Pat Connaughton's foundation has given another Milwaukee gym a needed upgrade
Jim Owczarski (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL) —
It was hard for James Wilbern to keep from bobbing and weaving away from the lectern holding several microphones, as the assistant executive director at the Silver Spring Neighborhood Center’s energy wanted to keep him moving.
He highlighted the work done – “from ceiling to floor” – in the newly refurbished gym at 5460 N. 64th St. in Milwaukee.
His energy transferred to District 2 Ald. Mark Chambers Jr. and finally Pat Connaughton, who quipped he didn’t have the pipes to keep up with the previous two speakers.
“It means everything,” Chambers said. “It gives kids opportunity to stay out of trouble, to learn important values and teamwork, community, just strength building; give them another outlet to remove, release any stress. Stay away from the garbage that’s out there in the community or neighborhoods or anything like that.
“It fills me up because I once was a kid being in this area, being on this very court that we’re standing on right now. It means everything.”
The latest “Connaughton Court,” laid by the Rodriguez Recreation Company, was unveiled at the center Tuesday afternoon. It is an initiative the Milwaukee Bucks’ forward had started through his eponymous foundation to refurbish highly used courts that are in need of refurbishment.
This was the fifth court Connaughton’s foundation has renovated, and fourth in Milwaukee. Other courts are at the Neighborhood House Milwaukee (2020), St. Augustine Prep and St. Marcus Lutheran Church (2022).
“It’s more about kids being able to see that somebody that plays in the NBA, plays for the Milwaukee Bucks is taking the time to pour back into this community,” Connaughton said. “I think it really kind of inspires them.
"That’s what really convinced me to have my name on the courts, have it be my foundation that’s doing the courts, so we can show them, hey, I was once in their shoes. I didn’t have any tie to professional sports, I didn’t have any tie to being a professional athletes, being a college athlete. My parents weren’t college athletes but they loved sports. I didn’t have cousins, relatives that were professional athletes. I just had a dream. And same with a lot of these kids. They may not have a tie to pro sports, but now I’m a tie to pro sports and kind of show them that anything’s possible.”
Connaughton signed with the Bucks at the start of the 2018-19 season, and while he’s solidified himself as a solid NBA player and proven to be a core piece to a championship team this effort has exceeded anything he thought he could do athletically.
“How do I have a more sustainable impact on these kids? I’ve got to give credit to my treasurer of my foundation where he talked about Fidelity (House), the court where I grew up playing, and how that court had an impact on me and how ‘Connaughton Courts’ kind of sounded cool and the court, to me, is the second phase of the foundation where, hey, it’s being able to be utilized 365 days a year," Connaughton said.
"We’re finding places where this court can be impactful for that next generation of student-athletes, more than a day of a clinic or one week of camps, for us to have an impact 365 days a year and be planted and cemented in a community where these kids for years to come will have the ability to utilize it.”