wife and three children spoke at the funeral. Ryan, who equals his dad in height at 7’2” and who plays center for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, recently wrote, “My dad will forever be my hero – not because of his success and not because of the millions who, over the last four decades have come to know and love him. My dad is my hero because he simply cared. He had the purest heart I have ever known.”
I think all the fathers who read this article should have in their hearts the hope that their children would feel the same way about them.
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J. Gerald Harris is a retired pastor and journalist who served as editor of The Christian Index for nearly two decades. You can reach him at gharris@loveliftedmehigher.org.
