The story behind the story of Dikembe Mutombo’s visit to Washington in January 2007.

By Ed Odeven

At a June 2012 press banquet in Tokyo, Dikembe Mutombo told the backstory of how he wound up as American President George W. Bush’s special guest at the State of the Union address in 2007.

“I had no idea I was coming,” Mutombo recalled.

For the longtime NBA center, this unusual tale began after a Houston Rockets game in January.  

“After the game, I was taking a shower and my phone kept ringing,” Mutombo told reporters.

“…I looked at the phone and it was a private number.”

It was a call from a U.S. Secret Service staffer.

“We want you here in Washington tomorrow by 5 o’clock,” the stranger’s voice blurted out.

“For what?”

“You are going to be the guest of the first family,” he was told. “And keep this conversation between us.”

There were more instructions, more demands, from the Secret Service staffer as plans involving Mutombo for the State of the Union address were spelled out.

“Don’t tell your wife, your kids, your coaches, your teammates,” Mutombo recalled the Secret Service staffer telling him. “Just make sure you make your way to get here.”

“I said, ‘Who are you?’ ”

“You don’t need to know my name,” the voice said.

After 30 minutes, the Secret Service staffer called again.

“Just do what I tell you,” he was told.

Mutombo later described it as a “scary experience.”

More demands from the Secret Service followed before their follow-up phone call ended.

As Mutombo later noted, “Plane B was waiting for me next to the team plane.”

With this information dancing around in his brain, Mutombo admitted years later that he felt it was impossible to maintain a vow of secrecy. 

“I have to tell somebody even though they told me don’t tell nobody,” the Basketball Hall of Fame center said in Tokyo.

He then recounted his mindset: “I said, ‘If they’re going to kill me … I’m still going to tell somebody where I’m going, so I decided to tell my coach. I said Jeff (Van Van Gundy), you better not tell nobody either because they’re listening to you.’ ”

What else did Mutombo tell Van Gundy about his secret visit to Washington?

“I told him, ‘I think the president wants to see me by 6 o’clock. I need to be in Washington by the White House,’ ” Mutombo informed his coach of his unique travel plans. 

The coach kept the player’s secret. And nobody on the team knew about Mutombo’s trip to Washington except Van Gundy.

The State of the Union address took place on January 23, 2007, and President Bush paid tribute to basketball legend Mutombo, a great humanitarian.