Dikembe Mutombo is as much a force off the court as he is on it -- he helped fund a $29 million hospital in his native Congo. Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

By Jack McCallum

Dikembe Mutombo has never been my favorite player to watch and, as the years have gone on, he hasn't gotten any easier on the eyes. He moves in mechanical increments, head up, elbows out, more an Erector set come to life than an offensive force.

But Mutombo, 40, now a Houston Rocket in his 16th season, has never been much concerned with aesthetics. And he gets my vote as Sportsman of the Year because he has never been much concerned with championing popular, easy-to-sell causes either. Mutombo has taken on the challenge of improving life in his native Africa, that most overlooked of continents, a place that dies a little bit every day, and would be dying faster if not for humanitarians such as Mutombo, whose activism was forged by tragedy.

Born in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) as Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo, the 7-foot-2 Mutombo, the seventh of 10 children, was one of the first African athletes to make an impact in this country. He was an outstanding player at Georgetown, the third spoke in a center wheel that also spun out Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning, and has ploddingly but faithfully plied his trade with six teams, becoming the first NBAer to win four Defensive Player of the Year awards. (Ben Wallace later joined him.)

When the press and the public dealt with Mutombo, they found a fascinating individual who was talking about the horrific conditions in his native land even before his mother, Biamba Marie Mutombo, died of a stroke in 1998 at age 64. She was 10 minutes from a hospital but was delayed from getting there because of a curfew brought on by continued civil unrest in the country.

The tragedy devastated Mutombo, then energized him. Construction of the $29 million hospital and research center named for his mother became the focal point of the Dikembe Mutombo Foundation. He raised money by tapping various NBA players (Ewing and Mourning among them) and owners (the Maloof brothers of the Sacramento Kings donated $250,000) but also by reaching deep into his own pocket. Fifteen million dollars into his own pocket, which is deep, even for an NBA millionaire.

"I didn't want what happened to my mother to happen to anyone else," he said.

That was easier said than done. The scheduled September opening of the Biamba Marie Mutombo Hospital and Research Center in the Congolese city of Kinshasa has been delayed by local politics. Mutombo said that he took him two years just to get the permits to begin construction.

"I think people felt I was promoting myself in the way where I can return back in the Congo and run for President," said Mutombo, who intends to do exactly that when his playing career is over.

But he soldiers on to get the hospital built and begin other projects. (Nelson Mandela, ex-Presidents Carter, Bush, Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are among his fundraising allies.) Last month in Orlando, some clown sitting courtside directed racial slurs at Mutombo, who had to be restrained from going into the stands after him. (The NBA correctly banned the man from attending future NBA games.) It was the greatest of ironies: a nimrod insulting the intelligence of a man who can make his arguments in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and several African dialects.

Mutombo's best days on the court are behind him -- he can still block shots and give his distinctive finger-wagging reproach but he is getting only about eight minutes a game -- but, in a way, his best days might still be in front of him. That's how it is for true sportsmen.