It’s uncommon to have your name etched next to legends such as Kobe Bryant, Chris Webber, and others at the NBA Hall of Fame, especially if you have never dunked a ball in your life. But Indian-origin Nav Bhatia has managed to achieve the feat, which till recently was reserved just for the players. He is the first-ever fan to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
His love and support for the NBA franchise Toronto Raptors have been a spectacle for almost everyone in Canada. The Sikh with a turban and beard broke the cultural barriers with his love for basketball and his favorite team and has now been immortalized in the NBA Hall of Fame. Nav Bhatia is a true story of anything is possible.
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In a conversation with News 18, he said:
“It was simple but still an amazing ceremony, especially when Vanessa (Kobe Bryant’s wife) came to speak and then Micahel Jordon was there, it was very touching. I was able to meet so many Hall of Famers, I was pinching myself.”
From being an immigrant in the mid-80s to having his name etched at the NBA Hall of Fame, the 69-year-old has come a long way.
The migrant’s struggle
It was the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in India that forced Bhatia to flee to Toronto from New Delhi in search of a safe haven for his family. But landing a job in a foreign land became a real struggle for him because of his beard and turban. After initial hiccups, he finally found work as a salesman at a Hyundai dealership in Rexdale. However, he soon became the target of racial discrimination.
“On my very first day there, I was the butt of jokes for everybody else. All the people on the sales floor [were] making fun [of me], calling me ‘Paki’, ‘Turban Head’, ‘Towel Head’ and many more names. On that day, I realized one thing. I have to be better than good if I want to survive in that environment,” he said in his 2014 Ted Talk.
Determined to prove himself, he ended up selling 127 cars in 3 months and became a star employee. This feat landed Bhatia a promotion, and he soon became one of the top sales managers in Canada.
But his co-workers were still not comfortable working for a guy with a turban. That’s when Bhatia decided to hire new staff and started transforming his business and soon took over both the dealerships he had worked at.
Love affair with basketball
Tired of working day in and out, Bhatia wanted to take his mind off the work and that’s when he bought two tickets to the first game of Toronto Raptors (NBA’s 28th franchise) in 1995. It turned out to be a life-changing moment for him as he instantly fell in love with the game.
Soon enough Bhatia became a familiar face cheering for his team at every single match. In no time, he made a strong reputation for himself. Even Toronto Raptors couldn’t ignore their unlikely admirer and soon presented him with a ‘Superfan’ jersey.
Recognition followed and he started brushing shoulders with NBA biggies such as Tracy McGrady, RJ Barrett, and Chris Boucher. For the last 25 years, Bhatia has been an ever-present figure in attendance for Toronto Raptors. Such has been his obsession that he once postponed a kidney surgery until after the season for the fear of missing a match.
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In 2018, his team won their first-ever NBA title, and Bhatia became the first-ever superfan to receive an official championship ring for his loyalty, which is usually reserved for only the team members. Such has been his craze for basketball that he has never missed a single match.
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“My wife says, ‘basketball is your first wife’ because, for 25 years of my life, I have never missed a minute of any of my Raptors games. I have never been late and I have never left early and I have missed my wife’s birthdays, our marriage anniversaries.”
A champion of causes
When he is not cheering for Raptors in the crowd stalls, he is championing for his community in Canada. It began in 1999 when he walked into a repair shop to get his mobile fixed, and a customer assumed him to be a cab driver. He told CTV news,
“That day, I decided that I have to change the perception in the mainstream about Sikhs.”
He called the Raptors asking for 3,000 tickets to celebrate Sikh’s New Year right on the courtside. He gifted the tickets to kids across communities. “The reason, I wanted to have these kids watch the game together, and get integrated,” he added.
Soon this turned into a tradition. For the last 20 years, Bhatia has been giving away free 3,000 tickets per game.
In 2018, he launched the Nav Bhatia Superfan Foundation to make basketball accessible to as many children by building courts and distributing gear.
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During every Baisakhi, he takes around 5,000 children across all ages and backgrounds to the Raptors game to promote inclusivity. His purpose extends its wings to India as well. Bhatia’s foundation has collaborated with World Vision to launch the Daughters of India campaign which tackles the issue of lack of sanitation for girls. In 2017, their campaign raised $300000 and constructed 135 washrooms across 35 schools in Faridkot district of Punjab.
Bhatia’s rise at the Raptors coincided with NBA’s quest for hiring talent from Punjab. It was only recently that Princepal Singh from Ludhiana was selected for NBA G-League. He was chosen by the NBA Academy that spent a decade hunting talent in India.
RELATED READ: Will Princepal Singh take a giant leap at the NBA?
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