Joseph Blair

Joseph Blair (born June 12, 1974) is an American former professional basketball player currently working as an assistant coach for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League. 2.10m (6 ft 10.75 in) tall and weighing 120 kg (265 pounds), he played as a forward and center. He was reputed for his spectacular playing style, notably as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

Blair played four seasons for the Arizona Wildcats of the Pacific-10 Conference in the NCAA Division I. He averaged 10.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game during his collegiate career and participated in Arizona's two regular season Pac-10 championships in 1993 and 1994. He was a starter on the squad that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 1994.

As of the 2014-15 season, he holds the program record for career field goal percentage (61;3%), also ranking eighth on the shot blocking records with 101 blocks.

Though he was drafted 35th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft Seattle SuperSonics, he didn't sign for the team and his agent engineered his release in 1997. A preseason game with the Chicago Bulls in 2007 was the closest he came to playing in the NBA, before being waived by the Bulls in October, less than two weeks after being signed.

He then moved to Europe, signing in France with Pau-Orthez for 1997-1998.

After a return to the U.S. to play for the Harlem Globetrotters and the Long Island Surf, the latter of the United States Basketball League, Blair returned to Europe in 1998.

He moved to the Italian Serie A in which he would spend a good part of his career, with Biella, Scavolini Pesaro and Armani Jeans Milano, participating in the league All-Star Game in 2000, 2005 and 2006, and leading the league in rebounds in 1999-00.

He had an interlude with PAOK of the Greek Basket League in 2000-2001, he described it as "bad experience" due to salary arrears, he did not finish the season in Greece, instead playing for the Harlem Globetrotters again.

Whilst playing for Pesaro in the EuroLeague, Europe's premier club competition, he was selected to the 2001-02 All-EuroLeague Second Team.

Blair played for Ülkerspor for two years, in the Turkish Basketball League and the EuroLeague. He was named 2002-03 EuroLeague Regular Season MVP whilst playing for the club.

He finished his career in the Russian Basketball Super League, first for Spartak Primorje with whom he led the league in rebounding during the 2007-2008 season.

With another team, Spartak Saint Petersburg, the American was at the center of an less positive incident during a 30 October 2008 Russian Cup game against Lokomotiv Rostov. Allegedly to protect a teammate, Blair punched a Lokomotiv player, this started a brawl that led to many player ejections, leaving the teams with only 4 players each on the court (they finished with 3 each).

Blair returned to the Wildcats program for the 2013-14 season, serving as undergraduate assistant coach, helping the team's big men. For 2014-15 he was moved to graduate manager, in these roles he has been credited as helping Kaleb Tarczewski and Brandon Ashley realise their potential. He was not offered a position at Arizona University for 2015-16.

After being inspired by the youth camps run by the Harlem Globetrotters in which he participated, he founded the Blair Charity Group. Described as "a local charity group that focuses on Tucson’s youth", it declaredly provides free-of-charge "leadership and social-skill based basketball camps and clinics" around the area. Though basketball is at the center of the charity, it also aims to provide education and social skills to children, they remain feeless as to not deprive unprivileged children of an opportunity.

On October 14, 2015, Blair was hired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers as an assistant coach.

Two of Blair's three children were born in Italy, both with a former Italian girlfriend. After playing in three different cities in the country, he also speaks fluent Italian .

Since finishing his playing career in 2009, Blair has lived in Tucson, Arizona, where the University of Arizona is located. He returned to the university to finish his degree, which he obtained in 2014.