Here’s a story of a Toronto man who constantly faced ridicule and adversity since moving to Canada but found acceptance and community the moment he walked into his first Toronto Raptors game.
Nav Bhatia is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker and philanthropist, and most notably, he’s known as the Raptors Superfan. As the number one fan of the team, Bhatia lives and breathes the Raptors as if they were part of his own DNA.
Now, the 72-year-old is ready to tell his extraordinary story from being a naughty kid in India to sitting courtside with the Raptors as the face of the organization.
MEMOIR ABOUT HOPE
Co-written by award-winning journalist Tamara Baluja, Bhatia’s new book, The Heart of a Superfan: A memoir of grit, love, family and basketball, unpacks the untold tale of the inspiring underdog and how his story goes beyond the basketball court.
“My new book is all about hope. People coming into this country. It’s not just about basketball. This book is about hope. My story is about hope,” Bhatia revealed in an interview with Now Toronto.
It’s not a secret that life as an immigrant can be tough and taxing, but Bhatia is cut from a different cloth. Even on the lowest days, he says he never lost hope or perseverance and only continued fighting.
“My lowest day was the first day I went to my salesman job. Before that, I was a janitor. Nobody wanted to hire a mechanical engineer with a turban and a beard. The very first day when I went there, everybody started making fun of me. They started calling me names. Paki, towel head, turban head, diaper head,’ all the names. That was the lowest day of my life in Canada,” Bhatia explained.
“But right after that, during that moment itself, I prayed and I said, ‘God give me energy, give me strength, so that I can be better than good if I want to survive in this environment.’ And I did, I sold 127 cars in three months. It was a record then and it still is a record now,” he continued.
Today, he is a successful businessman who owns five car dealerships with over 300 employees across the Greater Toronto Area and runs his own non-profit organization called the Nav Bhatia Superfan Foundation, dedicated to raising money for basketball camps and courts for kids in Canada and around the world.
FIRST RAPTORS GAME
During his first years in Canada, Bhatia was fortunate enough to see the city gain its very own basketball team in 1995 and when this moment arrived, he made sure to be one of the first fans in the stands cheering them on.
Since the first game, Bhatia knew there was something special in the making. Unlike any other place he’s come across before, this Raptors community welcomed him and embraced him with open arms.
From there on, he has attended every single Raptors home game with the exception of 2021 when he contracted COVID-19. In honour of his long-time loyalty and allegiance to the team, he was eventually bestowed the title of Superfan in 1998 by Isiah Thomas, the former executive vice-president of the Raptors.
In total, Bhatia says he must have been to over 1,400 games and spent over six figures on tickets. This may also come as a shock to fans but Bhatia admits he’s never received a free ticket during his last 30 years as a Raptors fan.
He says watching the Raptors was his sole hobby and that’s why in the early days, he would work up to one hundred hours per week in order to afford to go to every game.
Bhatia says his most memorable moment at a game was when Kawhi Leonard scored a buzzer beater during Game seven of Raptors vs. Philadelphia 76ers in the 2019 NBA playoffs.
“When you look at the ball, it hit four times, one, two, three, four. I’ve never in my 30 years of basketball seen the ball move like that and especially on such an important seventh game and the ball going in. On that day, I knew there was a God working and I knew that God was going to take us to the finals. So, that was amazing,” he shared as if he was reliving the moment all over again.
FIRST FAN TO GET A CHAMPIONSHIP RING
That year the Raptors won the 2019 NBA Championship and Bhatia was the first fan in history to receive his very own championship ring. A year later, he was also commemorated in a new superfan gallery at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Massachusetts.
“You don’t dream about these things, you just want to be a fan and you want to go and pray that your team wins. You cheer for them. Your team wins and you’re a part of the celebration. But God is too kind. That’s what it is,” he continued.
Bhatia says he has learned one very important lesson over the years of watching the team growing and improving.
“What I’ve learned about the team is that you have lows and highs. And you just keep on supporting them. I have a very simple form. I keep supporting anybody who’s on the floor as a Raptor. I support them unconditionally…once a Raptor, always a Raptor,” he said.
As a Superfan, it can be difficult to watch your team during their weaker moments, but in these cases Bhatia reminds people that a true fan sticks through it all.
“You cannot just be a fan when they’re winning or when they’re in the playoffs and all that. You got to go all the way. You have to be with them during the low times and then the high time comes,” he said.
ADVICE FOR ASPIRING BALLERS
It’s no wonder Bhatia has become a role model for aspiring local youth basketball teams, such as Hounds Elite Basketball in Toronto. He shared advice for these young kids who strive to be as great as the Raptors and who aim to one day have Superfans themselves.
“Keep working. Don’t give up. Live your passion. Make it a true passion. Make it an organic passion. Stay loyal and treat people like you want them to treat you yourself,” he said.
“If superfan can do it with all the strikes against him, anyone can do it.”
In addition to the memoir, fans can also look forward to Bhatia’s upcoming biopic starring Harold & Kumar actor Kal Penn as the Superfan. He says the script is currently being written and he’s very excited to see Penn’s performance.
Bhatia’s The Heart of a Superfan: A memoir of grit, love, family and basketball is available now in bookstores across Canada.
