Adonal Foyle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adonal Foyle
Adonal Foyle in 2008
Personal information
Born (1975-03-09) March 9, 1975 (age 49)
Canouan, Saint Vincent, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
NationalityVincentian / American
Listed height6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)
Listed weight250 lb (113 kg)
Career information
High schoolHamilton (Hamilton, New York)
CollegeColgate (1994–1997)
NBA draft1997: 1st round, 8th overall pick
Selected by the Golden State Warriors
Playing career1997–2010
PositionCenter
Number31, 30
Career history
19972007Golden State Warriors
20072009Orlando Magic
2009Memphis Grizzlies
20092010Orlando Magic
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points2,989 (4.1 ppg)
Rebounds3,461 (4.7 rpg)
Blocks1,193 (1.6 bpg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Adonal David Foyle (born March 9, 1975) is a Vincentian-American former professional basketball center. He was selected by the Golden State Warriors with the eighth overall selection of the 1997 NBA draft. Foyle played ten seasons with the Warriors until the team bought out his contract on August 13, 2007. At the time, he had been Golden State's longest-tenured player.[1] He then played two seasons with the Orlando Magic and part of the 2008–09 season with the Memphis Grizzlies, sat out the next season due to knee surgery, and retired. As of 2018, Foyle does Warriors post-game commentary for ABC 7 in San Francisco.

Early life and college career[edit]

Foyle was born in Canouan, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. At the age of 15, Foyle was adopted by Joan and Jay Mandle, professors at Colgate University.[2] He first attended high school at Cardinal O'Hara Catholic High in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He transferred after sophomore year and attended high school at Hamilton Central School (Hamilton, New York), where he helped the HCS Emerald Knights gain their first two state championships.[3] As of 2016, his 47 points and 25 rebounds in the NYSPHSAA Class D semifinals in 1994 are tied for the most in either statistical category in a state tournament game.[4]

In his official biography, Foyle explained that he enrolled at Colgate University because "he wanted the opportunity to learn the principles of the game in a slower-paced setting, where the coach would be able to give him the attention he desired." With the Colgate Raiders, he was the school's all-time-leading rebounder and 2nd-all-time-leading scorer. He led the Raiders to their first two NCAA tournament appearances in school history. He left as the NCAA's all-time leader in blocked shots with 492, despite playing only three college seasons (his record was broken by Wojciech Myrda in 2002[5]). He now ranks third all-time, behind Myrda and Jarvis Varnado.[6]

In 1999, Foyle graduated from Colgate magna cum laude with a history degree.[7] Politically motivated, he founded the organization Democracy Matters, which tries to curb the effects of money on politics.

NBA career[edit]

In his NBA career, Foyle averaged 4.1 points and 1.6 blocks per game. He was among the top 10 in blocks per game three times during his career.

In July 2004, during the offseason, the Golden State Warriors re-signed Foyle to a six-year, $42 million contract.[1] Foyle played sparingly during the 2006–07 season under head coach Don Nelson, and was waived by the Warriors on August 13, 2007, with three years and $29.2 million remaining on his contract.

On August 23, 2007, Foyle signed with the Orlando Magic for the veteran's minimum of $1.3 million.[8] On August 2, 2008, he re-signed with the Magic for another year, also at the veteran's minimum.[9]

He was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies on February 19, 2009.[10]

On March 1, 2009, the Grizzlies waived Foyle.[11] He signed with the Orlando Magic on March 23, 2009, for the rest of the season.[12] Later that year, in August, Foyle re-signed with the Magic.[13] However, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery before the season began, and did not play that season.[14] On August 17, 2010, Foyle announced his retirement.[14] On September 7, 2010, the Magic named Foyle the team's director of player development, which he held until 2012.[15]

Off the court[edit]

Foyle (right) speaking to guardsmen at Moffett Federal Airfield on behalf of the Golden State Warriors in 2024

In his spare time, Foyle writes poems and is a political activist. He has reviewed books for Hoop magazine.[citation needed]

In 2001, he founded Democracy Matters,[16] a non-partisan student organization, as an effort to counteract political apathy on college campuses. The organization's signature issue is campaign finance reform, particularly Clean Elections. Active on over 50 college campuses, Democracy Matters involves hundreds of students and faculty nationwide through teach-ins, letter writing and petition campaigns, educational seminars, and voter registration drives.

In 2005, Foyle founded the Kerosene Lamp Foundation, which serves children in St. Vincent & the Grenadines.

He played a cameo role of "detective" in the 2006 movie The Darwin Awards.

Foyle became an American citizen on March 13, 2007, after being in the U.S. for almost 18 years.[2][17] He also became a member of the National Basketball Players Association executive committee.[18]

He was elected to the Common Cause National Governing Board in 2008.

On September 24, 2009, Foyle was inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame. Only eight other NBA players have been inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame (Nate "Tiny" Archibald, Vlade Divac, Julius Erving, AC Green, Kevin Johnson, Dikembe Mutombo, David Robinson and Steve Smith).[19]

In 2013, Foyle released his first children's book, called Too Tall Foyle Finds His Game.[20]

In January 2014, Foyle traveled to Spain and Morocco as a Sports Diplomacy Sports Envoy for the U.S. Department of State. In this function, he worked with Ruth Riley to conduct basketball clinics for more than 600 youth from under-served areas. In so doing, Foyle helped contribute to Sports Diplomacy's mission to promote conflict resolution, leadership, greater understanding and inclusion through sport.[21][22]

The Golden State Warriors appointed Foyle as the team's community ambassador in 2014.[23]

NBA career statistics[edit]

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 *  Led the league

Regular season[edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1997–98 Golden State 55 1 11.9 .406 .000 .435 3.3 .3 .2 .9 3.0
1998–99 Golden State 44 0 14.0 .430 .000 .490 4.4 .4 .3 1.0 2.9
1999–00 Golden State 76 59 21.8 .508 .000 .378 5.6 .6 .3 1.8 5.5
2000–01 Golden State 58 37 25.1 .416 .000 .441 7.0 .8 .5 2.7 5.9
2001–02 Golden State 79 36 18.8 .444 .000 .398 4.9 .5 .5 2.1 4.8
2002–03 Golden State 82 0 21.8 .536 .000 .673 6.0 .5 .5 2.5 5.4
2003–04 Golden State 44 8 13.0 .454 .000 .543 3.8 .4 .1 1.0 3.1
2004–05 Golden State 78 50 21.8 .502 .000 .556 5.5 .7 .3 2.0 4.5
2005–06 Golden State 77 72 23.7 .507 .000 .612 5.5 .4 .6 1.6 4.5
2006–07 Golden State 48 6 9.9 .565 .000 .440 2.6 .4 .2 1.0 2.2
2007–08 Orlando 82* 0 9.4 .458 .000 .471 2.5 .2 .2 .5 1.9
2008–09 Orlando 9 0 6.6 .636 .000 .500 2.9 .1 .0 .9 1.9
2008–09 Memphis 1 0 3.0 .000 .000 .000 .0 .0 .0 .0 .0
Career 733 269 17.8 .476 .000 .499 4.7 .5 .4 1.6 4.1

Playoffs[edit]

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2007 Golden State 3 0 2.0 1.000 .000 .000 .7 .0 .0 .0 .7
2008 Orlando 3 0 3.7 .333 .000 .000 1.0 .0 .0 .0 .7
2009 Orlando 2 0 2.0 .000 .000 .000 .5 .0 .0 .0 .0
Career 8 0 2.5 .400 .000 .000 .8 .0 .0 .0 .5

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Warriors place Foyle on waivers; Center eyes Magic, updated August 13, 2007
  2. ^ a b Citizen Foyle: a New Status for Center Archived July 23, 2008, at the Wayback Machine, March 12, 2007.
  3. ^ "Bio". Archived from the original on September 27, 2002.
  4. ^ "NYSPHSAA > Sports > Basketball (Boys) > Record Books". www.nysphsaa.org. New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Archived from the original on November 4, 2016. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  5. ^ "Official 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball Records Book, page 25" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 23, 2007.; retrieved April 12, 2007
  6. ^ "MSU happy to welcome back Varnado". ESPN. May 12, 2009. Archived from the original on May 19, 2009. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  7. ^ "Bio: College". AdonalFoyle.com. Archived from the original on July 24, 2011. Retrieved August 17, 2011.
  8. ^ "Source: Orlando Magic, Adonal Foyle agree to terms". Archived from the original on August 24, 2007. Retrieved August 24, 2007. Orlando Sentinel
  9. ^ Veteran Center Foyle Re-Signs With Magic Archived September 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine AHN, August 10, 2008
  10. ^ "Grizzlies acquire 2009 first round pick from Magic". NBA. February 19, 2009. Archived from the original on February 23, 2009. Retrieved February 20, 2009.
  11. ^ "Grizzlies waive center Adonal Foyle". NBA. March 1, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
  12. ^ "Magic Re-Sign Adonal Foyle". NBA. March 23, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
  13. ^ "Magic Re-Sign Adonal Foyle". NBA. August 27, 2009. Retrieved August 29, 2009.
  14. ^ a b "Adonal Foyle calls it quits". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. August 17, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.[dead link]
  15. ^ Josh Robbins. "Magic fire Director of Player Development Adonal Foyle Archived June 26, 2012, at the Wayback Machine". Orlando Sentinel. June 25, 2012. Retrieved on June 25, 2012.
  16. ^ "Bio • College". AdonalFoyle.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2002.
  17. ^ "Adonal Foyle Becomes U.S. Citizen". NBA.com. Archived from the original on August 24, 2010.
  18. ^ Adonal Foyle retiring from NBA. ESPN
  19. ^ "World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame to Induct NBA's Adonal Foyle, MLS great Diego Gutierrez, US hurdler Tracy Mattes" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 29, 2012.
  20. ^ "Former Warriors Player Adonal Foyle Releases Children's Book". NBC Bay Area. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  21. ^ "NBA players participate in youth basketball training program across Morocco". Morocco World News. January 22, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  22. ^ "Ajuntament de Sant Feliu de Llobregat". www.santfeliu.cat. Retrieved May 1, 2016.
  23. ^ "Warriors Name Adonal Foyle Community Ambassador | Golden State Warriors". Golden State Warriors. Retrieved May 26, 2018.

External links[edit]