Dikembe Mutombo Believed in the American Idea

“I only want to be remembered as one of the best defensive players to ever play this game,” Dikembo Mutombo said when he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. Mutombo, who died yesterday of brain cancer at the age of 58, accomplished that and much more. He will be remembered not only for his athletic career but for being the NBA’s first global ambassador for basketball and a champion for health care and education in his homeland, the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he founded a hospital that opened in 2007. “Playing basketball allowed me to become a global citizen,” Mutombo said in his induction speech. “My life mission is to continue to change the living conditions of the people in Africa.”
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo was born in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC, and came to study in the United States in 1987 on an academic scholarship. Only in his second year at Georgetown University, where he majored in linguistics and diplomacy, did the 7-foot-2 Mutombo join the basketball team. He later said that the legendary Hoya coach John Thompson, who recruited him, taught him “how to be a man in this society.” Mutombo was drafted into the NBA in 1991. He didn’t wait until retirement to begin using his new platform to help others. In 1993, he visited Somali refugee camps in northern Kenya as a spokesperson for the international relief agency CARE, and in 1997, he created the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation, to improve health, education, and quality of life for people in the DRC.

[Read: ‘Man cannot fly in the house of Mutombo’]

In 2009, after 18 years in the NBA, Mutombo retired from the Houston Rockets and joined the board of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit that I now lead, on which he served until his death. He joined at the invitation of President Bill Clinton, who was then serving as chair, and traveled to attend meetings at the Clinton Presidential Library, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and the George W. Bush library, in Dallas. I came to know him as our most recognizable celebrity. He was physically impossible to miss, and walking with him to board meetings, I was struck by how many people would stop him in the street and ask for selfies, often re-creating the signature finger wag he’d employed on the court after blocking opponents’ shots. Mutombo was always gracious, taking the time to sign every autograph and smile for every photo.

Mutombo chose to give 15 years of service to the National Constitution Center because he was grateful for the opportunities of citizenship that the Constitution gave him. On September 17, 2008—Constitution Day—he came to the center to address new citizens at a naturalization ceremony, and movingly expressed why he was a champion for the American idea:

America is a generous country, and it cares about the people, the freedom, and the democracy. The freedom that comes with being an American allowed me to move freely around the world and to extend a helping hand to people in need, not only here in America but also in other lands. President John F. Kennedy was one of my heroes, and what he said was: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” That’s the philosophy that inspired me to go out and serve the world. Through my humanitarian work, I’m helping people in Africa, Europe, Asia, and in America.

I’m delighted to join the other millions of immigrants who have come to this country before me to ask you to enjoy this day and this dream of becoming a U.S. citizen. As you walk out that door today, remember that there’s no other choice than to be part of this country that is called “home of the brave.” One of the freedoms enjoyed by the citizens of this country is the right to vote. To have the freedom of choice to participate in a voting process is important to me. You know you have the same opportunity to choose your next leader. So please, exercise your right to vote, and always remember one thing: Freedom of choice can be difficult.

But I’m urging you to try to make the right choice in all of the areas of your life. Let’s go out and make America one of the great nations in the world. Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.

These are familiar ideas, of course: America welcomes immigrants; with freedom comes the obligation to help others. But they are also ideas that Americans are struggling to live up to. Dikembe Mutombo never did.