In Senegal, it is mainly football that thrills the population to the rhythm of the past and current exploits of the national team, led by Sadio Mané, Kalidou Koulibaly, El Hadji Diouf and other Mamadou Niang. But today, it is on another Lion named Tacko Fall, basketball player, that we put the light. From Dakar to China, obviously passing through the NBA and especially Boston, a return to a course as unusual as its measurements.
Magic fans start a “We Want Tacko” chant and then go crazy when he finally checks in. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/GoeDQlRIej
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) October 12, 2019
Indeed, if the cheat meal favorite of the Lyonnais already seems imposing to you, the Tacko we are talking about here is of a completely different build. We are talking here about a man who is one of the 40 tallest human beings in the world with its 2m29 (for 141 kilos and 2m54 wingspan), and who is in seventh place in this ranking as far as the African continent is concerned, tied with three other basketball players (also pivotal, it should be noted) from the homeland of Léopold Sédar Senghor. Add to that the fact that the native of Dakar then warms up the bench in the colors of the legendary Boston franchise, and Elhadji Tacko Sereigne Diop Fall – of his full name – quickly finds himself cataloged as a simple phenomenon of fair, whose highlights are mainly boil down to counters or dunks that the inside performs by barely tiptoeing.
But Tacko is much more than that. He is also an atypical career, an endearing character, and a basketball player with real qualities.
Born on December 10, 1995 in Dakar, Tacko Fall was spotted – at the same time difficult to miss a 2m20 teenager – playing basketball with friends in the streets of the Senegalese capital, by a certain Ibrahima N’Diaye, founder and manager of the Flyingstar basketball academy, dedicated to young Senegalese wishing to make their way in the middle of the orange ball. Fall integrates him, progresses and shows some potential, so much so that Ibrahima wants to send him to the United States to try to offer him a future in basketball. However, N’Diaye must promise Tacko’s mother, a rather good student at her school in Dakar and who dreams of a career as a computer engineer, that her son will also be well supported academically. Throughout the giant’s first steps in the States, where he landed in 2012, the brother of former NBAer Mamadou N’Diaye (passed through the Raptors, Mavs, Hawks and Clippers in the early 2000s), first Galsen, having evolved on the floors of the Great League, will do everything to best honor this commitment.
“He had a long way to go. He was 2m20 tall but couldn’t even dunk because he lacked coordination. I watched him train, he made two round trips on the field and he was out of breath. He could barely do it” – Mamadou N’Diaye, former NBA player
However, Tacko Fall’s debut in the land of Uncle Sam does not go exactly as planned. While Ibrahima N’Diaye had obtained an agreement with a secondary school in Houston to allow his foal to take his classes both on the floors and on the benches of the school, the school does not honor his commitment and obliges the Tacko’s mentor to prospect so that the latter does not find himself with nothing in this country he does not know and whose language he does not even master. Fall will finally enroll in another establishment in the city of Beyoncé, in which he will be at a good school since he will evolve under the orders of another native pivot of the cradle of humanity, a certain Hakeem Olajuwon. Unfortunately, a year later, for administrative reasons, the high school that had welcomed Tacko is no longer able to allow him to practice basketball, and here is Tonton Ibra again to the rescue to find a new base in his protege. Direction therefore Florida for the child of Senegal.
“I made a promise to his mother. She trusted me, she believed me. I wanted to make sure he had a place to practice basketball, study and be happy” – Ibrahima N’Diaye, Tacko Fall mentor
It is in the midst of these turpitudes that the teenager will make a decisive encounter for the rest of his career. That man is Donnie Jones, coach of the University of Central Florida Knights. Like many, the university coach is first alerted by the high school student’s extraordinary measurements. But, very quickly, the conversation turns to more philosophical subjects, such as the young man’s sports, school and professional project. While most of the university programs that look into his case essentially see his physical potential and seek to make him a player formatted for the professional world, coach Jones and UCF will be the only ones to listen to his aspirations as a human being, starting with that of honoring the promise made to his mother by leaving his country a few years earlier.
“We had a 10 minute conversation. He impressed me a lot, he was a very humble kid […] My first thought was ‘This kid, I’ll sign him today’ and I immediately made him an offer” – Donnie Jones, Tacko Fall’s first coach at the University of Central Florida
Tacko therefore joined UCF in 2015. Despite the dismissal of Donnie Jones at the end of the first year of the Senegalese giant, the native of Dakar continues to deliver solid performances, also demonstrating that he is a more than correct basketball player. Not enough to jump to the ceiling certainly (does he even need it?), but the pivot of the Knights proves that he is able to use his extraordinary physique in an intelligent way, whether it is ball in hand at the post low or to protect his circle on the other side of the field. During his senior year, despite his already advanced age for a prospect in the draft year (23 years old), his hype is at its peak, especially during a match against Duke who will oppose him to another natural phenomenon, Zion Williamson. On June 20, 2019, the one who is now a young adult is thus present at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where he hopes all evening long to hear his name called by the boss of the League, Adam Silver, unfortunately in vain.
“I expected to be drafted. That’s why I came (at the ceremony, editor’s note). Throughout the draft process, I worked hard to show them what I can do and that I can play in the NBA. And I wasn’t drafted. It was tough mentally. I was rock bottom” – Tacko Fall, on his 2019 non-draft
The rest, you know it, will be 40 games played in the NBA in three seasons between Boston and Cleveland before leaving for China. But beyond his extraordinary physique, Tacko will also have marked the people he met during his career with his simplicity and humility. Aware of the hardships he had to face to move forward, he does not forget where he comes from and always shows his gratitude for his career. An attitude that will have earned him a great popularity rating with the fans, but also with his coaches and his teammates. Over the course of his career, which started in the streets of Dakar, which led him to the courts of the Great League, then to China, via Houston and Florida, under the orders of Ibrahima N’Diaye, Hakeem Olajuwon or Donnie Jones, Tacko Fall will have known how to go beyond the simple image of the extraordinary giant, to assert himself and earn respect as an individual. This is the story of an ascent to the top level that is ultimately quite ephemeral, but despite everything simple and beautiful, just like the character who is the protagonist.
“He is 2.30m, but he is more than that. He is more than a basketball player. Off the pitch he is a superb human being, a superb individual. We hope […] that people don’t just respect him as a 2.30m basketball player, but more importantly as an individual who is good at what he does” – Dajuan Eubanks, GM of the Maine Red Claws, the G League franchise affiliated with the Celtics, in which Tacko played between 2019 and 2021
So much for this little throwback to the course of Tacko Fall. Such is the life of the Dakar giant, whose talent will not necessarily have been proportional to his size, but who will always have done his best on the court, and to whom we wish the best for the future!
Source texte : Forbes / CBS News / Overtime
