If you’ve watched the slightest bit of Toronto Raptors basketball over the years, you’ve gotten to know the team’s superfan, Nav Bhatia. The superfan goes by the nickname, “The Superfan,” because let’s not overthink fan nicknames.
Bhatia’s story is a pretty great one. He moved to Toronto from India in 1984 to escape the anti-Sikh riots in India, which was a smart move seeing how Bhatia is Sikh. He was a mechanical engineer, but couldn’t find work because no one wanted to hire a guy in a turban, so he got a job as a car salesman. Which worked out well for Bhatia, who eventually became very wealthy as a car dealership owner, and has spent about $300,000 on courtside tickets during the playoffs and took a private jet to Cleveland for Game 5.
As a highly visible Sikh in Toronto, he wants to use his fame to help bridge the gap between the Sikh community and the people who don’t know much about it. Here’s what he had to say in an interview with the Toronto Star:
In ’99, I was made the Superfan by (former Raptors executive) Isiah Thomas. He brought me to centre court and said, starting today, this guy will be the superfan because he’s made most of the noise in the past four years. But a little later, one day I was going in my nicely dressed-up suit as the general manager and president of an auto company, Mississauga Hyundai. And I went to fix my cellphone, and this Caucasian guy, I overheard him saying, “Honey, I have to go, my cab is here.” I guess he assumed I was a taxi driver, because I wear a turban and I have a beard. But I didn’t get upset at him, because it was not his fault. It’s the fault of our own people — Sikh people, the religious leaders, the community leaders who haven’t done enough to integrate Sikhs into the mainstream. Yes, we are different looking, we are different, but our passions are the same.”
Bhatia has lived an interesting life, which makes it twice as sad that Thomas gave him such a boring nickname. I guess we should all be thankful that Thomas didn’t do something stupid and offensive for 16 years.
