SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A special moment was caught on camera at the Golden 1 Center as a longtime Sacramento Kings duo cheered on the team during Game 2 of the playoffs.
Jasjit Singh, a Sacramento City Unified School Board trustee, took his father Harinder Singh Dhanoa to a playoff game and posted a brief clip to Twitter.
The heartwarming video shows Harinder spinning his new Kings towel with an infectious smile on his face as a chorus of cowbells and cheers fill the arena.
“Folks are talking about his smile,” said Jasjit. “I put up the tweet not knowing it would get the amount of love that it got.”
The caption reads “my dad came here from our homeland of Punjab, in 1984. 40+ years of trucking. He gave us the world, yet rarely enjoyed it himself. Two years ago I took him to his first ever NBA game (Kings.) Tonight- first ever playoff game, also a Kings game. He loved it!”
Harinder moved to the United States from Punjab in northern India in 1984 — the same year the Kings found their way to Sacramento.
He worked as a truck driver to provide for his family and the Sacramento Sikh community.
“Everybody talks about the immigrant story and, for me, he was the embodiment of that,” said Jasjit. “I know the tickets are expensive, but I was like, ‘This is a small price to pay for the amount of work that he’s done for us.’”
Their name Singh is a traditional Sikh name, perfect for a Sacramento Kings fan.
“Singh means King. Singh is king. Singh means lion,” said Jasjit. “There’s a lot of Sikhs in the crowd and their name literally refers to the team name itself.”
He says basketball was a way for him to keep out of trouble and build a community by bonding over the sport.
“I think [basketball] unifies the world. People have different ideas about the best sports in the world, but there is nothing more beautiful than basketball,” said Jasjit.
Harinder says his favorite player by far is Kings guard Davion Mitchell.
“The whole team’s good, and the teamwork, but according to my eyes, I love number 15,” he said.
The duo will keep cheering on the Kings throughout the playoffs, hoping they’ll get to see the beam lit over Sacramento’s skies again.
