Nate Behar is not the only poster boy for ‘Diversity Is Strength’ that the Canadian Football League is celebrating with games this week and next.
The entire league is loaded with players from different backgrounds and struck a real chord with Canadians when last year they decided to celebrate it.
That’s the point. It’s the United Nations Football League.
But there aren’t many Israeli Jamaicans in the game.
“I’m the only one,” said the second-year Eskimos receiver.
“I’m also the only one in my family.
“I’m quite the crossbreed. My mom was born in Israel, and my dad was born in Kingston, Jamaica,” said the 23-year-old who was born in Canada.
Following the successful reception of an unintentional campaign launch in 2017, the CFL chose to celebrate the diversity of the nation and league with eight games including the Montreal Alouettes visit to Edmonton Saturday and the Eskimos game in Hamilton next week.
Nobody embraces what the league is doing here more than Behar.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I love it. The shirts last year were great, and I’m glad to see they’ve decided to make it part of what we do and keep it going.”
While his dad was born in Jamaica, he was raised mostly in Florida.
Nate has never actually been to Jamaica.
“I feel like I’m Jamaican. Absolutely. Without a doubt. It’s a culture I identify with. My dad, while he moved to the Fort Lauderdale area when he was about five years old, wanted me to cling to those roots with music and food and everything like that.”
Growing up in Southern Ontario the Jamaican culture wasn’t hard to find and embrace.
“Jamaican food is the best on earth,” he said. “My dad and his sister owned a Jamaican restaurant in Fort Lauderdale called Captain Jerks. My dad was a chef when he came to Toronto for a while.”
“I played with a lot of guys with Jamaican backgrounds.”
It was a contrast on his mom’s side. And Nate grew up living with his mom when his parents split up when he was young, remaining close to his dad as well. His dad lived in Toronto and his mom in London, Ontario.
“My mom was born in Israel. I was raised Jewish.”
He said it all worked out.
“I was raised by two intelligent people that knew how to keep me in touch of both sides of it. I had an older brother to lean on as well. He was the most supportive guy on earth,” he said of Jared, his half-brother with a different dad.
“I started playing football when I was about seven years old. I started out as a running back. Then I played some quarterback. I didn’t start playing receiver until my junior year in high school,” said the Carleton Ravens grad that caught 178 passes for 2,577 yards and 21 touchdowns in 30 games.
“I always wanted to be a running back, and everybody else kept growing and putting on weight, and I didn’t. Eventually, it got to the point where I was too skinny. So they decided to try me at receiver and here we are.”
Behar was selected fifth in the 2017 draft and had the usual quiet rookie season. But this year, starting with that brilliant back-of-the-endzone catch for a two-point convert in the Eskimos comeback during the never-to-be-forgotten double delay lightning game in Winnipeg, Behar has been a presence.
“He’s been tremendous,” said head coach Jason Maas. “Every time we’ve counted on him to make a play, he’s made one.
“Nate is one of the smartest players on our football team. He understands our system really well. We can move him around and do a lot of creative things with Nate. You only have to tell Nate what to do one time. He picks it up and understands it. He analyzes things really well.”
Behar credits his college coaches for a lot of that.
“I was insanely lucky at Carleton to have amazing offensive coaches. I really believe they did as much as you possibly could to prepare me for this level.
“Coach J.P. Asselin at Carleton, I think, was one of the best things to ever happen to me. What he saw in me mentally to allow me, in my fourth year, to be in there game planning with them and even design certain plays if I saw stuff.”
It was excellent basic training to prepare to play for offensive coordinator Maas who doesn’t exactly run a Keep It Simple Stupid offence. And it changes a lot from game to game.
“That’s what makes it fun for me personally. When you have a season this long, I think it’s natural to lose focus occasionally. But with Coach Maas, you’re going to be looking at a heavy install on Day 1. You have to show up on that day ready to learn. You don’t show up half asleep or daydreaming. That’s one of the things I find fun with football, learning and relearning. I appreciate Coach Maas for that.”
Not many young receivers get to break into the league with Mike Reilly as their quarterback.
“It’s a blessing,” he said.
“It’s one thing being on the sidelines with him but to be on the field for that game in Winnipeg for the last five or six minutes, you can see that fire burning in his eyes. It’s been amazing for me.”
That opening game of the season in Winnipeg showcased Behar.
“That was really my first extended length action rather than just go in for one play when somebody broke a shoelace or something. To me, that whole game was just so much fun.
“It was great to have some playing time to show I do have a head on my shoulders. That I won’t be swimming out there. Maybe that showed that I’m confident enough and capable enough. And it was just fun.”
Maas says to expect Behar to grow into an expanded role.
“I think you’ll find as the year goes along we’re going to start doing different things with Nate and developing him more. He’s definitely capable of having the big night catching the ball and doing more than the little things that nobody notices. He’s slowly going to get worked into more of what we do.”
Behar says he has a philosophy involving all of that.
“If you make one good thing happen you’re probably going to get a chance to make another good thing happen. If you make two good things happen, you’re probably going to get a chance to do it three times.”