If you talk to this Canadian, you’re not very likely to hear the words “eh” or “hoser” come out of his mouth. 

Blair Adderley, a senior foward for the ASU men’s basketball team was originally born in the Bahamas, but hails from the ethnically diverse city of Scarborough, Ontario, near Toronto. 

Scarborough has little resemblence to the snowy, hockey playing hamlets that Americans usually think cover Canada.  People from Scarborough are rarely natives of Canada.  They come from the Caribbean, China and everywhere else imaginable. “They tend to retain their culture,” 

Adderley said of the people from his home town.  “Everybody keeps their background.  It’s not like here where everybody wants to be (called an) American.” 

A less desirable characteristic of Scarborough is the amount of crime in the area.  “People consider Canada and they think of ‘The great white north.’  It’s not like that at all,”  Adderley said.  “I’m living in luxury up at App Heights compared to how I lived at home.” 

Adderley’s family, which consisted of his mother and brother, lived from paycheck to paycheck.  According to Adderley, there were a lot of drugs and crime in his old neighborhood. 

“It was a welcome change to get out of there,” said the 6-5 forward. 

“I can’t name any of my friends from home that are in college.  They are either in jail or they’ve been shot.” 

After Adderley moved out of his mother’s home at the age of 17 and went to college, his mother moved in order to better her situation. 

“I was really thankful for that,” Adderley said.  “There were killings going on and there was a crack house in our building up on the top floor.” 
Sounds pretty American, doesn’t it? 

As Adderley sees it, nationality has nothing to with the situation. 

“A lot of people don’t understand that poverty is poverty.” 

So why didn’t Adderly stay in Canada for college?  Canadian universities don’t offer athletic scholarships.  Most financial aid consists of loans paid back at an interest rate of 18-percent. 

As a result, all Canadian athletes looking to go to college head south to the United States for their education. 

Aside from the inferences that people make, Adderly has also had to deal with his share of stupid questions about being Canadian. 

“When I came down (to the U.S.) while I was in high school, people used to ask some crazy questions like, ‘how do you play basketball up there,’ like we don’t have an inside court or anything.  ‘And do you all live in igloos up there?’  I just answered the questions and laughed.” 

Adderley began his basketball career in the ninth grade. 

“I never played a lot of organized basketball (before the ninth grade),’’ Adderley said.  “When I got into it, I found a couple of great coaches that really helped me with my game.” 

Coming out of high school, Adderly was rated the second best forward/guard in Canada, behind Doug Johnson. 

Johnson later was diagnosed with a heart problem and had to quit playing, making Adderley the best player to come out of Canada in 1995. 

Adderley was recruited by a lot of major universities, including the likes of Auburn and Miami to name a few.  Appalachian was one of the few mid-major schools to recruit Adderley, and the Canadian saw the fit. 

“They showed a lot of interest,” Adderley said, “I thought that they’d care about me and that it would be a better learning environment (than a larger school).” 

In the long run, Appalachian proved to be good fit for Adderley.  However, making it in the short run proved to be a difficult task. 

“This university just wasn’t looking like it was for me,” said Adderley of his freshman year at ASU. 

“The grades weren’t there, the effort wasn’t there, I had no desire.” 

In high school, Adderley’s team played what amounted to a 50-game schedule each season.  Out of nearly 250 games over five years, Adderly’s team lost just 17. 

Needless to say, Adderly wasn’t prepared for his first season at Appalachian (1995-96) in which the team lost 20 games.  It looked like then-coach Tom Apke was on his way out. 

While some of the players on the team were considering transferring after it was apparent that Apke’s time was done, Adderley had a different opinion of the situation. 

“If Apke would have stayed, I would have left,” Adderley said.  “I felt like it wasn’t the right fit for me, I needed to go... I just didn’t think we were interested in winning from any stand point.  If we won, we won; if we didn’t, we didn’t.” 

Enter Buzz Peterson and his no nonsense approach to coaching. 

“Without the coaching change, I would have been in real trouble,”  Adderley said.  “I wasn’t going to class, and I was on academic probation.  I wasn’t happy playing basketball.” 

All the problems Adderley was having were about to change in a big way, both on and off the court. 

Under Peterson the next season, the team won 14 games.  Last year, the team improved to 21-8 and came four points away from making the NCAA tournament. 

Off the court, Adderley worked his way out of academic trouble and will graduate on time this spring. 

Interestingly enough, Adderley has the number of a winner, 23, Michael Jordan’s number. 

However, Adderley doesn’t really take a very Jordan-esqe approach to the game. 

“I just want to win.  That’s first and foremost in my mind.  If I don’t score a point and our team wins every game, I’m fine with that,” said Adderley. 

Aside from Kent Phillips, Adderley’s graduation will also bring near the end of the Apke recruits (which also includes Ian Adams, Josh Grover and Paul Jones.) 

“There’s really been a bond between the people I came in with because we’re the last people that were recruited by Coach Apke,”  Adderley said. 

“We know that we’ve been through a lot.  We’re the only people that know what it’s like to go 8-20.  We know what this program has come from, so we appreciate what’s happened.” 

All in all, Adderley has seen a lot, but has few complaints about the results. 

“Basketball has really guided my life in a positive direction,” said Adderley.