Manute Bol

The Washington Post has learned that Manute Bol, the 7-foot-7 Sudanese giant who was a shot-blocking sensation with the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors and other teams in the National Basketball Association, has died at 47.

He died at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville of complications from Stevens-Johnson syndrome, a rare skin condition contracted after a reaction to a medication he had taken in Africa. He had kidney failure, internal bleeding and other medical complications.

Mr. Bol, who, it can be safely said, was the only NBA player to have killed a lion with a spear, came to the United States in the early 1980s and joined the Washington Bullets after playing one year of college basketball. He was freakishly tall and thin, yet he had an amazing ability to block opponents' shots and twice led the NBA in that category.

During and after his NBA career, he tried to draw international attention to the humanitarian needs of his native Sudan, supporting rebel political movements and trying to bring peace to his embattled homeland.