Beloved finger-wagging Hall of Fame center Dikembe Mutombo, one of basketball’s most feared shot blockers, died of brain cancer, the NBA announced on Monday.
Mutombo, the NBA’s first “global ambassador,” was 58.
He rejected 3,289 shots, the second most in NBA history, during his long career that included stops in Denver, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New Jersey, New York and Houston.
Many of those blocked shots were followed by an intimidating finger wag, telling opponents that it was in their best interest not to shoot the basketball within reach of the 7-foot-2 star.
Mutombo was named the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year four times.
Younger fans who might not have been familiar with Mutombo’s NBA career (1991-2009) were introduced to his finger wag during a Geico car insurance ads that comically featured his blocks and taunts.
After his career of protecting the rim and sending shots back from where they came, Mutombo dedicated his life to charitable healthcare efforts back in his native Democratic Republic of Congo and other developing countries.
The Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital’s emergency room, intensive care unit and 150 beds began serving patients in Kinshasa, the capital of his homeland, when it opened in December of 2007.
“My thing is about fighting the mortality rate so we can allow the people to live longer,” he told NBC News in 2016. “That has been my cause, my drive.”
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called him “simply larger than life” and a “humanitarian at his core.”
“On the court, he was one of the greatest shot blockers and defensive players in the history of the NBA,” Silver said in a statement. “Off the floor, he poured his heart and soul into helping others.”
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