Raptors Superfan Becomes Initial Supporter Inducted Into Corridor of Fame

The Toronto Raptors haven’t experienced the most successful 2020-21 NBA season, but there was at minimum one little victory: Nav Bhatia, the team’s ‘Superfan,’ became 1 of the first followers to be honoured at the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame above the weekend.

“In the greatest building basketball has, the identify Superfan Nav Bhatia will be immortalized,” Bhatia claimed in a tweet. “There is now a turban and the 1st supporter honoured inside of Naismith Basketball Hall Of Fame. I am prevail over with emotions today.”

Bhatia has sat courtside for almost just about every Raptors household game—and a lot of street games—since the franchise’s inception in 1995 (discounting the pandemic game titles, of course). He’s turn into an integral part of Raptors lore, earning himself a place in the team’s championship parade in 2019, as nicely as his really very own tailor made ring.

Now, he’s obtained a shiny new Basketball Hall of Fame ring to increase to the selection.

Bhatia moved to Canada in 1984 from India with a history in mechanical engineering, but says he faced many worries locating function in his field—an encounter numerous immigrants can relate to. He was equipped to modify his path and forge a new profession in auto sales, starting to be just one of the GTA’s most profitable dealers as the operator of Rexdale and Mississauga Hyundai.

Nonetheless, hectic as he is, he’s always manufactured time for Raptors games.

“I appreciate basketball. I really like the Raptors. But for me, I’m applying the activity of basketball to bring the environment with each other,” Bhatia advised Elaborate very last calendar year.

In 2018, he launched the Nav Bhatia Superfan Foundation, an firm aimed at uniting people through basketball. The Foundation builds or refurbishes basketball courts across Canada and, with the enable of the MLSE Basis, guarantees there is programming for children of all backgrounds to get together and engage in the game Bhatia fell in adore with.

“This is what basketball does—it offers us the possibility to bring the environment together,” he explained.