NBA All-Star Tyrese Haliburton says he plans to give back more to his hometown of Oshkosh beyond first basketball camp
OSHKOSH – The city may be seeing a lot more of its hometown hero.
The Tyrese Haliburton ProCamp could just be the start of bigger things to come, as the All-NBA guard hinted at bringing more giveback opportunities to Oshkosh.
“There are a lot more things I plan on doing to give back to this community [and] I’m sure they’ll be announced very soon,” Haliburton said in a brief media session during his basketball camp.
“I want to be here and give back as much as I can.”
Haliburton expressed the sentiment Wednesday as part of his return to Oshkosh while conducting a three-hour youth camp at his alma mater Oshkosh North High School.
Around 150 kids participated in the inaugural clinic, going through drills and working on skills before going one-on-one with the two-time NBA All-Star.
“I think it’s important that people don’t think of me as like a mythical being, [so] I want to be in front of them [and] I want to be seen,” Haliburton said of the importance of hosting the camp.
“Growing up, I never had someone like myself to look up to so I could chase my dreams. Hopefully, I can do that for these kids, even if it’s not basketball, just to see that I had a really big dream and chased it to the best of my ability.”
An initiative of the Cincinnati-based ProCamps organization and Common Ground Healthcare Cooperative, the basketball clinic featured local kids ages 8-14. The kids were separated into different age groups and participated in drills, skills work and mini 5-on-5 games coordinated by Haliburton, his family, and local college and high school players, including current Oshkosh North forward Xzavion Mitchell.
But the highlight of the camp came toward the end, when the best players of each group tried their hand at scoring on the 6-foot-5 Indiana Pacers point guard and Olympic gold medalist.
“It feels so cool talking to someone who’s so famous and it feels so cool knowing he came to this school and we can have the same opportunity as him,” said 13-year-old camper Liam Flanigan.
“If you want to get better at basketball, you should definitely come to this camp.”
It’s the first ProCamps event Haliburton hosted in his backyard, but neither he nor camp director Wally Vickers was able to confirm whether the Oshkosh clinic would be held annually.
“We’ve been working with Tyrese for a couple years in Indianapolis, and usually we do our camps or events in the city they play in, but Tyrese and his family wanted to come back to his hometown to do one at his alma mater,” explained Vickers.
“We love Tyrese and it’s just a great community school spirit, so given the turnout here I’d be surprised if we don’t come back.”
Last season’s NBA league leader in assists, the 24-year-old Haliburton was the keynote speaker during Oshkosh Area School District’s private staff convocation Tuesday at Oshkosh West High School.
He participated in a Q&A session with Superintendent Dr. Bryan Davis, discussing his journey from Oshkosh to the NBA while giving advice to staff and students.
Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Tyrese Haliburton plans to give back more to his hometown of Oshkosh
