His extraordinary height and pterodactyl-like wingspan were discovered by Don Feeley, then the basketball coach at Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey, who traveled to Sudan to coach the national team for a month in 1982.įeeley steered Bol toward the University of Bridgeport, which had an English language program for foreign students. He played soccer and wanted to attend school, but his father said he needed to tend the livestock and take care of his younger siblings. His father, a Dinka chieftain in the village, named his son Manute, a word that means "special blessing." Bol maintained ties with his native country, contributing money and forming a foundation to help orphaned children there.īol played soccer growing up but didn't pick up a basketball or even know how tall he was until he was 18 or 19. Police are still investigating the accident.īol's life has always been one of great luck and great tragedy, a life that began in the village of Turalie, several days' walk from the nearest city. Robinson had worked for the company for more than 14 years and was a good driver, Henry said. "It's going to be a long recovery."īol often hired Robinson to take him to the casino, said Marco Henry, the owner of Yellow Cab Co. "The doctor said, for his age, he's in extremely good shape and would probably be dead if he wasn't an athlete," said Andrew Kearns, a longtime friend. Bol is expected to survive, but there was no immediately word whether he had suffered any paralysis. He was heavily sedated but had been removed from life support Thursday night, another family friend said. Robinson was pronounced dead a short time later.īol, 43, of West Hartford, was airlifted to Hartford Hospital, where he remained in the intensive care unit with two cracked vertebrae in his neck, head and internal injuries, and facial lacerations, said a family friend. Bol was unconscious and Robinson was in cardiac arrest, police said. The first troopers to arrive found that Bol and Robinson had been ejected from the car. The crash occurred just west of Exit 16 shortly before 9 p.m. Police said the cab was traveling westbound at "an accelerated speed" along Route 2 when Robinson lost control, struck a guardrail and swerved across both lanes before striking a ledge and rolling over, state police said. He was riding in a Yellow cab driven by Neville H.
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