Chicago Bulls

Pau Gasol says his childhood role model was Nelson Mandela

Published Aug. 26, 2015 12:58 p.m. ET

foxsports

Pau Gasol is one of the more cerebral basketball players around, and definitely one of the more unique in terms of his off-the-court interests.

Gasol was part of the contingent that visited Africa last month to play in the continent's first-ever NBA game, and in a piece he penned for The Players Tribune, he said that Nelson Mandela was one of his childhood idols.

"When you’re young, you have role models you look up to. Mine was Nelson Mandela. I remember the day I first read Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, when I was 24 years old. It really affected me and I’ve re-read it several times since then. I was inspired by Mandela’s unbelievable courage. What stands out most is that Mandela was a uniter, even when his opponents didn’t want to come together. He used sports to unite South Africa in the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He even united with his guards in prison — his supposed enemies — by learning their language.

"I started reading Mandela and learning about his work around the same time in my life I began traveling to Africa. In my own small way, I wanted to use my platform to make an impact. I didn’t want to just fly in, take some pictures, and fly out. That’s part of the reason this NBA Africa event was so special. It was touching to see my colleagues in the NBA all committed to taking a trip across the world for this cause. Boris Diaw, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luc Mbah a Moute, Chris Paul, my brother Marc and many more joined us. However, I must also say that our work is nowhere near as impactful as that of the people at organizations like UNICEF, who are there every day. Their commitment and devotion are very inspiring to me."

(h/t: The Players Tribune)