Manute Bol, The Tallest NBA Player

Manute Bol (born October 16, 1962) is a Sudanese-born basketball player and activist. Until the debut of Gheorghe Mureşan, Bol was undisputedly the tallest player ever to appear in the National Basketball Association. Bol is believed to have been born on October 16, 1962 in either Turalie or Gogrial, Sudan. He is the son of a Dinka tribal chief, who gave him the name "Manute," which means "special blessing." Manute Bol is 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) and 225 lb (102 kg).
Bol started playing basketball in 1978 and played in the Sudan for several years with teams in Wau and Khartoum. A coach from Fairleigh Dickinson University saw Bol play basketball in Khartoum and convinced him to come to the United States. Bol was drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the 5th round of the 1983 NBA Draft, but the league ruled that Bol had not been eligible for the draft and declared the pick invalid. He was then invited to Cleveland by Cleveland State University head basketball coach Kevin Mackey. While in Cleveland, he attended English language classes for several months at ELS Language Centers on the Case Western Reserve University campus. Although Bol never played for Cleveland State, its basketball program was placed on probation for two years as the result of providing improper financial assistance to Bol and two other African basketball players. Lacking a strong command of written English reduced his chances of being eligible to play Division I basketball. He enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, a Division II basketball school, and played college basketball there during the 1984-1985 season.