Wade County: The Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade

[highlight_text] The Miami Herald reported that the Heat will offer Wade a six-year, $125 million contract just after midnight on July 1, and no other team could offer Wade a contract for more years or money. [/highlight_text]

With campaigns in full swing to keep Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade tearing up the courts at American Airlines Arena, Haute Living sat down with the basketball legend to discuss the impact he has made on South Florida—both on and off the court—since joining the roster in 2003.

The entire city waits with bated breath for Miami Heat demigod Dwyane Wade’s decision: will he stay or will he go? Planning to opt out of his Heat contract, Wade will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2010, making him a hot commodity for basketball teams across the country looking to add his skills to their roster. What’s unprecedented about this off-season is the shear number of MVP-caliber players who will be free agents, including LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Amar’e Stoudemire. Should any one team lure more than one of these greats, it would shape the course of NBA seasons for years to come. Rumors have Wade being lured by the likes of his hometown Chicago Bulls as well as the New York Knicks, two of the few teams that could afford him. But Miamians aren’t letting him go without a fight.

It’s a fight that’s been brewing for some time. For months leading up to the start of the last season Wade was under contract with the Heat, billboards lined the Interstates throughout Miami-Dade proclaiming, “Welcome to Wade County,” lest the basketball legend forget how much the city loves—nay, needs—him.

Miamians got a taste for winning when Wade and his then-teammate Shaquille O’Neal helped plow the way to the Heat’s first NBA Championship in 2006. Wade went on to earn national praise as a member of the Gold Medal Olympic team in 2008, picking up a slew of endorsement deals along the way, which paved the way for modeling contracts and being named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People.” In 2009, it was announced he would join the Air Jordan family, realizing one of his biggest goals—to be recognized by the greatest player in the sport’s history, Michael Jordan, whom Wade grew up idolizing. He first rocked the 25th-anniversary edition of the Air Jordan during the 2010 NBA All-Star weekend, and maybe it was the extra spring it provided his step that earned Wade MVP honors.

So it’s no wonder Miamians want to keep Wade in their midst. Fans have been dreading his free agent status, first launching the “Wade County” campaign, followed by the “Good Enough Ain’t Enough”, a running theme for the 2009/2010 season, and one that Wade takes to heart, saying that even though the Heat is a respectable franchise, he wants to be better than merely good. “I’m ready to be a part of an organization and team that is set in a position to win for a long time to come,” he says. “I want to make sure that I don’t rush into a decision [about where I will play next] and that I make the best decision for me and my family. When I look at it, this is for the rest of my career, and I have to start thinking about my legacy—what I’ve built to this point and what I want to leave behind for my kids to know and to see.” He strives to be the best—best player, best father, best all-around man—so that his two young sons, who mean the world to Wade, will continue to look up to him as they grow. So even though the Heat ended the last season with a respectable record, the team, led by President Pat Riley, who already renewed his contract, has to be ready to pony up for some additional talent if they want to keep their superstar. Luckily, it is one of the only NBA teams with the capital to not only keep Wade but also pursue another max player (read: one who will increase franchise value upon signing) and possibly an additional all-star.

It’s not just the Miami Heat that would hurt if he decides to don, say, a Chicago Bulls jersey. Wade’s positive impact in Miami extends beyond his three-point skills; his Wade’s World Foundation, launched in 2004, is an integral part of the philanthropic scene in South Florida (as well as in his native Chicago and Milwaukee, where he attended college) providing support for educational, health, and family service programs throughout the region, with a focus on underserved communities.

To get a first-hand perspective of the foundation’s positive impact, we met up with Wade in December 2009, at Boomers! arcade and amusement park in Dania Beach, Florida, where he was hosting one of the annual “3 Under the Tree” holiday events. It was a festive occasion where more than 300 kids from local church and youth groups joined Wade for a play date of sorts. He raced around the go-kart track, shot mini hoops, played laser tag, engaged in friendly bowling competitions, and posed for countless photo ops, all with his signature, sly smile.

You can see that smile for yourself at his dedicated Ustream page,
www.Ustream.tv/dwyanewade. Ustream is an interactive broadcast network; think of it like YouTube, but live. While anyone with a computer, camera, and network connection can broadcast videos to an unlimited amount of viewers, some superstars—including will.i.am, Snoop Dogg, and Wade—have participated in Ustream All Access, which takes the edited reality television craze to a new level by following the celebrities for an entire day, streaming the unedited feeds live for thousands of viewers who can comment and interact with the stars.

Wade was one of the first to participate in Ustream All Access, which launched in December 2009. During his broadcast, which took place the same day as the “3 Under the Tree” event at Boomers!, he frequently stopped his activities and sat down at a laptop to chat with users who were tuned in to see what it’s like to be D. Wade. Prior to his day-long streaming spotlight, Wade was already a Ustream user, often uploading videos, chatting with fans, and showing his appreciation for their love.

His appreciation for his fans continues, especially being that his fans continue to appreciate Wade, despite his uncertainty with the Heat. The Miami Heat’s latest campaign, “We Want Wade,” is designed to give those fans not only a way to continue to virtually interact with the superstar through emails, tweets, and video uploads (some of which Wade answers with uploads of his own) but also some handy protocols about how to participate in the campaign, should they be lucky enough to spot Wade at one of South Florida’s hot spots. (Do: chant “We want Wade” or send a dessert to his table; don’t ask for an autograph, photo, date, money, or one of his cars, or show him your D. Wade tattoo. Or get one for that matter.) “The outpouring makes me feel warm,” he said when we caught up with him late May to discuss the summer lineup for the Wade’s World Foundation and his free-agent status. “I thought it was a laugh, I thought it was funny. Then I went to the site and read the criteria and what the fans were saying about the We Want Wade campaign.” He says that fans are taking the protocols to heart. ““I’ve been getting the nicest messages about why fans want me to stay. Also, Florida is known for its oranges, so people have been sending me oranges—things like that to make me remember South Florida wherever I go. It makes me feel welcome, knowing the city is behind me through thick and thin. I appreciate the Heat and the fans’ support for that.”

The Miami Herald reported that the Heat will offer Wade a six-year, $125 million contract just after midnight on July 1, and no other team could offer Wade a contract for more years or money. With this in mind, the “We Want Wade” campaign upped its ante in early June, putting up a billboard along the 79th Street Causeway near Wade’s home that he is all but guaranteed to see. Dubbed “Sign Here,” the billboard features a blown-up contract with the dotted line, complete with Wade’s name underneath, left blank. (Hopes are that when he does sign the contract, he will then also put his John Hancock on the billboard.)

While Wade is expected to make his formal announcement in July, even if—God forbid—he does choose to play for a different team, his positive impact will still be felt throughout Miami this summer. First, he will once again team up with former Heat teammate Alonzo Mourning for The Summer Groove Hosted by Zo + D. Wade. This marks the third time that Wade has participated in the fundraising event, which is in its 14th year. It provides the NBA legends an opportunity “to go out and touch a community that really supports us. It’s really important to reach out to the kids,” Wade says. From July 14 to 18, thousands will gather at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida, for a fundraising event that will support both Alonzo Mourning Charities and Wade’s World Foundation. The four-day itinerary is chock-full of events like a golf tournament at Doral Golf Resort & Spa, the ZSG Youth Basketball Clinic, a comedy jam, and a charity gala. But Wade feels like the highlight of the weekend is the Youth Empowerment Summit, held at Miami Jackson Sr. High School. “We sit down on Saturday morning for a panel and one-on-one sessions with the young men and women,” he explains. “We’re able to help them with whatever they’re going through by sharing our own life experiences, and that’s the most impactful part of the weekend for me.” Because Wade realizes that life is more than just basketball, he and Mourning ask celebrities, community leaders, business professionals, coaches, and peers to join in the panel discussions. The topic for the 2010 summit is “Violence,” and participants will explore its various levels and discuss how it impacts their lives.

The theme rings close to home for Wade, who grew up in a rough Chicago neighborhood surrounded by drugs and gangs. On the Wade’s World Foundation website, Wade indicates that he first began dreaming of creating the foundation when he was just seven years old and saw a story about a celebrity visiting a local school on the news. “All I could think was, ‘Why don’t no one come to my neighborhood?’ And I decided that day that if I ever made it, I would come back to my community and give back,” he writes in the founder’s letter. Over the past year alone, the foundation donated $25,000 to the William Leonard Public Library, in Robbins, Illinois, and Wade made appearances at the schools he attended as a child, which he says, was “probably more life-changing for me than it was for them.”

His hometown initiatives continue this summer with the fourth-annual Wade’s World Weekend, which will take place in Chicago from August 19 to 22. The fundraising weekend spawned from the highly successful Summer Groove, but in this case benefits the neighborhoods from which Wade himself was spawned. “Chicago will always be home to me,” he says. “So we’re trying to get the town behind [the foundation] as well. Even though I don’t play there, my heart is there, and I try to express that.” Wade’s World Weekend is a bit smaller than Zo’s Summer Groove, but it still entails a plethora of fun-filled events like a talent show, school supply giveaway, fundraising dinner, youth summit, and seminars focused on the Stop the Violence campaign.

Rather than get caught up in the violence that pervaded his youth, Wade channeled his energies into his game, but he is wise enough to know that isn’t an option for everyone. “Not every kid is going to be a professional athlete,” he states. “So we want to make sure we touch more bases than just sports.” This mentality also carries over to his Wade’s World Foundation Camp in Chicago.

The three-day Chicago camp is attended by more than 300 kids from the suburban areas, and while basketball is the main focus, this year, attendees will also hear guest speakers address issues regarding self-esteem and nutrition. It’s a topic that Wade is passionate about; he recently partnered up with Pepperidge Farms for the “Team Xtreme” program, which encourages youths to stay active through outdoor play. “Keeping kids fit is really important to me,” he said when the initiative was launched in November 2009. “I believe that when children understand the necessity of living a healthy lifestyle, they are able to make good choices about nutrition and fitness.”

This is a reflection of the Wade’s World motto: Every child deserves a shot. While Wade is inherently talented on the basketball court, which earned him a “shot” via a scholarship to Marquette University, WWF is teaming up with his alma mater and the Boys & Girls Club of America to offer three full-tuition scholarships to the Boys & Girl’s Club’s “Youth of the Year” honorees, recognizing youth who show potential to make a positive impact on the world.

Marquette recognized Wade’s potential to make a positive impact on their basketball team, and he continues to make that positive impact both on and off the court, making Miami proud wherever he goes. So if you happen to run into Wade out and about before he announces where he will be playing next season, we encourage you to send him a glass of Florida orange juice to keep reminding him just how badly Miami wants and needs him to continue to call the Magic City home. – Photography by Larry Busacca