For Manute Bol, age was nothing but a number.
On his Wikipedia page, it states Bol passed away at the age of 47, but former Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey said Bol might have actually been playing in the NBA at that age.
Bol’s biography says he was born on October 12, 1968 but that didn’t come from his birth certificate, it came from Mackey.
“I gave him his birthday because they didn’t know how old he was,” Mackey, currently a scout with the Indiana Pacers, told ZAGSBLOG. “It was in October, I wanted to make it after Sept. 1. I wanted to make sure he was young enough because he didn’t have an age. I think he was [IN HIS 40S], I really do. But there’s no way of ever really knowing.”
“Every athletic door is open at 19, every athletic door is closed when you’re 35,” the Cleveland State coach said, “He was probably 40, 50 years old when he was playing in the NBA.”
Mackey recruited Bol from Sudan and brought him to Cleveland in 1985 in hopes of receiving the next big prospect and even went as far as lying about his birthdate to get him.
“The immigration people were in the office [at Cleveland State] and they thought it was great,” Mackey said. “They loved it. And they were big fans of Cleveland State, they used to come to all our games. They wanted to cover themselves because Manute was starting to get so much publicity. His picture was in the paper. He was on the 6 o’clock news because he was a such a different looking guy than everyone else. At that time, no one had ever seen anything like it.”
Mackey’s Cleveland State advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 1986, but Bol never qualified for enrollment and ended up attending the University of Bridgeport instead. He was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1985, and led the NBA in blocks in 1986 and 1989.
Basketball genes run in Bol’s family.
Manute’s son, Bol Bol, ranked No. 4 in the country by ESPN, announced that he will be attending the University of Oregon Tuesday.
