Family Of Manute Bol Tries To Make Funeral Plans

Kansas City, Missouri – Former NBA center Manute Bol will be buried in his village in Southern Sudan, family members said last night.

Bol, who died Saturday at the University of Virgina Charlottesville Medical Center, told his cousin Simon Deng that when he died, he wanted to be buried next to his father in their village of Turlai. Simon Deng is now helping Bol's family in Olathe make funeral arrangements. He explained that in Sudan, it's customary for people to be buried with their relatives.

"It's a part of our culture, when someone older dies, he always likes to be taken back to his resident home, so that way the children know where his father was.

Bol's body remains in a funeral home in Washington D.C. Deng said the family is trying to figure out how to raise the funds to transport the body first to Kansas City, then back to Sudan. The family is hoping to have a memorial service here, where Manute spent many years, and where he has many friends and admirers.