Manute Bol was a Sudanese-born American basketball player and political activist. Listed at 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) tall, he was the tallest player in the history of the National Basketball Association, along with Gheorghe Mureșan. He was officially measured and listed at 7 feet 6 3⁄4 inches (2.305 m) tall in the Guinness Book of World Records. He is believed to have been born on October 16, 1962, in either Turalei or Gogrial, Sudan (currently South Sudan). He was the son of a Dinka tribal elder who gave him the name Manute, which means "special blessing".

Bol played for two colleges and four NBA teams over his career. A center, he was known as a specialist player and was considered among the best shot-blockers in the history of the sport despite other aspects of his game being considered fairly weak. Over the course of his career, Bol blocked more shots than he scored points, making him the only NBA player ever to do so. He is second all-time in NBA history in terms of average blocked shots per game, and ranks 15th on the career blocks list.

Manute Bol was born to Madute and Okwok Bol in Turalei or Gogrial and raised near Gogrial. His date of birth was not recorded; college basketball coach Kevin Mackey listed Bol's birthday as October 16, 1962, but believed he was actually much older. Bol came from a family of extraordinarily tall men and women: "My mother was 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), my father 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m), and my sister is 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)", he said. "And my great-grandfather was even taller—7 ft 10 in (2.39 m)." His ethnic group, the Dinka, and the Nilotic people[3] of which they are a part, are among the taller populations of the world. Bol's hometown, Turalei, is the origin of other exceptionally tall individuals, including 7 ft 4 in (2.24 m) basketball player Ring Ayuel. Ayuel is a refugee from the civil war which broke out soon after Bol emigrated to the U.S. and which eventually led to the destruction of most of Turalei.

He tended his family's cattle in boyhood. According to a tale he was often asked to repeat in interviews, he once killed a lion with a spear after it attacked his cattle. The lion was asleep, though he was often encouraged to embellish the story. He started playing basketball only at about age 15.

Complementing his great height, Bol possessed exceptionally long limbs (inseam 49 inches (120 cm)) and large hands and feet (size 16 1/2). His arm span, at 8 feet 6 inches (2.59 m), is (as of 2013) the longest in NBA history, and his reach was 10 feet 5 inches (3.18 m). He was extremely slender, limiting his offensive capability. When he arrived in the United States, he weighed 180 pounds (82 kg) and had gained just under 20 pounds (9.1 kg) by the time he entered the NBA. The Washington Bullets sent Bol to strength training with University of Maryland coach Frank Costello, where he could initially lift only 44 pounds (20 kg) on 10-repetition bench press and 55 pounds (25 kg) on 10-repetition squat (his body mass index was 15.3 and he initially had a 31" (80 cm) waist).

Bol started playing soccer (association football) in 1972, but abandoned the game because he was too tall. During his later teens, he started playing basketball, playing in Sudan for several years with teams in Wau and Khartoum, where he experienced prejudice from the northern Sudanese majority.[11] While still living in Sudan, Bol apparently held an $80-a-month (1983 US$) job in the Sudanese military and played on the national team. Coach Don Feeley from Fairleigh Dickinson University saw Bol play basketball in Khartoum and convinced him to go to the United States. Bol was drafted by the San Diego Clippers in the fifth round of the 1983 NBA draft (97th overall), 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, but he did not speak or write English very well at the time. He improved his English skills after months of classes at ELS Language Centers on the Case Western Reserve University campus, but not enough to qualify for enrollment at Cleveland State, and he never played a game there. Five years later, Cleveland State was placed on two years' probation for providing improper financial assistance to Bol and two other African players. He enrolled at the University of Bridgeport, a Division II basketball school, and played college basketball for the Purple Knights there in the 1984–1985 season. He averaged 22.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 7.1 blocks per game. The team, which previously drew 500–600 spectators, routinely sold out the 1,800-seat gym. This was followed by a short stint with the Rhode Island Gulls of the United States Basketball League.

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