Manute Bol was born on October 16th, 1962 in Turalei, Sudan, to Madute and Okwok Bol. The name Manute means “special blessing”, and he was part of the ethnic group, the Dinka, of the Nilotic people, who are among the tallest populations in the world. Bol’s mother was 6’10”, and his father and sister were both 6’8”, but his grandfather stood at 7’10”! As a youth Manute played soccer, but abandoned it at age 10 because he was already too tall. Manute was born in a village where he couldn’t measure himself, but learned in 1979 that he was 7’7”.In his later adolescence, Manute started playing basketball with teams in Wau and Khartoum, where he experienced racism from the northern Sudanese.
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