Former NBA Player Manute Bol Dies at 47

When Manute Bol played basketball from 1985 to 1995, he was usually the biggest guy on the court at 7-foot-7. More recently, though, he was known as one of the biggest humanitarians to come out of the league.

Bol died over the weekend due to complications from kidney failure and Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, a condition that causes the skin to separate from the dermis. He was 47.

"Sudan and the world have lost a hero and an example for all of us," Tom Prichard, executive director of the group Sudan Sunrise, told the Associated Press. "Manute, we'll miss you. Our prayers and best wishes go out to all his family, and all who mourn his loss." Bol worked closely with Sudan Sunrise doing humanitarian work in his home country.

In May, Bol returned from Sudan, after helping build a school. When he arrived in Washington, he was rushed to the hospital and has been hospitalized ever since. It's believed that the kidney medications he was taking in Africa contributed to the skin disease.

Bol joined the NBA in 1985 with the Washington Bullets and moved around the league, playing for Golden State, Philadelphia and Miami.

"Manute's impact on this city, our franchise and the game of basketball cannot be put into words," 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski said in a statement. "He ... was continually giving of himself through his generosity and humanitarian efforts in order to make the world around him a much better place, for which he will always be remembered."

Before he died, Bol told his cousin Simon Deng that he wanted to be buried next to his father in their village of Turlai in southern Sudan.

"It's a part of our culture, when someone older dies, he always likes to be taken back to his resident home, so that way the children know where his father was," Deng said according to KCUR in Kansas City.

The family plans to have a memorial in Kansas City, where Bol lived, before taking his body to Sudan to be buried.