Manute Bol was probably in his 40s when he played in the NBA, Kevin Mackey says

Kevin Mackey, the former Cleveland State coach who brought the 7-foot-7 center Manute Bol from Sudan to the United States in the 1980s, said he made up Bol's birthdate.

“I gave him his birthday because they didn’t know how old he was,” Mackey, now a scout with the Indiana Pacers, told Zagsblog. "“Every athletic door is open at 19, every athletic door is closed when you’re 35. He was probably 40, 50 years old when he was playing in the NBA.”

“[Bol] had no idea of his age and the kid who came over with him didn’t know how old he was,” Mackey said. “No one knew how old he was."

Therefore, Mackey worked with the local immigration office to come up with a birthday for Bol, Oct. 16, 1962.

“It was in October, I wanted to make it after Sept. 1,” Mackey said. “I wanted to make sure he was young enough because he didn’t have an age. I think he was [in his 40s], I really do. But there’s no way of ever really knowing.”

Bol never played for Cleveland State because he couldn’t speak English well enough, so he enrolled at the University of Bridgeport and played there before getting drafted by the Washington Bullets.

Bol passed away in 2010.