About Adonal Foyle

FORMER NBA PLAYER TURNED AUTHOR AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST

There’s much more to Adonal than a retired NBA athlete. The former eighth overall pick soon realized he was meant to be not just a top basketball player for 13 years, but an entrepreneur for life.

Chapter I

Adonal grew up in Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, a stunning but impoverished chain of islands in the Eastern Caribbean. Taller than most of his friends, he always felt there was something different about him, like he didn’t quite fit in. Until one day, at the age of 15, he discovered basketball. It was the biggest turning point in his life. Suddenly, he had found his thing – and he was amazing at it. This key moment inspired him to write an encouraging book aimed at children who haven’t yet realized what they’re good at, Too Tall Foyle Finds His Game. The seed for helping other people discover and develop their potential had been sowed in his mind.

Chapter II

Everyone could immediately see his basketball skills would take him far, so his family allowed him to be adopted by a couple of teachers at Colgate University, who took him to New York. At Colgate, he was able to set an NCAA record with 492 career blocks. He was then chosen by the Golden State Warriors with the eighth pick in the 1997 NBA Draft. He left college to join the Warriors, but kept committed to his education and graduated in 1999.

Adonal was a defensive specialist and collected over 3,400 rebounds. He also holds the Warriors franchise record for blocked shots at 1,140.

Chapter III

Throughout his career, he met dozens of other athletes and noticed most of them hadn’t planned their transition. What would they do when they retire? Who were they, apart from being player X or player Y? Who was Adonal off the field? He realized that as long as he could accept his ‘on-field’ career wouldn’t last until old age, he would be able to find a new purpose and define new goals. This mindset brought him freedom and a whole new world of possibilities.

Chapter IV

The former player then set out to share his learnings with other athletes, through private training sessions, performance coaching and books such as Why Players Go Broke, The Athlete CEO and When the Ball Is Laid to Rest. He also started helping several charities and even founded his own non-profit organizations: Democracy Matters and Kerosene Lamp Foundation.

Chapter V

Adonal Foyle is an inspiration of philanthropy, courage and resilience. This hasn’t gone unnoticed: he has been inducted into the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame and the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame and has received many awards, including the NBA Community Assist Award.