Hakeem Olajuwon, Nigeria
“The Dream” was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and grew up playing soccer as a goaltender. Amazingly, Olajuwon did not take up basketball until he was 15. He loved the sport and made others “secondary,” he said. He came to Houston to play college basketball at 18, but did not have a scholarship. Only after sitting out his freshman year and growing exponentially as a player was he offered a scholarship. He went on to become one of the greatest players of all time and led the Houston Rockets of the NBA to back-to-back championships in 1994 and ’95. Olajuwon holds private sessions for big men looking to improve their postup game.
Dikembe Mutombo, Republic of Congo
Born in the Republic of Congo, Mutombo came to America as a teenager to play basketball at Georgetown, where Patrick Ewing had starred as another 7-foot player from a foreign land. Mutombo improved yearly as a player and crafted a 15-year NBA career where he was noted as a premier defensive player and shot-blocker and for his seemingly endless community service work. He raised $29 million, much of it his own, to open then Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital in Kinshasa, named after his late mother. Mutombo continues his humanitarian work in Africa and the U.S.
