Contra Costa Times

March 14, 2007
by Gary Peterson

Warriors' Foyle joins America's team

SAN FRANCISCO - Warriors center Adonal Foyle, usually possessed of such deep thought and comprehensive world view, was a fidgeting 6-foot-10 mass of nervous chuckles Tuesday. The man who routinely shoots free throws in front of 15,000 people couldn't stand still.

"You'd think I wouldn't be (nervous), right?" he said in the lobby outside the Masonic Auditorium. "I'm always nervous until the jump ball. It's not unusual. I think with this one, there's this one moment. This one, I haven't done it before."

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, Foyle had been a professional basketball player for nearly 10 seasons -- all spent with the Golden State Warriors. He had never been a citizen of the United States.

Even though he was in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services equivalent of "garbage time" in the NBA -- papers in order, swearing-in ceremony nigh, outcome assured -- Foyle was aquiver with anticipation.

"It's a big thing," he said. "I think just growing up in a (small) country, then choosing to move to this country and all the opportunities that I got, and being able to call myself an American citizen -- it's not something you take lightly. I'm 32 years old, and I've never cast a ballot."

That will change, as soon as Foyle decides whether to register as an Independent (which seems his natural inclination) or with one of the two major parties (so he can vote in the primaries). What will not change is his keen interest in social causes that can affect politics and policy in this country.

He has been a young man in a big hurry since he was discovered playing basketball in the Caribbean by Jay and Joan Mandle, professors at Colgate University. "They thought I was terrible," Foyle said, chuckling (nervously). "But they thought I had good potential."

They asked Foyle, then 15, if he would like to come to the United States. He said yes.

"Before I knew it," he said, "I was on a plane coming to the United States. It was crazy. I left everything I knew."

Foyle finished his high school studies. He declared for the NBA draft after his junior year at Colgate, and was picked eighth overall by the Warriors. He later finished his college education, graduating magna cum laude.

In his decade with the Warriors, he has participated in the team's community outreach programs and started some of his own. Democracy Matters is a program that encourages political activism in college students. The Kerosene Lamp Foundation affords Eastern Caribbean children basketball instruction wrapped in life lessons.

"When I was growing up, I studied by the kerosene lamp," explained Foyle, whose native island of Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines had no running water or electricity. "That was our source of light. So I figured it was a good metaphor for helping to shine the way for a lot of kids."

With his humanitarian work, his passion for poetry, his interest in global affairs and his travel abroad, Foyle has established himself as a citizen of the world. He wanted more. He wanted his adopted country to adopt him. There is a test involved.

"(They) give you a list of questions, and I decided I was going to quiz everybody to see what everybody knew," he said. "I talked to my teammates, and they chased me away. So I just walked around and asked everybody I could meet, 'Do you know this one?' I was very annoying, I admit."

Apparently it was an effective studying technique, because at 10 sharp Tuesday morning Foyle walked into the auditorium with 1,149 other U.S. citizens-to-be. Foyle, naturally, stood head and shoulders above the rest. And while he was introduced to his fellow inductees -- and at least as many family members and friends witnessing the event -- it was explained to everyone that America is a land where no one is more equal than anyone else.

The group saw a video, sang the national anthem, heard a speech, stood as their native countries were read from a list, then raised their right hands to take the oath of allegiance.

When their hands came down, they were in the club.

All 1,150 new citizens have a story, but none more poignant or empowering than Foyle's. Not only did he become one of the first from his island to graduate from college, but he also has sponsored others -- including his brother and sister.

Once part of a family whose signature meal was what Foyle describes as "poor people food -- everything you have in the kitchen, you throw it in a pot and you cook it up," now makes more than $8 million per season.

"For me, it's a land of opportunity," he said when asked what the United States means to him. "It's a land to encourage (people) to help others. When done right, when people put their heads together, they can do a lot of amazing things."

Copyright © 2007, Contra Costa Times

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