Dikembe Mutombo’s family returns to Philly, where a big piece of its ‘collective heart’ remains
The Sixers honored Mutombo, who was part of the 2001 NBA Finals team, during Thursday's loss to the Boston Celtics. The family also was invited to Friday's practice.
When Carrie Mutombo arrived in Philly for her first real visit in more than 14 years, the childhood memories instantly flooded back.
Spotting Boathouse Row with the “nice lights” on the drive to the arena then known as the First Union Center. Waiting in the family room for Dad, who always was the last one out of the locker room. Trips to Hope’s Cookies on Lancaster Avenue and Larry’s Steaks.
“Those little flashes keep coming up,” Carrie said to The Inquirer Thursday night.
Mutombo was back in the city to celebrate her late father, Dikembe, the Basketball Hall of Famer and the sport’s greatest humanitarian who died of brain cancer in September. Though Dikembe enjoyed immense on-court success during parts of two seasons with the 76ers — he was the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award and helped the team advance to the NBA Finals in 2001 — his family’s roots here still extend far beyond basketball.
“I really consider it the place where I grew up,” said Carrie, who is now in her late 20s. “So there’s a big piece of my family’s collective heart that remains with Philly.”
Carrie and her mother, Rose, rang the bell before the Sixers’ loss to the Boston Celtics, then sat courtside next to the home bench. A tribute video featuring Dikembe’s basketball highlights played during a first-quarter timeout, while a second-quarter reel covered his vast philanthropic efforts. Sixers players wore shooting shirts depicting Dikembe’s iconic finger wag to celebrate a blocked shot, and fans in the stands mimicked the motion with distributed foam fingers during a third-quarter stoppage in play. Behind the scenes, folks who remembered Carrie as a kid showed her photographs from back then, prompting reactions such as, “Wow, I remember those bedazzled glasses.”
The Mutombo family also visited Friday’s Sixers practice in Camden, where they were presented with a hand-painted portrait of Dikembe. Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey, and Kyle Lowry, along with president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, were among those who spent several minutes chatting with the guests. Longtime staff members, such as head athletic trainer Kevin Johnson and executive director of team logistics Allen Lumpkin, posed for photos.
Because even though it has been more than two decades since Dikembe suited up for the Sixers, this iteration of the team still feels a connection.
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Morey got to know Dikembe when he was running the front office of the Houston Rockets — the team for which Dikembe played his final five NBA seasons — and became visibly emotional while speaking about the legendary center’s death during the Sixers’ preseason media day. That same day, Embiid, a native of Cameroon, reiterated his reverence for Dikembe, who hailed from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and eventually became the NBA’s first global ambassador with extensive work on his home continent of Africa.
Carrie called those personal testimonies from players such as Embiid and former NBA standout Joakim Noah (whose grandfather lived in Cameroon) “surreal.”
“He wasn’t just my dad,” Carrie said. “He wasn’t just the guy who watched Scooby Doo with me on Saturday mornings. To a lot of people, he was Superman.”
And that bond between the Mutombos and the NBA — and Philly — still goes both ways. Even after Dikembe was traded to the New Jersey Nets in 2002, the family stayed in Philly for almost 10 years, Carrie said. That spanned from Carrie’s prekindergarten school year to age 13. She and her siblings attended Episcopal Academy in Delaware County, and she said she still remembers all her elementary school teachers.
Sixers game days during Dikembe’s tenure, meanwhile, were a “family affair,” Carrie said. That included her mom, younger brother, Jean Jaques, and their four older adopted siblings. Once Dad finally emerged from the locker room, Carrie said, their night sometimes ended at Old City Asian Fusion restaurant Buddakan, a popular spot for former and current NBA figures.
Carrie has since earned her undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown, where her father once starred before his NBA career. Youngest brother Ryan, who’s 7-foot-2, also played three seasons for the Hoyas before transferring to Georgia Tech.
Yet Thursday’s train ride north from Washington reminded Carrie of her father’s “special, special time” playing for the Sixers. And of the memories that make Philly still feel like the place where she grew up.
And that her father’s impact is wide-ranging, and will be long-lasting.
“It’s just amazing that he did get his flowers in life,” Carrie said. “And the fact that he’s continuing to get his flowers now, it puts the biggest smile on my face. I know it puts the biggest smile on my mom’s face.
“It is bittersweet, because he’s gone. But it’s amazing that we can continually celebrate him for the rest of our lives.”