Foyle calls time in professional basketball

The first and only Vincentian to play in the NBA, Adonal Foyle, has announced his retirement.

Foyle did not play last season for Orlando, after undergoing knee surgery in October. He appeared in only 10 games during the 2008-09 seasons with the Magic and Memphis.{{more}}

The 35-year-old Canouan-born Foyle, in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT last month, had indicated that a formal announcement about his future in the sport will be known by the end of this month.

But it came two weeks early, as last week Tuesday, August 17, he formally did so.

Foyle, who started his professional career in 1997 with the Golden State Warriors, spent his first 10 seasons there and is the Warriors’ all-time leader in blocked shots with 1,140. He is also fifth on their all-time list for offensive rebounds and sixth for defensive rebounds.

Before joining the Warriors, Foyle played for Colgate University, in the NCAA championships.

He distinguished himself in that league where he was the school’s all-time leading rebounder and the second all-time leading scorer. He left as the NCAA’s all-time leader in blocked shots with 492, despite playing only three college seasons. This record though was broken by Wojciech Myrda in 2002. Foyle now ranks third all-time, behind Myrda and Jarvis Varnado.

His entry into the US collegiate circuit came at the age of 15, while playing for the St. Vincent and the Grenadines School team in the Annual Windward Islands School Meet in Dominica. It is there he was spotted by Joan and Jay Mandle, professors at Colgate University.

They became Foyle’ s adopted parents when he travelled to the USA and enrolled briefly at the Cardinal O’Hara High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before moving to the Hamilton Central School in Hamilton, New York.

There he helped the HCS Emerald Knights gain their first two state championships and received such honours as McDonald’s High School All-America, third team USA Today All-America and third team Parade All-America.

After 13 years in professional Basketball, Foyle said that he loved every minute of the game and retiring is bittersweet as his happiest memories are with the sport of Basketball.

In 733 career NBA games, including 269 starts, Foyle had career averages of 4.1 points and 4.7 rebounds. He was selected by the Warriors with the eighth overall pick of the 1997 NBA Draft.

His off the court impact has borne fruit, as he developed Democracy Matters, an organization which tries to curb the effect of money on politics.

But it has been the Kerosene Lamp Foundation which has lit his way, as Foyle has helped several disadvantaged students and communities in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and elsewhere.

Foyle, through KLF last month, took six Vincentian students on a two-week Basketball camp to Orlando, Florida.

Now retired, Foyle has his eyes set on a managerial career in Basketball. (RT)